For an afternoon, 10 students in an after-school program at Cordley School, 1837 Vt., imitated the works of wrapping artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

Fourth-graders Jessica Perry, of Hillcrest School, and Maya Percich, of Cordley, took turns taping large sheets of brown construction paper to cover the steps of the school building, just below the stone that states Cordley was constructed in 1915.

“In school we usually use only paintbrushes, scissors and pencils,” Jessica said of her newly discovered art technique.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude are known for wrapping fabric around landmarks and objects in the world, such as a wall in Rome. The artists use the technique to emphasize the shapes of buildings and natural structures, said Margaret Springe, the Lawrence program’s developer.

“I hope they learn that art can come out of everyday objects,” she said.

This semester, Springe is teaching nine art workshops through Art Reach to the students in the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence’s after-school programs at Cordley and Deerfield schools.

Monday was the eighth lesson, as the students watched a video about Christo and Jeanne-Claude before they went to work on the playground.

Cordley students Hali Staskal, 9, left, and Olivia Randolph, 10, both part of the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence's after-school project, wrap a tree with brown construction paper. The students watched a video featuring Christo and Jeanne-Claude fabric installations around the world and then headed to the playground at Cordley, 1837 Vt., to create their own artworks Monday afternoon.

Cordley third-graders Carolyn Weiler and Sarah Hall covered a tree from the bottom of the stump to branches with brown construction paper. They also worked on a railing outside the school.

What Carolyn enjoyed most was “just getting to do the experience, and we didn’t think it was really hard.”

Cordley fourth-grader Joseph Cliff and third-grader Allon Robinson Jr. were hard at work covering a stone bench before the sun went down. Like the work of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the students’ displays are temporary.

But they enjoyed the experience, Springe said, and the Art Reach program is meant to provide an art education for students who may miss out on other similar programs in the city because they stay at school in the late afternoons through the Boys and Girls Club.

“They wouldn’t be able to go to the Lawrence Arts Center and do something like this,” she said.