I am going to introduce this summer art challenge to my students next week. I did this summer art challenge a couple of years ago and we had a lovely display in the fall. The parents of the kids who participated thanked me for the ideas. Whenever their kids said they were bored, they told them to pick something from the list.
It’s been awhile since I updated the list of challenges, so I went over it today to freshen it up. Nic Hahn of Mini Matisse is going to do this too for the summer and her presentation includes links to different websites to give the kids ideas. Since I’m passing out a paper version I am limiting the amount of links I include. She also gave me the idea for the stop motion animation project (which I have no experience with, so I wrote the kids had to research it themselves!)
I got this idea because when I was a kid I always participated in those summer reading programs. I really think it helped me read more because I loved keeping track and earning rewards. Here’s how the art challenge works. Before the kids leave for the summer, pass out the summer art challenge sheets. They will earn points for each art activity they complete. I’m thinking after they earn 5 points, they will get a little prize and a certificate. If they earn more points, they will get a bigger prize. All of the artwork turned in will be displayed on bulletin boards at the beginning of the year (a great way to get some quick displays up!). You can see the wide variety of artworks I got from the kids in this previous blog post. Below are the challenge sheets I am passing out. I made them “generic” so anyone can print them out. Feel free to use them in your school. The only thing I ask is that you don’t take them and change them to sell. Thanks!
High resolution PDF version:
Rainbow Background from Ben K
I always love to find new fonts. The fonts I used in these are Arial, Arvo, and AlaNice (my favorite fancy font.)
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Perfect!! I love it! You made it so beautiful! You’re so giving! That was kind of you to make them usable for everyone. Thanks for being a great collaborator!
Thanks! I’m glad you like it. I think your presentation will be great for your kids too. Have fun!
You’re welcome! I hope your kids have fun. 🙂
Thank you what a great idea!
This is such an inspiring idea for children but it also teaches adults to detach from our fast paced lives and engage with our children. Are you going to showcase some of the completed Summer Challenge pieces at the end of summer?
Yes! When we come back to school, we will fill the display case with these. I will also post some of these on my blog!
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Wow! This is brilliant. I am doing this at the end of next term, which is our end of year and our summer. I teach approx 500 students per week so I look forward to having full display boards at the start of next year!!!!
This is such a great idea! I am going to save this up for the end of our school year, December! I think I will announce it at a whole school assembly and in the school newsletter and then include it in the last newsletter of the year which goes out electronically so I won’t kill a forest of trees doing it on paper. I might even get the families to email the response sheets back to me. I hate having empty display boards at the start of the school year so this will fill them up nicely.
Thanks again for such a brilliant idea!
Shell