Thank you to all who voted for my blog in the AOE Blog of the Year contest. While I did not win, I am still happy to have been a finalist. Congrats to all of the bloggers in the contest! Today I am going to show you a super fun project that my students worked on this week. This summer we planted a garden. My husband diligently set up a plastic fence to keep out the rabbits. We watered it … Read more…
Paul Klee was an important painter in the history of modern art. I have always been drawn to his colorful, abstract pictures. Children can relate to the simple geometric shapes and bold colors. His art has been related to Expressionism, Cubism and Surrealism. Swiss artist Paul Klee painted the Castle and Sun with simplified shapes, but viewers can easily see the way the shapes form a castle or city-like scene. For this lesson, we are going to paint colorful swatches … Read more…
I’m proud of this lesson and how colorful and unique each of these pictures turned out! I like to introduce a bit of art history to the younger kids, but I didn’t want the kids to copy a famous painting. Artistic Behaviors: Artists develop their own style. Artists create art that honors someone or something. Skills & Concepts: Discuss the differences and similarities between two artworks of a similar theme. Develop hand/eye coordination through painting and collage. Learn various techniques … Read more…
Are you looking for a fun new way to make snowmen with your kids? I got the idea to use makeup remover pads from Happy Hooligans. I did this project with 1st graders. Start by mixing shades of blue paint with white and other cool colors. Explain to kids that when you mix white with a color, it makes a lighter tint of that color. Paint a background for your snowmen. Let it dry. Next, set out makeup remover pads, … Read more…
“A good picture is when the picture is full of magic, when you can feel the happiness in it, when it makes you laugh or cry, or when it makes something happen. It should be like a flower or a tree. It should be like Nature. It should be that we miss it when it isn’t there.” Hundertwasser Friedensreich Hundertwasser believed that nature and beauty was the key to happiness. He was born Fritz Stowasser but created his “artist name” … Read more…
I had the opportunity to try out Dab and Dot Dauber Markers and write a blog post for their website DoodleHog. These are similar to other paint dotters, but one difference I noticed is that the colors seem richer and better than other brands I have tried. The colors mix together very well. Piet Mondrian Dab and Dot Art Project Piet Mondrian was one of the most important and well known abstract painters. But did you know his early work … Read more…
One of the best parts about lesson planning and blogging is the ability to get all sorts of new ideas quickly on the Internet. This was a fun lesson I saw first on The Busy Librarian. We read the book The Dot and the students received papers with their first initial drawn in pencil. The students then used crayons to draw dots and circles on their initial. Using watercolor paints, they painted dots and circles and made marks in the … Read more…
I am so proud of how well my first graders drew these beautiful birds and I’m excited to share them with you. We started by reading the beautiful book The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon. This book is a wonderful connection to science as Audubon was a fascinating man who studied the migration of birds and painted them. Your budding scientists will love this story. The students looked at reference photos of birds from books. … Read more…
I have seen variations of this project many times but have never tried it with my students. I am pleased with how our assemblages turned out! This was a great opportunity to clean out the junk in the classroom and teach about using found objects. My Primaries (or first grade) learned a little about American sculptor Louise Nevelson. There is a short clip on YouTube that explains about her artwork. I put a call out to families to donate … Read more…
My first graders created these unique and expressive pictures by stamping with pieces of cardboard. Here’s how you can print with cardboard. First, cut pieces of cardboard into strips small enough for young kids to easily hold. Pour a bit of black paint on to newspaper. Dip the edge of the strip into the paint and stamp on your paper. The black lines of the faces were all made by stamping with cardboard. After the paint has dried, color the … Read more…
Did you Celebrate Oops!? My kindergarten and first graders started this open-ended project by reading the book Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg. We were inspired by the page in the book that said, “A smudge and a smear can make magic appear.” Each student received a piece of paper with a smear of paint on it. They were challenged to turn that piece of paper into a “beautiful oops” and create a wonderful work of art incorporating the smear. What … Read more…
Hello friends! Have you used Gelli Printing Plates before? I was introduced to this a couple of years ago because I received a couple samples to try out for my blog. They are a super fun way to do monoprinting with kids. You can read all about the process and see videos of techniques at their blog, Gelli Arts. There’s also a way to make your own gelatin plates, but I’ve never tried it because it seems like a lot … Read more…
Henri Matisse is one of my favorite artists. I love his bold colors and beautiful shapes. While teaching about patterns, painting, collage and shapes, I recently introduced his artwork to my kindergarteners and 1st graders. First, we learned about his artwork through this Henri Matisse presentation. We also read the book called Oooh! Matisse, which is a fun, colorful book (but not very informative about his artwork.) The book is good for discussing and thinking about the shapes in his … Read more…
My daughter had a make-your-own play doh night at her preschool (YMCA, which has been really great so far!) and I thought it would be a fun activity for my little students right before winter break. We used the recipe that they used at my daughter’s school, because the dough came out really nice and soft! There are only three ingredients: regular flour, salt and alum (can be found in the spice section at your grocery store). Well, and water. … Read more…
The 1st graders looked at the art of Stuart Davis and read some of the words, letters and numbers in his artwork. They analyzed his pictures and tried to figure out why he might have included text in his art. I teach about him every year and the kids create artwork with letters and numbers. You can see the ones we made last year at with this blog post. This year the students wrote words in an artistic way and … Read more…
