I’m still catching up on sharing projects from last year! This is an easy lesson to teach kindergarteners about cool colors vs. warm colors. First, show the kids how to trace their hands, while leaving space in between for a heart. Then, demonstrate how to draw a heart and have the kids draw one too. Ask the kids if they know what are the cool colors and then what are the warm colors. Color the hands with cool colors: blues, … Read more…
At the beginning of the year when Kindergartners are learning how to write their letters I like to read the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and teach an art lesson using the alphabet. Most of the kids have already read this book, but it is a quick read and has a great rhythm. The kids do love the book. If you want to get a laugh though, read the one-star reviews on Amazon, lol. Start by painting a paper with … Read more…
Beautiful spring butterflies are a great way to end the school year. Paint dotters give colorful results without a ton of mess. Kindergartners drew these with pencil first. I read a suggestion from Patty Palmer on the art teacher Facebook group to use tracers for the top set of the wings to get the size proportional and then have the kids draw the bottom of the wings on their own. Then they used paint dotters to create symmetrical designs on … Read more…
Thank you, Patty Palmer, for this fun penguin collage project idea! We used paint dotters to paint the backgrounds instead of paintbrushes (and I also didn’t get out all the extra collage supplies because so much of our stuff is in storage right now), but otherwise, you can see the steps on Patty’s website.
First of all, thanks to everyone who voted for me in the Art Ed Blog of the Year contest. While I didn’t place in the top 10 it was still exciting to be nominated! Our 100th day of school was this past Friday and I thought I would participate with a 100th day art project for the first time ever. If your 100th day of school has already passed, this might be a project you want to “pin” and save … Read more…
Another year is rapidly coming to a close, so I thought I would spend some time reviewing my favorite projects and blog posts from this year. Here are my favorite posts, in no particular order! 15. How to Paint Gorgeous Clouds with Watercolor 14. Clay Castles 13. Postage Stamp Art Project 12. Heart Photography Project with 3rd Grade 11. 25 Amazing Books for Teaching About Art 10. Editorial cartoons are a unit I teach every year. We even were … Read more…
For those of you who celebrate, I hope you all have a very warm and happy Thanksgiving with your family.
Last week, I posted about line drawings that my kindergarten students made with oil pastels and watercolor paints. To finish these off, my students glued paper strip lines (folded to make zig zags, curled and pleated) to the bottom of the page. The students reinforced their learning of types of lines and were introduced to paper manipulation techniques. Then, we rolled and stapled them at the top and bottom to create a hanging windsock. A little bit of double stick … Read more…
My Kindergarten students learned about types of lines. They used oil pastels to draw a variety of line types and then painted over them with watercolor paints. We are going to turn these into windsocks! Stay tuned to see how we transform their paintings.
This is one of my favorite lessons and is a great way to start off the year. Many of you have seen the book The Dot and this lesson is inspired by that book. There is a cute animated video from the book that you can see here and there is a whole website about the International Dot Day which is September 15. The kindergarteners start by tracing lids on colored paper and cutting out the circles. They are glued … Read more…
Perhaps you are new to my blog or you would like to see some of my favorite kindergarten art projects from the past. Look no further! Here is a round-up of my 10 favorites. 1. Cool Hands, Warm Heart 2. Map of My Heart 3. Paper Mache Rattles 4. Texture Teddy Bears 5. Line Sculpture with Wire and Pipe Cleaners 6. The Dot 7. Clay Leaf Dishes 8. Paper Weavings 9. Line Paintings 10. Sunflower Observational Paintings Also, I updated … Read more…
I was sent a free copy of this new children’s book to review and share with you. It is called Too Much Glue, written by Jason Lefebvre and illustrated by Zac Retz. It is a very cute story of a boy who uses TOO MUCH GLUE on his artwork in art class, does a flying jump into the puddle and gets stuck there. What I love about the book: It’s a unique story, I have not seen a story like … Read more…
At the end of the school year, my kindergarten art class made some really colorful fish after reading the book Rainbow Fish . The students drew their fish on large posterboard (these were BIG fish). Then, they cut out paper pieces (I encouraged them to cut circles) from a variety of patterned and foil papers. Then, some of the kids chose to use paint dotters to add additional color. I I did this project again, I would have the kids … Read more…
One of our projects for the school fundraiser this year was this lovely fingerprint butterfly by the kindergarten class. I was inspired by this fingerprint artwork! I cut out the shape of a butterfly as a stencil and each kid used a different color to add their fingerprints. This was then cut out and glued on to a blue piece of paper. The artwork was a hit and the families loved it! It turned out very cute and was a … Read more…
