Concentric means that the shapes share the same center and are placed inside one another. Patterns are arrangements of repeated parts Creating concentric patterned hearts are a great way to explore creativity, pattern making, size and shape. We made these in 2nd grade around Valentine’s Day, but this would also be a nice idea for a Mother’s Day card or picture. The children could write or draw about their moms in the spaces around the hearts.
The week after winter break was up in the air. Due to construction, we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to use our art room and we didn’t know if we would have easy access to supplies. I planned for most of my classes to complete observational drawings during that week period, since they all could use the same supplies and learning to observe the edges and shapes of objects is great training for the eye. It … Read more…
How many of you have also been off of school Monday and Tuesday this week? This is our 4th day off of school because of cold weather. It is supposed to be -45 windchills tomorrow morning, so we already know school is cancelled. I love making masks with kids! My second grade students learn about Alaska in their Social Studies class, so I introduce Alaskan masks to the kids. We actually watch clips from a video series to teach about … 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…
Aren’t these fantastic? I love these pop-up winter scenes. Guess what? I just made a companion Facebook page for my blog! I thought it would be fun to have another avenue to easily share all kinds of artsy inspiration I come across. Most of the Facebook updates will be links to other blogs, articles and interesting artistic things I find around the web. Of course, I will also share things about my blog, but MOST of the posts will be … Read more…
These cute pinch pot monsters were made by my 2nd grade class. Here is a handout you could use about how to make a pinch pot. After making a pinch pot, the students turned them on their side, squished the mouth down a little and then added eyes, noses, horns, ears, tongues and teeth. Make sure to score and add water in between each part. (Some people make slip, but I have found that with our consistency of clay, just … Read more…
Our school is building an addition, so I thought projects related to “building” would be fun. Legos are the perfect building blocks! So, we designed our own mini-figures with this template. I originally saw this idea from The Art Teacher’s Closet. We also stamped with Legos (idea via Lego Stamping from Filth Wizardry). Thanks to wonderful bloggers for these two ideas! My students LOVED them! They were so excited about these proejcts. Place your piece of paper on top of … Read more…
This is a tried and true clay lesson for kids. Who doesn’t love cute monsters? The 2nd graders started by making pinch pots. This handout shows you how. Turn the pinch pot on its side and add eyes, teeth, ears, tongues, feet and other details. We painted ours with acrylic and tempera paints.
This oil pastel drawing project is inspired by the artwork of Paul Gauguin, in particular his painting Tahitian Landscape. To build up a little enthusiasm, when the kids arrived to class there was an envelope at their seat. I told them to open the envelope and see what was inside. I had printed off pictures of Tahitian Landscape, laminated them and then cut them into puzzle pieces. The kids worked quickly to put together the puzzles. Then, I introduced the … Read more…
Hello all! Wow, summer is almost here! It’s hard to believe, right? I entered a blog giveaway to receive a free layout review from a web designer. I won! She posted the review on Blacksburgbelle’s blog. Bottom line: reduce the clutter. I think it was very useful and gave me a lot to think about! Maybe you will get some ideas from her review. This will be a little project to work on during the summer. Building with cardboard and … Read more…
Weaving is so much fun! I love using up scraps of yarn, but there are other things you can use too: pipe cleaners (or chenille stems.. what do you call them?) tissue paper rolled up fabric scraps cut into strips ribbons feathers raffia I started the kids with just yarn pieces. After 2 days of working, some of the kids were far behind, so then I brought out thicker ribbon, tissue paper and raffia to fill in the gaps. Some … Read more…
I was inspired by the polar bears at We Heart Art so I taught a painting project with my 2nd graders. The students could choose to paint either a polar bear or snowman with white paint. Hats, scarves, snow and facial features were drawn on with oil pastels or cut from the scrap box.
I think Alaskan native masks are so beautiful. Our 2nd graders learn about Alaska in their social studies class and to connect with this unit, they explore the meanings and characteristics of Alaskan native art. Here is an example of a mask from Alaska: Our masks are colorful and each child felt free to express their own ideas and to create their own meanings for their mask. We watched an excellent Alaskan art video that I highly recommend. It … Read more…
Two of my classes made pictures frames like these: They turned out really cute and I did not take pictures until after the kids glued their pictures in, so I did not want to post any of the frames with their pictures in it. This year, I did not do too many holiday art projects, but here is a round-up of some that I have done in the past. Sock Snowmen  Snowflakes with Glitter Snowglobe Pictures Picture Frame with Tooling … Read more…
Thanks for your kind comments about my fingers! They are actually healing much faster than I expected. As you might know, I am a lover of all things mixed media! I also enjoy occasionally teaching an after school art workshop for my students (I’d love to do more, but since my daughter goes to daycare it’s a bit tricky.) I thought painted canvases would be a great gift for kids to give someone in their family, so I decided to … Read more…
