Hi! I hope you all had a very merry holiday season. We had a great December here, other than our kiln setting off a sprinkler at school and causing some minor flooding and damage. (That was a disaster.) I usually do a year in review on my blog every year just for funsies and it makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something. First I will share my personal highlights (in chronological order) and then I will share the 10 most … 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…
Have you read the book Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg? Celebrate Oops on January 15, 2015! It is a super fun, interactive book that teaches kids that it’s OK to make mistakes! From their website: “CELEBRATE OOPS! is an initiative designed to build confidence and turn accidents into teaching moments. Launching on January 15, 2015 CELEBRATE OOPS! will instill an important life lesson (it’s okay to make mistakes) and foster a great spirit of creativity in your classroom and/or library.” Watch a … Read more…
The creative students at Artisan des Arts made manga self-portraits and I loved them so much I wanted to try it with my own students. The students used the website Face Your Manga to create an avatar. (Of course, out of the thousands of symbols, hair details, eyes and other options, we came across two that were not good for kids, so next year I think I’m just going to print out examples of eyes, noses, mouths, etc and have … Read more…
I wanted my Kindergarten classes to practice rolling coils with clay before we started on our actual clay project. I had written out all of their names on long pieces of paper at the beginning of the year, but decided to change the project I had planned. I gave each child a paper with their name written on it. They practiced rolling clay coils with their fingers and then bent the coils to fit on the letters. This was a … Read more…
There is a big sale going on at TPT from Dec. 1-2ish. Let’s celebrate super cyber savings! The sale runs: December 1st 12:01AM (ET) through December 2nd 11:59PM (ET) Many sellers will have 20% sales, plus use the promo code: TPTCYBER to add an extra 10% to your entire order. I have two new products in my shop I’d like to tell you about. First is a Henri Matisse PowerPoint that is appropriate for students in grades K-2. (Since K … Read more…
Materials you will need: images of Piet Mondrian’s artwork construction paper precut black strips glue stick red, yellow and blue crayons (or markers) scissors Goals: identify, describe and analyze the artwork of Piet Mondrian use balance and space to create an interesting composition develop fine motor skills by using glue sticks and coloring solidly identify the primary colors Steps: 1. Show and discuss the artworks of Piet Mondrian. Ask the students to describe the artworks and tell about his style … Read more…
As an art teacher, I’d like to encourage you to give gifts that inspire creativity in children. Instead of more plastic trinkets, stuffed animals or electronics, how about something that will get your kids building and creating? An art kit is always a great idea. Things to include in an art kit: 1. Paper such as the Strathmore Visual Journal or a watercolor pad. I love this watercolor paper from Target. 2. Neon Gel Crayons: I love the smooth feeling … Read more…
Materials you will need: Compass Pencil White paper Things to color with like markers, crayons, colored pencils Sharpies (optional) Crayola Twistable Neon Crayons (optional) Goals: understand the meanings and purposes of mandalas in other cultures learn to use a compass use radial symmetry in artwork develop fine motor skills and craftsmanship personal expression Steps: 1. Start by showing and discussing mandalas around the world. There is a slideshow linked above or create your own. 2. Demonstrate how to use a … 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…
Did that get your attention? How about this? The Science teachers at my school often have the kids create drawings about what they are studying. One of them asked if I wanted to coordinate and have my third graders do more observational drawing. I borrowed these fun scientific specimens and some plants from the school greenhouse for my students to draw. If you want to buy some of your own specimens, they are not cheap, but once you have them … Read more…
Have you seen the art installation of ceramic poppies at the Tower of London? It is amazing! If you follow that link, there is a video about how the installation was made. The poppy is a remembrance symbol for soldiers who have died in war. The symbol comes from the poem “In Flander’s Field”, where poppies grew in a field over the graves of soldiers. Each year, our 5th/6th grade class gets a visit from the wife of a veteran, … Read more…
My students made self portraits with construction paper, tissue paper and paint. This project is always a hit with the kids and parents. I love it because it involves lots of good art concepts such as color mixing with paints, shades and tints, proportion, facial details and collage techniques. We start by creating the background with tissue paper and paint. The kids are encouraged to experiment with color mixing. I demonstrate how to make colors lighter by adding white and … Read more…
October 31 to November 2 is the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead. My first grade students learned about the celebration a bit in their Spanish class and then in art class, we read a story about the holiday and drew these symmetrical skull pictures. The book we read was Day of the Dead, by Tony Johnston. It’s a nice story with great pictures. My only complaint is that the book is very very small, so the kids have to … Read more…
