I have several art lessons that I did not post about yet from this past school year, so look forward to a few more art project ideas this summer. This lesson is fairly simple to prepare for and teach. “Notan” is the term used by the Japanese to mean “light/dark” space. We can also learn about positive/negative space through Notan designs. My third graders studied Asia this year in their Social Studies class, so this was a nice tie-in. To … Read more…
Summer is the perfect time to create art with your child. Nature provides endless inspiration for art. Here are three fun art activities using leaves that you can do with kids or just on your own! This post was created as part of the Elmer’s Crafty Bloggers team. Learning Activity Topic: Using nature to inspire art Educational Foundation: 1. Identifying and sorting items from nature 2. Using shapes and variety to create a composition 3. Learning about negative and positive … Read more…
Our school librarian introduced this book to me and I think it is such a sweet story. This book is called Emily’s Blue Period by Cathleen Daly. The illustrations are lovely. This is a story about Emily, whose parents are divorcing and now she has two homes. She goes through her own “blue period” of sadness. Emily was learning about Pablo Picasso, his Blue Period and his collages in her art class. Her art teacher asks the class to … 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…
Aren’t the colors of the fall leaves breathtaking? I scanned some of the leaves that I found on the trees here in Wisconsin. Feel free to print these out, color designs on them with permanent or paint markers, make a collage or just draw from the pictures. They would also look good on a bulletin board. Download the higher resolution version here at TPT for free! The book Leaf Man, by Lois Elhert, would be a great way to … Read more…
I hope you are enjoying your first few weeks back to school! Here is a Reach for the Stars bulletin board my students made as their first art projects. The tape letters were made by 1st graders. I don’t know how people use painter’s tape for this technique, because it just caused my paper to rip. I discovered the Post-it Label Roll which worked great to block out the letters. The kids painted over the label tape with a crayon … Read more…
[cryout-pullquote align=”left|center|right” textalign=”left|center|right” width=”100%”] How do you experience your brain? What does your brain do for you? How can you express the feelings of your brain? [/cryout-pullquote] Students at our school connected with a scientific researcher to create diverse and artistic representations of their brains. I teach art at a school for gifted and talented children. Our students are highly interested and curious about science, so when I was contacted by Ayla Kruis to work with her on a project … 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.
What did I do on our two “cold” days off school this week? Well, besides snuggling under the warm covers and working on some school work, my 4 year old and I made some canvas collages for her bedroom. While I would not necessarily recommend this for a project in an art class, I see no problem introducing appropriation in the context of Pop Art. After all, Andy Warhol used cartoons in his famous art. I observed a really awesome … 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…
Each year, I tend to try something different for Valentine’s Day. I like to spice things up, don’t you? Here are some from the past that I have done. 1. Valentine’s Heart Collages 2. Cool Hands, Warm Heart 3. Easy Clay Hearts for Kindergarten I have made these for Christmas presents, but they would be perfect for Valentine’s Day. 4. Maps of My Heart (by Kindergarten) 5. Styrofoam Printed Valentines Follow @marcia_beckett
