This is a fun art project I like to use to get students exploring different types of materials at the beginning of the year. It’s also a low-pressure way to introduce mixed media and abstract art. Set up the room by placing a wide variety of art materials in a centrally located place in your room. The way this works is that you start by drawing an abstract design on your paper using a variety of shapes and lines to … Read more…
This was a super fun multi-day, mixed media project with a lot of different techniques and processes. Day One: Start by painting papers with a paint scraping technique. Use scraps of cardboard dipped into neon paint (Amazon affiliate links have been used at no extra cost to you- the money goes towards maintaining my blog and buying art supplies) and scrape across your paper to create an interesting textured effect. Make several pieces of paper in different colors. Leave these … Read more…
I saw this post by the Art Bar Blog which gave me the idea to make these cylinder sculptures with my 1st graders. We started with toilet paper tubes and paper rectangles rolled into tubes. The best way to adhere these is to pour out some liquid glue onto a paper plate, then stick the ends of the tubes into the glue. We also used washi tape, colorful straws, pipe cleaners and pom-poms for added interest and texture.
In my last post, I showed you some of Sabrina Ward Harrison’s artwork and talked about what she shared with us at her artist visit. Her artwork is very inspiring, messy and beautiful. Please check out the other post to learn all about this artist. After the presentation, smaller groups of kids in grades 3-6 had a collage workshop with Sabrina. She demonstrated how to use Mod-Podge to paste down pieces of her pinwheel shape. While she demonstrated the pinwheel … 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…
Another printmaking experiment for you! I bought some felt ornaments and sparkly snowflake decorations from Target on clearance. Valentine’s Day is also a good time to get decorations. Here is how I created the background shown below. Snowflake: Place the snowflake decoration on the page. Use spray inks to spray over the snowflake (I like the Dylusions Ink Spray, but you can also make your own by pouring liquid watercolor into a small makeup spray bottle.) Star: Use an brayer … Read more…
Remember these samples I got from the Pacon company? Several of you were curious about the multi-media art paper, so I decided to test it out. I primarily use watercolor and collage in my personal art and I am always looking for good paper to use. I first tested this out by painting shapes and patterns with watercolor. I do tend to use quite a bit of water when blending colors. Here are the results. Here are the pictures (without … Read more…
A self portrait is one of those art projects that is always fun to do with kids. Kids often struggle to portray an accurate likeness of themselves (at least in their opinion), but their personality always shines through. I did not come up with this lesson all on my own. I saw something similar in an art ed. magazine years ago and adapted it and reused this one many times. In my opinion, that’s a great way to collect a … Read more…
