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Tag Archives: patterns

Georgia O’Keeffe and Flower Paintings for Kids

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Four vibrant flower paintings, labeled as a Georgia O'Keeffe study, set against a purple background with the title below.

I love these tempera paint flowers that are inspired by the artwork of Georgia O’Keeffe.   These close-up paintings were created by my 2nd grade students last year. The children used photo references to draw large flowers. Then, they painted with colors and finally, outlined in black paint.  I really love the white polka dot on black background in the top right picture.  I may suggest a patterned background to students next time I teach this project.     To tie in … Read more… →

Fun Art Process with Stencils and Watercolor Paints

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Colorful dinosaur and moon doodles, with a name and the brand "Nike" in children's handwriting, created using watercolor paints.

This is a very simple, but satisfying process I tried with 1st graders.  All you need is a pencil, some stencils and watercolors. Over the years I have collected all kinds of stencils from garage sales, thrift stores, donations and catalogs.  I have them all in a big box for kids to pick from.  Sharpies are optional and can be used to trace over lines. The first step is to use the stencils to draw shapes, write words and make designs.  This … Read more… →

Abstract Shape Collages and Artist Reggie Laurent

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Abstract painting with colorful, irregular shapes and patterns. Artist Reggie Laurent's influence is evident in the vibrant abstract shape collages.

Reggie Laurent:  Contemporary Artist Reggie Laurent is a self-taught artist living in Georgia.  He creates very intricate abstract shape paintings.  I saw his paintings online and I was immediately drawn to all of the fun patterns and colors. My first graders learned about his abstract pictures. They are filled with lots of different shapes, fitted together like a puzzle.  His artworks are highly detailed and very colorful. Student Shape Collages The students learned about and used organic (freeform) and geometric shapes … Read more… →

Easy End of Year Art Project: Collaborative Banners

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Easy End of Year Art Project

Are you looking for an easy end-of-year art project?  On the last days of school, I had some students that needed to finish up art projects and others that really just wanted to be done with the school year.  This was a fun and easy collaborative project that many students opted to participate in. I got the idea from Romero Britto’s word artworks, like this one and I think I may have seem *something similar* somewhere at some time.. but … Read more… →

Group Eagle Bulletin Board with Patterned Feathers

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Group Eagle Bulletin Board with Patterned Feathers

Many of my students contributed feathers to this giant eagle bulletin board.  Our school is Eagle School and I wanted to do a group artwork where many kids could participate in designing a piece of the picture.  I was out sick one day and I had my students each create a patterned feather with the substitute teacher. If your mascot is not an eagle, you could do this bulletin board with a peacock or really any bird would work!

Radial Name Designs: 5th & 6th Grade

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Radial Name Designs: 5th & 6th Grade

These gorgeous radial designs were made by fifth and sixth graders by using their name.  You can see all the steps to make these in a previous blog post.  The only difference is that now we use light tables (or hold it up to a window) to trace the design over and over again.   We focus on learning about the characteristics and history of Islamic art, which connects with their studies in Social Studies class. We love using the … Read more… →

Concentric Patterned Hearts: 2nd Grade

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Concentric Patterned Hearts: 2nd Grade

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.

  • Banner with colorful artwork promoting an art shop featuring kindness coloring pages, artist activities, and resources for teachers.