This mark making forest project is a great way to experiment with print making. This fun nature art invitation is perfect for kids grades K-6
It's the last week of art class and the weather is lovely. For their final project, the 5th and 6th graders did observational drawings of the weeds in our school garden. Materials: Clipboards Copy paper Colored pencils Weeds Each student picks one weed from the ground. They should try to keep the root intact. Weeds must be no longer than the paper. Clip paper to board, then clip top of weed to the left side of the board (left-handed kids should clip weed on the right). Draw a scale drawing of the weed. Start with a long stem line. Mark leaf placement with short lines alone the stem line. Then draw the contour of the leaves. Look closely at the leaf veins and draw them. Add flowers and roots. Finally, draw irregularities such as bite marks. What a fabulous way to end the art year. We practiced our drawing skills and weeded the garden path. Bonus! Happy summer! Enjoy! \ Share this:EmailPrintGoogleFacebookTwitterMoreStumbleUpon
Every year, I choose a new theme for my art show. This year's theme was the Art of Asia. I have begun thinking about next year, and t...
This mark making forest project is a great way to experiment with print making. This fun nature art invitation is perfect for kids grades K-6
Fourth graders are so enthusiastic about creating these Chinese dragons. We talked about the difference between the European dragon and the Chinese dragon. The Chinese dragon is a symbol of good luck and wisdom. It is a symbol of power for people who are worthy of it and a creature to be feared by fools and evildoers. The European dragon on the other hand is typically an unruly dreadful beast feared by all for its ruthlessness. We talked about how the appearance of the Chinese dragon has changed over time. It has become a creature that flies with a serpent's body, hawk claws, cow ears and the whiskers and scales of a carp (koi). We also learned the Chinese Waterfall Legend. It tells if the koi fish that swam up the Yellow river against the current and tried for 100 years to jump up the waterfall. When he finally made it, he became a dragon that chases pearls of wisdom. We talked about the life lessons that this story teaches us such as perseverance. The dragon is a huge part of Chinese culture and makes many appearances at celebrations. We also watched some dragon dance videos while we worked. Notice that it is chasing a pearl of wisdom! The main art concept that we talked about during this project was color blending. We talked about how to layer colors to blend, and we talked about using water to help colors to smoothly transition on our papers. Does it Blend Well? YES: 2 Primary Colors, 2 Analogous Colors (next door neighbors on the color wheel) NO: 3 Primary Colors, Complementary Colors (opposites on the color wheel), Secondary Colors When we talk about blending, I explain that our goal is to use vibrant rainbow colors on our artwork, so it's important to know how to avoid brown. Next, we do some color math. I explain that to make brown, you combine all 3 primary colors. I write out this basic equation on the board... Red+Yellow+Blue = Brown Then, we simplify the equation a variety of ways: If, R+Y=O, and Y+B=G, and R+B=P, and R+Y+B= Brown then... (R+Y)+B= O+B = Brown ...or... (Y+B)+R= G+R = Brown ...or... (R+B)+Y= P+Y = Brown As it turns out, when we simplify the equation we end up with complementary pairs: (notice that these are on the "NO" list). Orange and Blue Green and Red Purple and Yellow Why can't we blend secondary colors together Mrs. Seitz? To answer this question we expand the equations and discover that all 3 of the primary colors are present in the mixtures. Orange + Green = (R+Y)+(B+Y) Green + Purple = (Y+B)+(R+B) Purple + Orange = (B+R)+(R+Y) The color math really helps the kids understand the reasons behind what works and what doesn't. It also gives them a way to figure it out if they haven't memorized what works. When I teach it this way, it creates an ah-ha moment for many of the kids. At this point in the year, my 4th graders are really quite good with color concepts because we have already done our Kandinsky color mixing lesson with fractions! Learning Goals: I can... - Explain the difference between Chinese and European dragons - Tell about Chinese dragons - Blend using analogous colors (next door neighbors) - Give examples of colors that do and do not blend well
Koi Fish are a favorite subject of many art teachers for obvious reasons; they’re relatively easy to draw and have wonderful markings. Most of the lessons I’ve seen have been done with watercolor paints. I would have done the same but my sixth grade students hadn’t yet worked in tempera paint so I needed for
Inside you'll find an easy step-by-step Scream Art Project Tutorial and Scream Art Coloring Page. Stop by and download yours for free.
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This week, kindergarten continued their exploration of line, and started these fun line paintings! We used a new medium, to them, oil pastels and tempera cakes. 😄 Here's how we did it! Materials: Sax 90lb paper Crayola Oil Pastels Jack Richeson Semi-Moist tempera cakes First, we reviewed the different types of lines. Then, I showed them how to draw the lines from side to side of their (vertical) paper. I also talked about how you need to make the lines dark with the oil pastels, or they won't show up as well,when you paint. After that, I went over each color with the tempera cakes paint. I used rainbow colors, but told them they could use different colors if they liked. Many of them have not ever painted before, so we discussed how to hold a paint brush on the grip part of the handle, and to not get on the metal part of the brush. (As Cassie Stephens says, "the DANGER ZONE!") We go over the process of DIP, WIPE, and SWIRL, in the tempera cakes. We dip it in the water, wipe it on the rim of the cup, and swirl our brushes gently in the paint. We wanted our paint to go side to side as well, and try to stay in the lines we created. Here's some great artists from Mrs. Garcia's kindergarten class! Stay tuned for more awesome art! After the kids get done painting, we're going to use shapes (another element of art) to turn them into monsters! inspired by Georgetown Elementary's blog! I'll get them to draw the monster shape, on the back, with me Then, we'll draw the shapes out on black and white paper. If they want to go a step further, they can add accessories! Ms. Placha's class has some super cut and scary monsters!! Great job Mrs. Garcia's class! Here's some scary cute little monsters from Mrs. C. Campbell's class! Here's some super spooky, and precious monsters from Mr. Gonzalez' class! Here's Mrs. Kerr's adorable little monsters! “Lauren Stacey is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.”
5th grade artists had fun learning about the artwork by Grant Wood, "American Gothic." We also watched the video, "Dropping in on Grant Wood," and talked about what a parody is. We looked a large variety of ways that people have done parodies of this famous American artwork. We then researched and designed our own Grant Wood parody, and then sketched 2 different ideas on a sketch paper. After choosing our best idea, we transferred it onto a larger paper. We loved looking at each other's funny and creative ideas! When we colored with crayon, we made to sure to include some of the coloring techniques that we have practiced such as: blending one color into another, layering colors, and color mixing. Check out these unique masterpieces! On the last day, we always try to have an extension activity like an "art challenge!" For those early finishers. Learning Goals: I can recognize the art of Grant Wood. I can discuss the life of Grant Wood. I can describe what a parody is. I can create my own parody using characters of my choice. I can use coloring techniques such as blending, layering and mixing crayons and watercolor paints.
Kids of all ages LOVE this super fun art technique!
We’re learning about Spain in Kindergarten right now and the kids are totally fascinated by Picasso. I am too. I didn’t know there was a battle over who invented collage, Pablo Picass…
Last week my class made these adorable frog artworks. We read a frog based story that complemented our unit of work on water. I cannot remember the title, but when I am back at school I will find it! Here are just a few of them. I started with a 'directed drawing' and then guided the students through completing their artwork with oil pastel and a thin paint wash. We mounted them on thin card and then drew a few white oil pastel clouds on them also. My students loved making these and they were so proud of themselves. You can find the lesson details from my program page HERE Have you completed any frog themed artworks? - Mel
At home art lessons for kids. Andy Warhol art history and art projects. Art lessons for kids pre-k - 6th grade. Great for homeschooling.
Want a break from your basic positive/negative space Notan project? This project not only covers positive and negative space but it also covers color theory and line variation. Teacher Sample Mater…
4th graders looked at the art and life of Jean Dubuffet. He was interested in the artwork of children. He watched in wonder as untrained art...
This Chinese Vase Art Lesson is a simple, fast and effective lesson. Using white paper, fold in half and draw half a vase.
Students will explore the elements of line and texture while learning the technique for printmaking in this Autumn lesson of swirling leaves. Grades 2-4.
This past week turned out to be much more fun that I had originally planned! To a preschool child, insects are either "WOW" or "yucky", but much to my surprise, my class thought they were "WOW"! Lucky me! One of my all time MOST favorite books is . . . . . The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle So naturally we spent an entire day discussing not only the book but caterpillars too! Everyone had a great time making the very own hungry caterpillar. Balloons made the perfect round shape! The children used their fingers to make the antennas. They drew on their own noses and legs. I think Eric Carle would be very proud, don't you? We also started making our "Name Caterpillars". This is one of my all time favorites. Each child counts the letters in their name and picks out that many circles. Next, they write each of the letters on a circle. Finally, we get to put it all together, add a head, some legs and . . . . . A close up view of Jon Brook's caterpillar. WOW, he has a long name! After our caterpillar day on Monday, we spent Tuesday talking about butterflies. It was really fun walking around the school fluttering like butterflies. We made beautiful butterflies by putting big blobs of paint on one side of our butterfly cutouts. Next we folded the paper and squished it. It was very messy We added a cute little thorax complete with an adorable little face and antennas. Wednesday was so much fun! We spent the entire day talking about bees! And yes, we "buzzed" the entire day! We also made the cutest little bumble bee ever! Everyone loved using the tiny paint brushes to paint on the stripes. Thursday was all about ladybugs and of course we had to read The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle. Again, this is one of our favorite books (to be honest, I am a HUGE Eric Carle fan!). Our ladybug was not quite as "grouchy". One student said, "she had already eaten her dinner and wasn't mean anymore!". I LOVE IT! I found a number of great ideas for the using The Grouchy Ladybug on The Official Eric Carle Website. Check it out for more ideas. Because of a threat of severe weather, our school day was cut short on Thursday. (Remember, we are in Central, Alabama and severe weather usually means tornadoes!) Anyway . . . we spent what little time we did have reading and talking about Eric Carle's book The Very Lonely Firefly . Again, here are some more fun activities for The Very Lonely Firefly Friday was spent talking about insects and all their distinct characteristics. Each child made their very own personalized insects and decided if they would fly, hop or crawl. We also talked about what their insects liked to eat! We also "at an insect"! We headed to the kitchen and put together a yummy insect out of good 'ole 'Nilla Wafers, pretzels, raisins and "I"cing! YUM! No one seemed to mind eating these insects! Thanks for visiting with us and I hope you stop back by next week - we will be talking about "birds"!
Hi! I recently finished rewriting my K-6 art curriculum plan. We are required to do this every 4 years. You can see my first blog post about organizing curriculum that I wrote a few years back. I use the curriculum plan as a guide for my yearly planning. If students are interested in one area of art more than another, I tend to adapt my plans. If I have a brilliant idea for something new I want to try with … Read more... →
Fifth and sixth grade artists started making their Egyptian masks today in art class. They worked in groups of three: one student lay plaster strips on another's face, while the third read stories or replenished supplies. The whole process ran smoothly and demonstrated trust, responsibility and control.
This chalk pastel galaxy art project is out of this world! Kids will love using easy chalk pastel techniques to create this stunning galaxy craft.
At home art lessons for kids. Andy Warhol art history and art projects. Art lessons for kids pre-k - 6th grade. Great for homeschooling.
Well hello there! You have reached a member's only page. If you are already a member, please log in below. If you would like to become a member, please join us for instant access to all of our amazing art lessons (and more). If you have questions about becoming a member (and […]
After a day of practicing landscapes and zentangle patterns, 7th grade students were asked to combine the two ideas into an abstract drawing. Tomorrow we'll be adding a couple of scratch-art collage pieces to create contrast and emphasis. Check back soon for more progress!
Well, here it is. I present to you my absolute favorite art project ever for junior grade students. I saw the idea just yesterday mo...
