Toco Toucans

2nd graders are currently studying South America so of course I had to do a lesson on toucans! We talked more specifically about the Toco toucan and where it lives, what it eats, and what makes it so unique. I demonstrated how to draw the toucans step by step along with a branch and leaves surrounding them. Students loved adding fun details to their rainforests. These were colored in with oil pastels and the background was painted blue.

Paul Klee Castles

Students learned about the artist Paul Klee and Cubism for this project. We studied a few of his works but talked more in depth about the shapes and colors we saw in his Castle and Sun painting. Students were asked to draw their own castle design on orange paper. The castle would then be filled in with different shapes and colored in neatly. The results are so fun and colorful!

African Kente Cloth

This year our school is going global which means each grade level is assigned a part of the world to study. Because of this, I will be teaching as many multicultural lessons as I can. I'm loving this opportunity to grow and expand my art knowledge. Since 3rd grade is studying Africa, I decided to start with a fun weaving lesson. Kente Cloth originated in Ghana and is known for it's elaborate pattern and colors. Kente cloth is worn for celebrations such as weddings, graduations, ceremonies, etc. and can tell a story by its colors. We talked about what each color represents in their culture and then students brainstormed what colors they would choose to represent them as an individual. This is the list of meanings I provided them with:

Red/Orange: Strength

Grey: Healing & cleansing

Black: Maturity

Gold: Wealth & success

Pink: Gentle & sweet

Purple: Protective of others

Blue: Love & harmony

Yellow: Beautiful & royalty

Green: Growth & nature

White: Purity & healing

We used several days weaving different colored paper strips. Some colors were added on top of others for pattern. Once completed, students turned it over to the back and taped up the sides to hold it all together. Small pieces of black string were added to the ends for a cloth like appeal. 

Van Gogh Sunflowers

For this lesson I read Camille and the Sunflowers to the students and showed them a PowerPoint on Vincent Van Gogh. The kids loved his paintings and were sad to hear that he only sold one during his lifetime. We learned about why he chose to paint so many sunflowers at one point in his life and what they represented. The students got a sunflower worksheet along with a pair of dice and used these to complete their drawing. Each number rolled represented a different sunflower or vase shape/design. Gold and yellow paints were used for the sunflowers and neutral colors for the vase. Once dry, they outlined in black crayon. Unfortunately, we ran out of time in the school year for them to sign their names on the vase like Van Gogh did, but I encouraged them to do it once they took it home.

Watermelon Self Portraits

For one of the last projects of the school year I thought it would be fun if the 2nd and 3rd graders did a self portrait eating a watermelon. We drew the picture together step by step and then they were encouraged to tweak it to make it look more like them. Students could add freckles, design their shirt, add jewelry, freckles and whatever else they could think of to make it unique. Oil pastels were used for coloring and the background was painted. A few also chose to add strips of picnic blanket patterned ribbon on the edges. The other half of this project was for them to write a picnic short story. These were stapled to the back of their work and each student presented to their class. I loved hearing their stories of what they packed for their picnic and the woodland animals they shared it with!

Growing Vegetables

I thought Spring would be the perfect time for a vegetable garden themed project! 2nd and 3rd graders learned about several different vegetables, their physical attributes and tips for planting each. It helps to bring in an example of each vegetable for the students to pass around and study. Their artwork shows what the vegetable looks from above and below the ground, which I think is pretty darn cool. We talked about how their greenery is what clues us in on what's growing beneath; they all have unique qualities. The vegetables were drawn in pencil, and then oil pastels were used to outline in specific colors. Paint was used to fill it in. 

Rainforest Snakes

2nd and 3rd graders got to explore the rainforest for this lesson. We learned interesting facts about the rainforest while studying the bountiful plant and animal life that subsides there. I chose to have the students draw rainforest snakes wrapping around a tree. I love the look of this project and was anxious to teach them how. Make sure they have their eraser handy, as it requires a lot of trial and error. They enjoyed drawing it step by step and learning what parts to erase, and what parts of the snake are left in front of the tree. It really shows a lot of depth and they loved how realistic their pictures were becoming. I let them draw their own pattern on the snake but suggested stripes or spots. I then wrote a few common snake color combinations on the board for them to choose from. I told them that if they wanted their snakes to continue looking realistic, that pink or purple isn't going to do lol Large rainforest plants and flowers were added on the sides of the paper and a background color was painted. I love that some actually included rain drops!

Frida Kahlo Portraits

I introduced the fabulous Frida Kahlo to 2nd and 3rd graders for this project. We read a few books about her and studied some of her self portraits and the details inside of them. The students loved learning her life story and how she used painting as an outlet. The students got to study more about facial proportions by drawing and painting their own Frida Kahlo portrait. They also got to design fun jewelry to add to their Frida and add colorful flowers into her hair. This was a really fun lesson overall.

Winter Cardinals

I've seen a few winter cardinal lessons on Pinterest and they all looked too cute not to try. I introduced this lesson by saying that the pine tree, or famously known as the Christmas tree, was our state tree and the cardinal is out state bird. The kids thought this was so cool! I decided to incorporate both into the artwork. The first day was used to sketch out our bird and tree and then outlined in Sharpie. Even though I taught every class to draw it the same way, I love that they all end up with different personalities :) Oil pastels provided the perfect pop of bright red for our bird, followed by coloring our tree branch and a few green needles. A blue of their choice was painted on the background. The last step was the most fun. I gave out white paint and cue tips. They used these to paint snow dots falling from the sky. A few even put layered snow on their branches, which I thought was such a sweet idea!

Desert Landscapes

2nd and 3rd graders learned about the artist Sushe Felix and studied her beautiful and colorful landscapes. We also read the book Desert Giant which contained many interesting facts about cactus. The first day of this lesson was spent painting a piece of paper using green and yellow colors. This would be set aside to dry. The second day of this lesson was spent layering strips of bright tissue paper onto another white paper using a glue and water mixture. They could choose any sunset colors they wished. A brown piece was placed near the bottom of the page to represent the desert ground. On the third day we got to bring our desert landscapes to life! We cut 3 different shaped cactus out of our painted paper, glued them onto the background, and then used Sharpie to draw ridge lines and sharp needles along the outline of our cactus. Some students chose to cut cute white flowers from scrap paper to add to their cactus.

Exploding 3-D Shapes

2nd and 3rd graders got to reinforce what they have already learned from math in their regular classrooms for this art lesson. They were asked to write the difference between 2-D and 3-D shapes and then to recall and label several 3-D shapes. We turned this into an art lesson by using one point perspective and learning about certain color groups. Students drew a dot in the middle of a vanilla colored paper and then traced already cut out shapes around the sides. 4-5 shapes was plenty. They then drew lines going from the shape corners to the middle dot using rulers. Any corner that would have a line going THROUGH the shape wasn't allowed. Students then colored the line sections with analogous colors, which are any that are close together on the color wheel. This was hard for some of them to understand but I just repeated myself a lot, haha. Their design was then cut out very carefully and glued down onto one of the complimentary colors. They could choose any color that was across from the colors they already used for their shapes. This also took them awhile to grasp but they got it. I love how they look!

Aliens Love Underpants

For this lesson I read the book Aliens Love Underpants to 2nd and 3rd grade. We looked at the different styles and designs of the underpants on each page. Afterwards, they were to cut out their own alien and design their own underpants for him to wear. Each child chose a shade of green construction paper to draw their alien onto, which I demonstrated. This was cut out and glued onto their space/planet background which was also made out of construction paper. They then added as many eyes as they wanted to their alien and used a marker to draw a mouth. The underwear was cut from scrap white paper. I showed them how to hold the paper up to their alien's waist to determine how big to draw it. Then came time to draw patterns/designs onto the underwear. Markers were used to color them in. Gold and silver star stickers were added for extra detail. When their artwork was finished I gave them a sheet of paper with questions that they had to fill in. They had to name their alien, describe his/her personality, name the planet they came from, and describe the underwear they designed. These were of course presented and admired the next week!

The Scream!

I saw the idea of children placing themselves into The Scream painting on Pinterest and I loved it! I had to try it out with 2nd and 3rd grade. I started by showing them a slideshow about the painting. They learned the back story behind it, about the artist, and that there were actually several different versions made. This allowed them to see the effects of using different mediums on different surfaces which was pretty cool. Before beginning the drawing aspect of the artwork I had them write a paragraph of a time they felt scared. This set the mood for the lesson. A few got stuck and couldn't think of anything at first but I also told them that describing a bad dream would work too. When they were done with this, we started by drawing our open mouthed scream faces, with hands on our cheeks. Then we added the long black cape garment that we saw in the original painting. Next came the bridge and swirly lined sky. Their drawing was outlined in Sharpie and then colored and painted in. I made sure to include a presentation day where the kids could go to the front and hold up their scream picture while reading their scary tale from the back.

Wayne Thiebaud Ice Cream Cones

For this lesson the students studied the artist Wayne Thiebaud, who is famous for his paintings of delicious desserts. They also learned how to make different values of their paint color by adding tints and shades. Each child started with a white piece of paper with a cross drawn across it, making 4 sections. I gave each table group a different ice-cream color and then walked around to add white or black at different times and they filled in each section of their paper with a different value that they mixed. After these were dry, each section was cut into an ice-cream scoop shape. Students got to choose a background color and then created a waffle cone from paper. The last step was glueing them on top of their cone with the lightest scoop on top and the darkest on the bottom. A cherry was added for fun :)

Radial Symmetry Designs

Students learned about radial symmetry. We looked at examples of radial symmetry in nature such as snowflakes and flowers and then looked at human-made radial symmetry such as crop circles and mandalas. Students were told they were going to create their own mandala design using what they just learned, as well as their knowledge of fractions. We practiced cutting different sized colored circles into 1/2, 1/4, and 1/8 fractions. They used these pieces to come up with their own unique design. Each of their designs had to have a central point and similar patterns rotating around. Some students got the concept right away and others struggled. I just kept reminding them that for each colored shape they glued down, it needed to have a "twin" right across from it on the other side of the central point. I showed them how they could layer the colors and have fun with color combinations. The results are quite fun!

Henri Rousseau Tigers

Students learned about the French artist Henri Rousseau and studied his jungle paintings. I drew out the tiger step by step as they followed along and then gave them a black marker to outline and color in the stripes, nose and pupil of the eye. A yellow marker was given to color the rest of the eye. The next day they were given orange paint to fill in the tiger and blue for the background. On the last day of the project they were given several shades of green construction paper squares in different sizes. I showed them examples of different types of plant life to include in their artwork such as grass, leaves and vines so to create a jungle around their tiger. The idea was to show overlapping and variety in their work. They drew out each piece, cut it out and arranged it around the sides of their picture however they wanted. This project was done with 2nd and 3rd grade.