Asian Panda Bears

1st graders are currently studying Asia so we made some panda bears in art class! I began the lesson by sharing a few interesting facts about them and then we watched a short educational Youtube clip about them. I also read the book Zen Shorts because it features a very wise panda bear. For the first day of the project students got a bright red paper for their background. Then, they were given a sheet of black paper to draw a big hill for their panda bears body. This was then glued down to the bottom of their red paper. Next, students cut a a large circle from a piece of white paper to glue down for their panda's head. A smaller piece of black paper was handed out to cut out half circles for their panda's ears. The next day students added black ovals for eye spots and eyeballs. A white tummy was added and then little black arms. A Sharpie was used to make black dots in the eyes and a mouth. The last day was used to make bamboo for their panda. Long strips of light green paper were glued to their background. They even got to add a smaller piece in the panda's hand if they wanted. Little dark green leaves were added and then a green oil pastel was used to draw lines on their bamboo.

Australian Koala Bears

Kindergarten is currently studying Australia so I thought it was fitting that we create some cute and cuddly koala bears. I started the lesson by sharing some interesting facts about koalas and showing them a short YouTube clip about them. I then read them the book Koala Lou. They pointed out the different features of koalas, their big ears and nose, grey fur, sharp claws, etc. On the first day every student got a grey piece of paper. They then drew a large oval for the body, and two half circles for the ears. I showed them how to add white paint inside the ears, for the eyes, and some for the mouth. This was left to dry. The next day students cut out their koala shape and glued it onto a dark blue piece of paper. A long strip of brown paper was added for a tree branch and then they cut leaves from green pieces of paper. They also used black paper to cut out a big oval for its nose. On the third day, students were given more grey paper to cut an arm and a leg for the koala. These were glued so that it looks like the koala is holding onto the tree. Finally, a Sharpie marker was used to add the black dot in the eyes, a mouth, and claws.

Christmas Tree Forests

Kindergarten and 1st graders created these Christmas tree forests right before Christmas break. We started by painting a snowy ground on a blue piece of paper and then used cue tips to make snow falling from the sky. The next day was used to mod podge different shades of green tissue paper to a half sheet of white paper. The last day was used to cut out long triangles from the green paper, and glue down to our background. Short brown rectangles were added for the tree trunks. This makes for a simple and beautiful winter project their parents are sure to frame!

Detailed Snowflakes

4th and 5th grades are learning about Wilson Bentley, the snowflake man. He really is a great inspiration. He pursued what he loved, despite others not understanding his passion. He was the first to photograph a snowflake and became obsessed with capturing as many as he could. The images are breathtaking and remind me of how awesome our God really is! I taught the 4th and 5th graders how to cut a snowflake from pre cut white paper circles. After folding the circle in half 3 times, I told them to make cuts from the top, bottom, and both sides. They were encouraged to cut out really unique shapes that will create interesting details when opened up. The kids had a lot of fun with this. For the final project they had to choose 3 of their favorite to put into a collage. I found that having 2 smaller snowflakes and 1 bigger snowflake, looks really well. Some students added even more tiny ones into their collage, but hey, I loved it!!! Each of their snowflakes were glued onto different colored blue or black paper and then cut out again to leave a color border. This really made their snowflakes POP! All 3 were glued onto a larger sheet of blue or black paper. Any parts of the snowflake that hung off were trimmed. The time and hard work clearly shows in their finished pieces!

Art Club Color Wheel

I've dreamed of doing this for awhile now and to make it happen makes me so happy! I bought a huge piece of sturdy but thin board at a local art shop and sketched out a huge color wheel on the front. I then put my Art Club to work, mwuahahaha! I asked the school staff to donate any magazines they had laying around and added them to my already growing collection. The students went through them and cut out all the different color combinations they could find. We started with filling in the pure colors first (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet) and moved on to the blended colors afterwards. It gave them a better eye at naming colors and looking at pictures in a new light. Some colors were harder to find than others for sure. For example, we really lucked out at finding greenish-yellow but had to really hunt for reddish-purple and reddish-orange. I did most of the work modge-podging the cut pieces together in each section, and believe me, this took weeks. The border and back were painted black, since I didn't feel the brown made the colors pop. I'm thrilled to have this piece in my art room for students to gain inspiration. It's fun to look closer and see the objects and characters in each section :)

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.

Tissue Collage Self Portraits

This was Kindergarten and 1st grade's first attempt at drawing themselves in the art room. We first looked at a couple of famous self portraits from the artist Frida Kahlo and Vincent Van Gogh. Students pointed out interesting things in the paintings such as that the artists included things they loved (Van Gogh including paint and paintbrushes and Kahlo including her pets.) We also discussed the reasons one might have for creating a self portrait. Before we got started on our art, we did a little standing up exercise to get to know our bodies better. I had them stretch their arms to the air, feel how their shoulders come out from their neck, find out where their elbows and fingers stopped on their sides, touch their feet, etc. This got them thinking about placement. I told them we would be drawing a full body self portrait. Once they sat down and had a sheet of paper in front of them, we started with our heads at the top of the paper. I gave them sample sheets of how to draw hair, eyes, nose, and mouths. They liked having the different options to choose from. We then drew everything step by step all the way down to the feet. Students were given free reign on how to design their outfit, shoes, etc. They were given a Sharpie to trace and sign their name on the side of their self portrait. These were cut out bubble style and glued down onto a tissue paper background completed the next week. To make this project a fun momento for their parents, I had them fill out a little "About Me" paper on the back asking how old they were, what their favorite color and animal was, etc. How fun will they be to look back on in 20 years?

Alma Woodsey Thomas Paper Designs

We started out Art Club this year by talking about the art of African-American artist Alma Woodsey Thomas. She recently became a favorite of mine because of her long career as an art educator and love for children. Her works are both intricate and colorful and so much fun to look at. The students made their own unique designs out of pieces of paper. "The Eclipse" was our inspiration. We started by choosing any color background. They then traced the inside of a masking tape roll in the corner of their paper. This was used as a guide for them to start making rings. I gave them free reign with the color choices and patterns. Cutting their pieces the same size for each ring was encouraged as to keep the circle from becoming misshapen. This project can be time-consuming but totally worth it!

"The Eclipse" by Alma Woodsey Thomas

Wayne Thiebaud Gum Ball Machines

Students learned about the artist Wayne Theibaud and his famous dessert paintings. For this project, we were inspired by his gum ball machines. The first day was spent printing different colored gum balls onto a white circle. To create ours, we used some cute circle sponge printers I found at Michael's that worked PERFECTLY. I passed out a small dish of paint on each table with 2-3 sponges each. Each table had a different color to start with and then they were rotated around so that eventually all colors were used by each student. For each color they did 4 balls. I had to really emphasize sharing and waiting their turn. Surprisingly, they handled it super well. The next day was spent constructing our gum ball machines with pieces of paper. I demonstrated which piece went where. The last step was giving them a Sharpie and having them write 25 cents on the front. 

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.