Shaving cream snowman art lesson with tutorial

This post has been one of my most popular lessons that I have shared. I still get hits on this post everyday, and I originally posted it over three years ago. Since we had our first snow yesterday here in Northwest Arkansas, I thought I'd share it again for my new readers. It's such a fun project and has such great results.

2012-Since we didn't get enough snow this year to build a snowman, I thought it would be fun to take some snow to my daughter's class with this fun project. I've seen lots of different recipes and suggestions online about how to make puffy paint out of shaving cream and glue, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I bought three cans of shaving cream at the dollar store, and it was more than enough for 18 students to create a snowman on an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of construction paper. Since these were first graders, and I had limited time, so I pre cut the hat, eyes, nose, and scarves.

We divided into 3 groups of 6 and let each group make their own bowl of snow by filling up their bowl with shaving cream...

And then squirting a bunch of glue on top and mixing. So fun... and messy!

Most of the "recipes" I read online called for equal parts of glue and shaving cream. We just added enough to give it a firmer, sticky texture.

Drew our "B" with white crayon for the body, off the side of the page (perspective).

Smoothed on the snow with small spoons and then topped with glitter. The snowflakes were made with q-tips and white paint.

Then stuck all the details into our snowman.

I always love to incorporate literature into fun projects like this. Just as simple as reading a book before doing the lesson. This would even be a fun project to do at home with preschoolers.

Here's some great recommendations for snowman books that would go well with this project.

I was very pleased with this lesson...cute results, the kids had a blast, and it was a fun way to incorporate a lot of different learning ideas. My daughter's class just finished studying the weather so this tied in with their unit perfectly.

WARNING: This project is VERY messy : )

Art and Children's Literature

Some of my favorite books are the "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a..... Pie, Fly, etc..." series. They are so much fun! Here's a fun little enrichment art lesson I did with my daughter's first grade class. And let me just say how much I am amazed by you art teacher's out there who teach more than 7 kids at a time, like I normally do. I taught 19 kids for this lesson and I was worn out! I learned a lot though-always a great experience to teach in a different setting. The kids were great, but 19 asking for help is a little overwhelming when you're used to smaller numbers!

Here's my sample. I drew my foods on separate paper and then we taped them onto the plate as the teacher read the story. There are a lot of enrichment opportunities with this, and I'm sure you academic teachers out there could think of even more, but here's what I came up with. We had a visual for memory of story order; we talked about what kind of story (fiction or non); we talked about traditions in our own homes; and talked about our own favorite Thanksgiving foods and what food groups they were in. We also had fun imagining our own stories as they made themselves with big bellies of food. You could also introduce fractions with the pie plate sections. 

I told the students to draw themselves instead of the old lady. I instructed them to draw in pencil first on a large piece of construction paper. Then they used crayons to go over the pencil lines and filled in with watercolor paints.

We listed their favorite foods on the board and I drew some of them out for them. Then they drew their favorites on their plate and colored them in. The plates are attached with a metal brad so they turn as you tell your own story.

Happy Thanksgiving! Don't eat too much!

Linking up my story art up over at:

http://www.amommysadventures.com/

Art and Literature-Splat the Cat

Thought you might want a break from painting workshops. I've been trying to go through some past lessons. Here's a great lesson combining Art and Literature.

I've posted once before on a lesson (see post HERE) I purchased from  Deep Space Sparkle.  Last spring I ordered one of Patty's Art and Literature PDF lesson plans for just $5.00. I was totally impressed with the lessons, and the results! It was well worth the $5.00. The lessons are perfect for younger children; they have easy to follow directions and templates; and they incorporate great, age appropriate books. I did these with my daughter's kindergarten class this year. She had a blast making her Splat the Cat. 

Art and Literature

Like many of you art teachers out there, I follow Deep Space Sparkle, Out of this World Art Lessons for Kids blog. Last spring I ordered one of Patty's Art and Literature PDF lesson plans for just $5.00. I finally got around to using them this fall in my daughter's kindergarten class, and I was totally impressed with the lessons, and the results! It was well worth the $5.00. The lessons are perfect for younger children; they have easy to follow directions and templates; and they incorporate great, age appropriate books. Plus, the kids LOVED them-in this particular lesson they went crazy over getting to decorate their hats! We had 13 children and about 45 minutes to complete the project. Most students finished except for gluing on the hat. We had a few that finished up the next class day. Here's some pics. You can click on the link below to get to Patty's blog and here's the link for the specific PDF that I ordered.

All of the supplies needed for the projects were already available in the classroom except for the items needed to decorate the hats. I just brought some leftover ribbon scraps, yarn, buttons, etc., from home.

Can't wait to do another one!