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/

Fun with Watercolor

Here's a fun way to mix things up with watercolor paints while having some fun learning color mixing and warm/cool colors. I did this project with 12 kindergarten students and it took approximately 1, 45 minute session, and 1, 20-30 minute session.

Supplies needed:

2 large pieces of white construction paper

Scissors

Watercolor paints (primary colors-I used liquid)

Watercolor brushes

Cray-Pals/Oil pastels

Table salt

1/2 water-1/2 rubbing alcohol mix in spray bottle

School Glue

On one sheet of paper instruct the students to draw an ocean floor landscape with bright oil pastels-coral, seaweed, sand, shells, etc.

On the other sheet of white paper, instruct the students on how to draw an octopus.

Now have fun mixing up some warm colors to paint your octopus. While the paint is still wet, spritz with alcohol mixture. This should produce a spotted effect. After this paper dries, instruct students to cut out their octopus.

Next, let students mix up cool colors. Before painting, wet the landscape background and then apply paint. This will cause colors to run and blend together. Before paint dries, shake on an ample amount of table salt for a really cool effect. After this paper dries, have students glue their octopus to their background.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Sun setting on summer

With the cool, crisp air making a surprise visit every now and then, I thought this lesson was a great way to say farewell to summer. I was inspired for this lesson my one of my favorite art lesson girls over at Mary Making. Here's my adaptation to Mary's lesson, Sailboat Collage.

First one hour session: Students used a 9 x 12 canvas board and acrylic paint with texture tool for the background. Lesson objective possibilities are introduction to landscape/horizon line, warm and cool colors, color mixing and texture. I focused mostly on landscapes and warm vs. cool colors. While paint was drying we pulled out some paper in various textures; some handmade, regular, watercolor, etc. We used liquid watercolors to mix and experiment. I put out different sized watercolor brushes, fresh water and spray bottles with a water/rubbing alcohol mix. Students absolutely loved this process.

Second one hour session: Decoupage glue and gold metallic watercolor liquid paint for accents. Students used painted paper and pre-cut stencil shapes and traced their boat parts, added gold highlights, and then after a quick drying time in front of a fan, glued together the collages. Lesson objective possibilities are introduction to watercolor, papers and mediums, collage, fine motor skills. These beautiful masterpieces were all done by 8 year old boys!

Pattern Cats

I have seen this lesson on several sites, but the one that inspired me first was from Techy Teacher (formerly the Art Kids). I break my lesson down into two, one hour sessions. I introduce lines, patterns and shapes, basic watercolor techniques, complementary colors and the American artist Laurel Burch. I have had success with this project from ages 5 all the way up to 12.

In our first session, we meet the artist and talk about how she uses patterns to make her art interesting. Using lines and shapes, I teach them two to three different ways to draw cats. I let them practice first on newsprint, and then have them use a pencil to lightly draw onto their watercolor paper (I encourage them to draw "big"). Then I let them "decorate" their cats and background. Lastly, we trace over the pencil with Sharpie and erase all our pencil lines that still show.

In our second session I let them add more pattern and color accents with oil pastels-I try to limit them to three accent colors. At this point I talk about complementary colors and encourage them to pick a "color scheme" before they start, trying to use complements by each other. Lastly, we go over basic watercolor technique and they paint their cats. I love seeing how unique each one turns out---don't they make you smile!

Fall art classes

Fall art classes started in September and I can't believe it's already the middle of October. I have two classes, one after school and one homeschool class. The fall is flying by for me, as I'm sure it is for all of you! I havn't blogged in awhile and I've needed for awhile to get some of this spectacular art work up that my students have done. In my homeschool class we started off talking about lines, patterns and shapes in drawing. In our first project we used watercolor and oil pastels and the girls created some great roosters. Also in the homeschool class we have worked with pastels and learned about abstract landscapes and warm and cool colors. Last week we started our third project and are painting with acrylics and learning to mix our own colors. I love to try to post at least one pic of every student's work, but sometimes my pics just don't turn out....photography isn't my expertise, so sorry if your work is not featured this blog. We get it on here before the semester is over.