Mouse Paint!

I have to admit I found this point on another art education blog but totally fell in love with this lesson! I have been doing Mouse Paint for years to introduce coloring mixing but really liked how this teacher incorporated two author/illustrators.

After reading both stories, student doing a coloring mixing worksheet they can use during their painting portion of their lesson.

Let the coloring mixing begin!

Paper Sculptures

PK, Kindergarten and 1st grade artists took their lines and shapes into the third dimension! They created paper sculptures, thinking about different ways to change and manipulate their flat piece of paper to turn it into a 3-D line or shape.

We began by learning about the difference between two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects. We thought about how we could change a piece of paper from 2-D to 3-D, just by using our hands. We came up with a few different techniques, including folding and bending the paper. We learned how to fold it to make a zig-zag line, and how to fold the ends of a curved piece of paper to create feet to help it stand up when glued. 

We experimented with paper before beginning to work on our own 3-D sculptures. Starting with a cardboard base, we added colorful 3-D lines and shapes by changing the paper. We discovered even more ways we could change the paper, and creative ways to connect and add them to our sculptures. We also focused on using the appropriate amount of glue!

As we were building, many of us realized that our sculptures reminded us of playgrounds and amusement parks! 

Line Challenge!

We have been learning about line across many 

different grade levels. Lines are a basic element of art, and we noticed that once we started looking, we could see them everywhere around us!

PK, Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade artists drew a variety of different lines in their "line challenges," using crayons to draw straight lines, zig zag lines, and even some lines that they invented from their imagination:

During the next class, we explored what happens when we add paint on top of our crayon lines. We realized that we could still see the crayon lines showing through, because the wax-based crayon and water-based paint resist each other.

Jim Dine, Hearts

This project started as a study of color mixing and making painted paper for our Eric Carle unit. But with Valentine's day right around the corner and soooo many beautiful painted papers we looked at the painted hearts by Jim Dine and then created our own. The results were gorgous and

each one unique!

 

 

Nutcracker

Since it is Nutcracker season, the music teacher and I decided to put together a unit on ballet and storytelling. Here are the beginnings of our nutcracker drawings in class.
To make the nutcracker figure, student had to trace a 4"x6" rectangle for the body, and then 1"x4" rectangle for the arms and legs and then 2" square for the head and then again for the hat.
After the tracing they then had visuals of different nutcrackers they could copy or design their own. Marker was the best media for this because of its easy for coloring and its brightness.

 

Blind Contour Drawing

To start a unit on observation drawing, students started with a warm up activity of doing blind contours of thier friends. They really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun. The best part was watching me do it and how off my my blind contour was. It got a good laugh but it was a good lesson in how blind contours are really blind and aren't suppose to be perfect!

Painting with Teddy

Breaking down objects into simple shapes is one of the best ways to learn to draw. Here first graders learned how to first draw a teddy bear using circles, ovals and rectangles. The following class they got to decorate their bear like they were at "Build a Bear" Workshop.

Outter Space Collage

Students continue using their knowledge of line to create wonderful, fanciful planets for an outter space collage. The most exciting part of the project through seems to be the splatter painting for the stars.

Mondrain's Composition

First graders got their first look at Mondrain's Composition paintings when studying the art element of line. They then created their own using horizontal and vertical lines to create "windows" for their primary colors.