Sponge Bouquet

This project was such a fun one (but can quickly become a messy one if you're not careful). We started out talking about bouquets and vases. Then we went over painting rules. I then did a demo for the kids. We all did the first part together, where each student and I had a colored piece of construction paper (9"x6" I think). Together, we folded the piece of paper in half and then cut out our vases by cutting the paper in half (parallel with the fold) using a creative line. We then unfolded our newly cut vases and glued them to our 9"x12" white paper.
At this point, I did a demo for the class showing them how to creat their flowers. I began by painting some flower centers above my vase. You can use one color, or make them different colors. Then, I painted one side of my petal-shaped sponge and then sponged all the way around one of the centers. I then painted it again using a different color and sponged another flower. I then passed out all of the supplies and let the kids get to creating:)

I love how creative this little artist was. She painted a table and decorated her vase all on her own:)

Wet Sea Turtles

How could you not be pumped to create sea turtles after watching this?

I showed this to the class first to get them excited for sea turtles, and they loved it. We then discussed the difference between regular turtles and sea turtles. I then had them create their turtles using pencil and then crayon on watercolor paper (only use watercolor paper for this project!). After they were done drawing, I let them paint over the whole thing with watercolors. I had them use "ocean colors" ie: blue, green, purple... Then, while the paint was still wet, we layed a piece of plastic wrap over each project until it dried to create the neat, light-water-reflection over each sea turtle.This was a great project to follow up their sheep crayon resist project. *don't forget to have them write their names on the back before painting:)

Chinese New Year Wishing Tree

I had my second grade classes continue learning about Chinese New Year after our lantern project. I taught them about the wishing tree in Hong Kong and then showed them how to create their own wish papers for our class wishing tree. I provided them with a large selection of Chinese characters to draw onto their red paper. I then had them paint with glue right on their pencil lines and then sprinkle gold or silver glittler over it so the characters came out looking awesome and glittery. I had students only glue and glitter one charcter at a time, though. Because some of the glue would dry too fast if the painted all of their characters first before putting the glitter on. I then had them hole-punch the tops and tie a piece of yarn to it so it was all ready to hang. I then hung them in the classroom until after Chinese New Year.

Joy, friendship, and water, I think

Hearts of Line

We started this lesson by leanring about line and I showed the kids many different examples of lines and how lines can even form shapes. I then had them each work with a 12"x12" sheet of white drawing paper. We first folded it in half, and then folded it in half again, this created four equal square to draw in. I then had the students use pencil to draw hearts in each square and then fill them in with line designs. I also encouraged them to put line designs in the background as well. I provided heart stencils if the kids wanted to use those to help them draw. When they were done drawing, they then colored over all of their lines with markers to finish their project.

Kandinsky Color Diamond

I got this lesson from this site. We bagan by looking at this example of Kandinsky's work. I then

gave each student a 12"x12" square sheet of white drawing paper and had then fold it in half, and then fold it in half again. When they opened it, they had created 4 equal squares. They then began in the center of the paper, in one of the squares corners. Using oil pastels, they started with creating a little triangle and then creating blocks of color from the center out. Some of the kids made patterns with their colors, while others simply used as many colors as they could.

City Under the Moon

This is a great project to help the kiddos practice their cutting skills. They were amazed when I showed them the secret to cutting out squares and rectangles (I showed then you could cut straight strips off the side of their sheet of paper then then cut it in half/thirds/whatever). This project was also fun because we got to splatter paint. With kindergartners, this could get messy really fast, so I did a demo to show exactly how to splatter the paint. I began with the paintbrush about 2-3 inches horizontal above the paper. I then began making "baby karate chops" on the brush and it created little, controlled splatters. Next, I showed how to swirl the paintbrush to create a moon. While this dried, the students worked on cutting out their buildings. I showed them many examples of the different shapes they could make their buildings.

Here are some student's work. Some got pretty creative and added shooting stars all on their own

*Make sure to emphasize that the paint used for the stars and moon is paint, not glue. I don't know how a few of the kids got confused, but they tried to glue down their buildings using the paint.

All-In-One

This project hits it all: Line, shape, and pattern! Simply start by creating a line that goes all over your paper. It will overlap itself, go up and down, make different shapes, and end on the other side of the paper. Then have students identify shapes that they have created. They now have the option of filling in shapes with solid color or a pattern. Encourage plenty of variety and the projects turn out amazing!







Here are a few student examples created by some of my kindergartners