This is a fun, one-day project for kids that teaches about positive and negative space and is good for spatial awareness. I taught this to my 1st graders and most of them understood the concepts and some of them needed help. First, positive space is the shape you cut out of the paper. Negative space is the shape left behind. You will need one sheet of background paper 8.5″ x 11″ and a color rectangle of paper that is half … Read more…
Last blog post, I showed how to make different types of painted papers with watercolor paints. We are still doing distance learning, so my students did this lesson at home. These are the slides that I used to show them how to make a shape collage. Shape is an element of art. I like to show a lot of examples from different artists, contemporary and modern.
I found this cute book called My Very Silly Monster Book of Shapes. I read this book to my Kindergartners and then we did a shape monster art project similar to the shape monsters seen on this blog. After reading the book, the kindergarteners were given the choice of several different shape templates: rectangles, ovals, stars, hexagons, squares, etc. They traced the template onto construction paper. Then, I demonstrated how to make eyes by cutting circles from white squares, then … Read more…
I am always trying to come up with new ideas for my youngest students to experience painting in a successful way, learn about important art concepts and still be able to use their creativity. In this lesson, the goals were the following: Students will… Practice using a paintbrush properly. Learn about the qualities of watercolors through instruction and exploration. Experiment with watercolor resist. Be able to identify common shapes such as circle, diamond, triangle, trapezoid, star, square, oval, rectangle, heart and … Read more…
Hi friends! I was given a free set of Maped Watercolor Pencils to review. I decided to practice my skills at making videos and I did a review of these pencils. Stay tuned! In my next blog post, I will give a demonstration of how to use Maped Watercolor Pencils to make a beautiful doodled painting. If you would like to purchase a set, click here: Maped Watercolor Pencils (affiliate links have been used.)
This is a very simple, but satisfying process I tried with 1st graders. All you need is a pencil, some stencils and watercolors. Over the years I have collected all kinds of stencils from garage sales, thrift stores, donations and catalogs. I have them all in a big box for kids to pick from. Sharpies are optional and can be used to trace over lines. The first step is to use the stencils to draw shapes, write words and make designs. This … Read more…
For me it is always a challenge to keep up with Kindergarten art projects. I see my classes twice per week for 40 minutes, so they get to do a lot of art! They go through lessons and projects quickly, their attention spans are short and they have difficulty sometimes with very basic skills. Here are three Kindergarten art lessons that are fairly easy to prepare for, teach important art concepts and use the same selection of materials. The first … Read more…
