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Primary Colors & Piet Mondrian

Primary Colors & Piet Mondrian

Materials you will need: images of Piet Mondrian’s artwork construction paper precut black strips glue stick red, yellow and blue crayons (or markers) scissors Goals: identify, describe and analyze the artwork of Piet Mondrian use balance and space to create an interesting composition develop fine motor skills by using glue sticks and coloring solidly identify the primary colors Steps: 1.  Show and discuss the artworks of Piet Mondrian.  Ask the students to describe the artworks and tell about his style … Read more…

Accordion Books | Drawing Scientific Specimens | 3rd Grade

Accordion Books | Drawing Scientific Specimens | 3rd Grade

Did that get your attention?  How about this? The Science teachers at my school often have the kids create drawings about what they are studying.  One of them asked if I wanted to coordinate and have my third graders do more observational drawing.  I borrowed these fun scientific specimens and some plants from the school greenhouse for my students to draw. If you want to buy some of your own specimens, they are not cheap, but once you have them … Read more…

Veteran’s Day Poppy Posters

Have you seen the art installation of ceramic poppies at the Tower of London?  It is amazing!  If you follow that link, there is a video about how the installation was made. The poppy is a remembrance symbol for soldiers who have died in war.  The symbol comes from the poem “In Flander’s Field”, where poppies grew in a field over the graves of soldiers. Each year, our 5th/6th grade class gets a visit from the wife of a veteran, … Read more…

Day of the Dead | Symmetrical Paper Skulls | 1st Grade

Day of the Dead | Symmetrical Paper Skulls | 1st Grade

October 31 to November 2 is the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead.  My first grade students learned about the celebration a bit in their Spanish class and then in art class, we read a story about the holiday and drew these symmetrical skull pictures.  The book we read was Day of the Dead, by Tony Johnston.  It’s a nice story with great pictures.  My only complaint is that the book is very very small, so the kids have to … Read more…

Fall Leaf Printable

Fall Leaf Printable

Aren’t the colors of the fall leaves breathtaking?  I scanned some of the leaves that I found on the trees here in Wisconsin.  Feel free to print these out, color designs on them with permanent or paint markers, make a collage or just draw from the pictures.  They would also look good on a bulletin board. Download the higher resolution version here at TPT for free!   The book Leaf Man, by Lois Elhert, would be a great way to … Read more…

William Wegman: Photomontage Project for Kids

William Wegman:  Photomontage Project for Kids

My third grade students learned about the photography, films, paintings and children’s books by contemporary artist William Wegman.  I actually talked to Bill on the phone and had an interview with him, which you can read in this blog post. William Wegman is known for his anthropomorphic photos of dogs dressed in various costumes. Anthropomorphic means giving human characteristics to animals (or other non-human things.) We read his books, watched some of his short films and saw pictures of his … Read more…