Valentine’s Day is coming! I love heart-related art projects. These concentric hearts were made by my second graders last year. We talked about the art concepts of concentric shapes and patterns. For more Valentine’s Day projects, look at these past blog posts.
Lines are an excellent starting point for lessons with Kindergarteners. To begin this line unit, we read the book Lines That Wiggle. The students used colored tape to make straight lines across their paper. We talked about horizontal, vertical, diagonal and ziz-zag lines. During the next class period, the students used tempera cakes to paint a variety of lines: wavy, loopy, dotted, dashed, squiggly, spiral, jagged and more. Aren’t these lovely and expressive? After the painting project, we moved … Read more…
Aren’t we always looking for ways to relate to other subjects? This project is perfect to connect with your music program at school. Materials you will need: plastic Easter eggs (one per child) plastic spoons (2 per child) bean, rice or plastic beads for the inside to create the noise masking tape Elmer’s Art Paste bowl, water, whisk (to mix the paper mache paste) paper towels paint decorative washi tape Goals: make connections between music and art learn about maracas … Read more…
Another printmaking experiment for you! I bought some felt ornaments and sparkly snowflake decorations from Target on clearance. Valentine’s Day is also a good time to get decorations. Here is how I created the background shown below. Snowflake: Place the snowflake decoration on the page. Use spray inks to spray over the snowflake (I like the Dylusions Ink Spray, but you can also make your own by pouring liquid watercolor into a small makeup spray bottle.) Star: Use an brayer … Read more…
I checked out the book Print & Stamp Lab from the library and there was a cool idea in there with printing with paper clips (among many other found objects.) When I was at Target, I found these cool purple paperclips and decided to try it out. First, find a scrap wooden block to use as a base. Place layers of double stick tape on top of the block. Firmly press your paper clips on to the base. You can … Read more…
Hi! I hope you all had a very merry holiday season. We had a great December here, other than our kiln setting off a sprinkler at school and causing some minor flooding and damage. (That was a disaster.) I usually do a year in review on my blog every year just for funsies and it makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something. First I will share my personal highlights (in chronological order) and then I will share the 10 most … Read more…
Henri Matisse is one of my favorite artists. I love his bold colors and beautiful shapes. While teaching about patterns, painting, collage and shapes, I recently introduced his artwork to my kindergarteners and 1st graders. First, we learned about his artwork through this Henri Matisse presentation. We also read the book called Oooh! Matisse, which is a fun, colorful book (but not very informative about his artwork.) The book is good for discussing and thinking about the shapes in his … Read more…
