Our fifth graders are starting their mask unit, just in time for Halloween. We kicked off the project with ‘Mask Day’: the kids tried on my entire international mask collection, plus an assortment of student-made masks.
I placed masks on all the tables and the kids rotated through. To keep the students even more engaged, I asked them to guess which materials were used to make the various masks. It turns out the hardest to identify were 1) the bark cloth on the Peruvian jaguar mask and 2) the coconuts on the round Indonesian masks.
We are now building our own plaster masks. You can see last year’s mask-making process and final results in this post, this post and this post. Kids look forward to this project for years – it is messy but so totally worth it. Stay tuned for updates!
Sharpies or other permanent marker, black and colored
spray glue
small squares of felt
q-tips
pencil/erasers
Students began by writing their names in pencil on cardboard. They traced their names in glue, then yarn.
Students write their names in glue and yarn.
Next they added decorative glue/yarn lines. I sprayed the plates with spray glue and slapped on a piece of pre-cut foil.
Students carefully polished the foil with felt squares. This helps the foil adhere to the cardboard and smooths the foil. A q-tip is good for polishing tight areas. Finally, they got to the best part: coloring in with jewel-tone colored Sharpies. Black sharpie looks good too! Remind students to avoid coloring the raised yarn lines.
scissors (blunt tip kindergarten scissors are fine)
optional embellishments: pre-cut 18″ Stem Wire (I use 20- and 26-gauge), colored wire (such as Twisteez), Pony Beads, sequins
Pre-cut floral wire (AKA stem wire) and sculpture wire
Session one:
To practice, give each child a piece of paper, marker and an 18 inch piece of wire. Kids should write their first initial on the paper. They may print or use cursive. They they trace their written letter in wire.
100% of 10- and 11-year-old students could do this by the end of the first 40 minute session.
Session two:
Give each child a piece of paper, marker and a 6 ft. length of sculpture wire. They should write out their first name in marker this time. They may print or use cursive, then trace their name in wire.
Write out name on paper, trace with sculpture wire (teacher example).
Did you notice? I added a single pony bead to dot each lower case ‘i’ and ‘j’.
There should be a lot of excess wire at the end of the wire name. Students should loop the excess wire back, and attach to the beginning of the name with a quick twist. Voila! Name art with hanger!
Approximately 85% of 10 and 11 year olds were able to make their names in wire. I would recommend struggling students create a larger, single initial.
Session three (optional):
Want to take it further? Offer pony beads, sequins, and super-fine wire (I use pre-cut 18 inch 26-gauge stem wire).
Students can string the hanger wire with pony beads. They can clip the excess wire with (kindergarten!!) scissors. They can thread a bead or sequin onto 26-gauge wire and tie a knot around it.
Some students created small sculptures to embellish their name art.
Robby suspended his name from his sculpture.
Milan made a tiny mouse.
Riley perched a peacock on her name art.
How nice these will look on the students’ walls at home!
This would be a nice tie in to an Alexander Calder project. Check out my other Calder wire projects: wire sculpture and wire portraits.
Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Amazon and Blick Art Materials. I have been using Blick’s 14 gauge sculpture wire for 9 years and I love it!
Fourth graders use markers to make landscape name art. Allow two 40-minute sessions.
Looking for quick, fun name art project? Here is the colorful project that gives 100% success and lets you get to know your students.
Students made a simple landscapes using curved lines. Each section was filled with a single repeated word. One section had to filled with the student’s name; the other sections had to be filled with single repeated words that described the student in some way. Students incorporated their pets, favorite subjects (yay art!), sports, activities, family members and favorite foods.
Looking for an exciting name art project? How about introducing a famous artist at the same time? Try this Paul Klee-inspired graphic name art project.
Second graders create name art in the style of Paul Klee. Allow 1-2 40 minute classes. Artwork by Tyler.
Start out by introducing artworks by Paul Klee. This project is inspired by his graphic works such as Castle and Sun. WikiPaintings has lots of images of his art. Click here, here, here, and hereto see some of Klee’s other graphic artworks. This is a good time to talk about abstract art.
Students should turn their paper horizontally. They write their names in pencil, using all capital letters. Encourage students to S-T-R-E-T-C-H their letters from the bottom to the top of the paper (note: students with long names may need to draw extra skinny letters, use longer paper, or perhaps use their nicknames). The letters can touch the left and right sides of the paper AND touch each other: letters such as ‘E’, ‘F’ and ‘K’ look more abstract when drawn in this manner.
After they are pleased with the layout, they trace over their pencil lines in white oil pastel.
Students write their name in white oil pastel, then fill in the spaces with colored pastels.
Next they color in the spaces in their name. Encourage them to use a variety of colors, although it is fine to repeat colors. Students must not color in with black pastels.
Completed second grade art:
Randie
Flynn
Jax
Chris
Kian
Show students the completed projects and ask if they can read the artist’s name. Successful artworks are often abstracted to the point it is challenging to see the artist’s name! How does this compare to Klee’s graphic artworks?
This lesson plan was inspired by (or abstracted from!) this fabulous post on the Kids Artists blog.
Enjoy!
Do you have a favorite name art lesson plan for the beginning of the year?
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