Have you seen the free how-to-draw videos from Shoo Rayner? He just posted a Mayflower drawing video which would be great for middle and high school. I love how he shows the whole drawing process, from a light pencil sketch to a finished pen drawing.
Shoo has lots of other fabulous drawing videos. If you have students who love to draw (and parents who allow them to access YouTube), please let them know about these fabulous videos. They will stay very busy over the winter break!
Enjoy!
Kindergarteners LOVE dinosaurs. Here’s a 100% successful project based on the book If the Dinosaurs Came Back
Look at all those lines! I can see zig zag, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, wavy….
We read the book, noting the many rectangular buildings and windows. It was an opportunity to practice all the lines we have learned in kindergarten so far. We could see wavy, zig zag, diagonal, vertical, horizontal, dotted and dashed lines in the illustrations. Next we drew the background with Sharpie.
Day 1: create a background city.
I passed out colored paper scraps to each table. There were only two rules: the dinosaur had to be at least as big as your hand, and it had to be one color. The kids used glue stick to create the collage, then added more details (and more lines, shapes and patterns) with Sharpie.
This year Common Core is creeping into our curriculum, even in the art room. We’re encouraged to incorporate literature into everything. I was thrilled to do 100% successful lesson that emphasized line and shape AND tied in to a book. Hurray!
Enjoy!
If you are looking for a super-successful step-by-step Mayflower drawing, head right over to Art Projects for Kids. I downloaded Kathy Barbro’s excellent instructions and taught the lesson to our third graders. Result: 100% success!!!! CLICK HERE for the instructions.
Materials:
I absolutely love Crayola Color Sticks for this project. The white sails really stands out on the light brown paper. Kids can layer colors, or create bright solid color areas using heavy hand pressure.
Have a happy holiday!
Enjoy!
If you are looking for a whole-class art project, artprojectsforkids.org also has nice downloadable murals for all the holidays.
Second grader’s food collage includes a carrot, egg and celery.
Are you looking for an engaging collage project? Try this ‘feast on a plate’ felt food collage project from San Diego’s New Children’s Museum.
I recently toured the Museum’s new food-themed exhibit FEAST: The Art of Playing with Your Food. I found a group of children at an art-making station, happily creating their own collage feasts out of colorful cut felt. I saw felt eggs, bacon, celery, blueberries, and mini-waffles all arranged and glued to paper plates.
Third grader’s plate includes bacon and mini-waffles created from felt and other fabric scraps.
The New Children’s Museum has this lesson plan online, complete with connections to nutrition, visual arts and common core standards. Click here for the Eat More Art! 60-minute food collage lesson plan.
Food sculptures made by rolling fabric and wrapping with yarn (teacher example).
This would be a fabulous idea for a Thanksgiving feast art project!
Whether you are a parent or a teacher, be sure to check out the New Children’s Museum when you visit San Diego. The museum offers art-making activities for children EVERY DAY. I wrote more about the museum in this post and this post.
Enjoy!
How do artists create an illusion of depth in their art? Muralists know how. Our fourth graders are creating a mural of the kelp forest habitat. To practice, we picked two items from the kelp forest – giant kelp and garibaldi (the California state marine fish) – and drew each one three times.
We started out by defining the foreground, middle ground and background. Next we talked about:
*placement (objects placed lower on the page appear closer)
*Size (larger objects appear closer)
*Overlap
*Warm and cool colors (warm colors come forward and cool colors recede)
*Value (lighter objects appear further away)
The students then viewed their completed sketches from a distance. They were happy to see the illusion if depth in their sketches.
Nice work! I think they are ready to paint the mural….
Enjoy!
