Grab your markers! Show this fabulous video from Handimania and your students will create beautiful 3D hand art. I will use chisel-tip markers (Mr. Sketch brand is good) and Crayola markers next time I teach this project.
This would be a great sub plan!
Enjoy!
Mr. Sketch Scented Marker Sets (compensated affiliate link)
Did you know the new national art standards went online in June? Go to nationalartsstandards.org and check them out.
(Pssss…Did you notice the graphics on the website look like they belong in a periodic table?)
I tried out Scratch, the free kid-friendly coding website from MIT. The website has great step by step directions for creating animated name art using drag and drop commands. It took me a little while to get the hang of it, but soon I was able to get my letters to make sounds, change colors, bounce and rotate. Scratch provides ready-made letters, or you can draw your own. You can also upload your own files for the background or for individual letters.
Here’s my attempt. For letter ‘I’, I found an image of the Chrysler Building and erased the background. (Please note – this animation requires Flash and cannot be viewed on iPads).
I liked Scratch a lot. There are tons of student-made name art examples to inspire you. Scratch lets you look at the code (‘script’) inside everyone’s creations. You can even remix other folk’s creations.
Scratch requires Flash – unfortunately you can’t use it with iPads.
Enjoy!
Here’s an easy end-of-year art project that has no clean up yet teaches about texture.
Materials:
Copy paper
Pieces of lace, approx. 14″ long
Peeled crayons – variety of colors
First we talk about physical texture. Students run their fingers along the lace. They described the lace as ‘bumpy’ or ‘rough’. Next we folded the copy paper horizontally (‘hamburger’) and sandwiched the lace inside, parallel to the crease. Students closed their papers and rubbed the covered lace with a peeled crayon.
The kindergarteners and first graders were AMAZED when the lace texture appeared on the paper. We opened the papers, scooted the lace over an inch or so, and repeated the process with a variety of peeled crayons. Within a few minutes, students had a lovely striped lace paper.
Physical vs Visual Texture
We had a quick discussion about physical and visual texture. Students ran their hands over their crayon art. How did the paper feel? Did it feel the same as the lace? The bumpy lace has texture you can feel. This is physical (tactile) texture. The rubbing has texture we can see but not feel. .This illusion of texture is called visual texture.
I showed students a laminated poster of Durer’s hare. I instructed them to close their eyes and imagine petting the rabbit’s soft fur. They agreed the artists had done a great job painting the hare so that the fur looked real (visual texture). I let them touch the laminated card – it just felt like smooth plastic. The art just had visual, but not physical texture.
We went on to create crayon rubbings of other textured items such as cardboard coffee sleeves and pennies. They loved rubbings – one student said it was the best thing we did all year.
Enjoy!
What’s your best end-of-year art project?
It’s the last week of art class and the weather is lovely. For their final project, the 5th and 6th graders did observational drawings of the weeds in our school garden.
Materials:
Clipboards
Copy paper
Colored pencils
Weeds
Each student picks one weed from the ground. They should try to keep the root intact. Weeds must be no longer than the paper.
Clip paper to board, then clip top of weed to the left side of the board (left-handed kids should clip weed on the right).
Draw a scale drawing of the weed.
Start with a long stem line. Mark leaf placement with short lines alone the stem line. Then draw the contour of the leaves. Look closely at the leaf veins and draw them. Add flowers and roots. Finally, draw irregularities such as bite marks.
What a fabulous way to end the art year. We practiced our drawing skills and weeded the garden path. Bonus!
Happy summer!
Enjoy!
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