Tag Archives: art books

Best Art Projects of the Year: Kindergarten

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Last year I did 11 super-successful art projects with the kindergarteners. It feels so good when every kid in the class is happy with their artwork!

Here are the best projects of the year for Kindergarten – our greatest hits of 2012-13 – organized by season.

best projects of the year 2 primary grades

Fall/Winter:

best projects of the year primary grades

Spring

kindergarten stick puppets

I did the following projects from my favorite art education blogs.  I highly recommend:

Note which season we completed the art projects.  Kindergarteners develop so much during the school year. I would never do my spring projects the first weeks of school! Most kids just aren’t ready yet. Be patient – they will be by late spring.
Have a great school year!
Enjoy!

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!

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don't let the pigeon

Don’t let that naughty pigeon drive your helicopter or play with the car keys!

 

Apparently I am the last parent on earth who hadn’t read Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems. I will use the lame excuse that my sons are teenagers, and that this hilarious book wasn’t yet written when they were in their prime story time years. I became enlightened when I saw this post on the Shine Brite Zamorano blog. 

This book is hilarious. The pigeon is simple to draw – he is a nice collection of circles and lines. I’ve included a YouTube video so you can do this project right now.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V10jhsNIMI8

Materials

  • 9″x12″ gray construction paper
  • yellow and white Construction Paper Crayons
  • Sharpie
  • 12″x18″ construction paper for background
  • scissors
  • glue sticks
  • copy paper, 8.5″x11″
  • crayons or markers

Day 1: Read book. Discuss naughty pigeon behavior! Pass out copy paper. Use your crayons or markers to draw something the pigeon should not be touching.

Day 2: Draw pigeon on gray construction paper using Sharpie. Note circular eye and pupil, egg-shaped head, and simple half circle for the body. Skip the legs. Color in the eye, beak and neck band with construction paper crayons.

Now cut out the pigeon. Glue the pigeon and drawing to a large piece of colored construction paper. Use Sharpie to draw legs on the paper.

Hilarious first grade results:

‘Don’t let the pigeon eat pizza otherwise he will get greasy’

Don't let the pigeon smash the gum ball machine.

Don’t let the pigeon smash the gum ball machine.

This could definitely be modified for a sub plan: 1) show the video/read the book 2) do a directed draw of pigeon 3) have students show pigeon doing something naughty.

If you want to know a little more about author Mo Willems, check out this video:

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Mondrian Cake, Rothko Pie and Dali Salad

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Want to make a Mondrian cake?  Rothko’s favorite pie? Dali’s salad? Check these out, just in time for Mother’s Day.

Mondrian Cake from Modern Art Desserts

Modern Art Desserts by Caitlin Freeman

Modern Art Desserts is a brand-new cookbook by Caitlin Freeman, pastry chef at San Francisco MOMA’s in-house cafe. She has the AWESOME job of creating desserts that look like the artworks in the museum.

Watch Caitlin make her Mondrian cake here:

 

This would make a fun Mother’s Day gift (or art club challenge!).

Rothko’s Pie from The Artist’s Palate

Rothko apple pieFor a traditional (and easier) dessert, make Mom Mark Rothko’s Birthday Apple Pie. It was his favorite – his wife made it every year for his birthday. Click here for the recipe . The Artist’s Palate cookbook contains recipes and complete menus for lots of artist-inspired meals.

Dali’s Salad from MoMA Artists’ Cookbook

Back in the ’70s, New York’s MoMA published Museum of Modern Art Artists’ Cook Book. The cookbook is full of interviews, anecdotes and RECIPES from 30 modern artists of the day.

MoMA cookbook

Click here for recipes by

  • Louise Bourgeois
  • Robert Motherwell
  • Dali
  • De Koonig

As cookbooks go, this one is the wild card. In truth, the artistic Mom in your life may prefer you DON’T make her the Dali salad for Mother’s Day brunch. But what did you expect from Dali? Cole slaw? Try De Koonig’s Dutch Breakfast instead.

(Thanks to ACraven blog for posting the recipes)

Hope you have a great Mother’s Day with the artistic lady in your life.

Enjoy!

How to Make a Calder Mobile

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I love Alexander Calder! I teach a Calder wire project each year, but I have never successfully made a Calder-inspired mobile. Until now!

I recently received this 1975 edition of Making Things: Book 2. The Handbook of Creative Discovery by Ann Wiseman. Inside this gloriously illustrated book I found these  instructions for making Calder mobiles:

Making Things Book 2 – Handbook of Creative Discovery by Ann Wiseman. ISBN-10: 0316948519

 

Easy to follow step by step illustrations for a variety of mobiles

 

I decided to test it out with items I had on hand in the art room.

Materials for first mobile:

  • 18-inch pre-cut Stem Wire (AKA floral wire) 20 gauge
  • construction paper
  • scissors
  • hole punch
  • pliers (note: I didn’t have any pliers so I just did this with my hands)
  • AND A BALANCING FINGER 🙂

 

Materials for making a simple Calder-inspired mobile

 


Ms. Wiseman tells us mobiles are built from the bottom up. Aha!

Success! A 4-tier mobile!

Now for my second mobile. I made this mobile using Ann Wiseman’s illustrations and Peel & Stick Foam Sheets.

Calder-inspired mobile made with wire and self-adhesive craft foam.

To add interesting organic shapes, sandwich wires between matching pieces of self-adhesive craft foam.

If you choose to make these multiple tier wire mobiles, try it yourself first, be patient, and expect a lot trial and error. Balancing those wires is tricky and takes practice. I think these projects would be great for middle and high school students.

If you want to try this with a whole class of upper elementary students, I would keep it simple. Stick with one or two wires. Check out this project from Meet the Masters. I like how they have three degrees of difficulty and incorporate a stabile as a base.

Illustration from Meet the Masters website.

 

Here are some more ideas for Calder mobiles for kids:

If you love Calder, you might like my previous Calder posts:

Enjoy!

Have you ever made a mobile with your students? 

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Note: This post contains affiliate links.

Note: post updated 12/30/13

Digital Comic Museum: Vintage Comics To Read Online for Free

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I just learned about a fabulous free resource – the Digital Comic Museum. You can download complete vintage comic books for free! Most are from the comic book Golden Age (1930s-40s) and all are in the public domain and copyright free. Majority are US comics with a handful of Canadian and Australian/New Zealand titles.

This is a fabulous resource for SO MANY LESSON PLANS in art, art history, design, illustration, graphic arts, U.S. history, propaganda and communications at every level from upper elementary through college.

(Note: if you read Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay YOU MUST CHECK OUT THIS SITE! It is a like a visual companion to the novel).

I read about the DCM on Free Technology for Teachers. If you are a blogger or a teacher, please check out their site for lots of great resources.

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