Enjoy!
Tag Archives: Mother’s Day
Modigliani Portraits of Mom
Our first graders just completed their Mother’s Day project – portraits of their Moms in the style of Amadeo Modigliani.
Day 1: Learn about Modigliani’s style; practice drawing.
We talked about how the artist’s style included almond-shaped eyes, long skinny noses, tiny lips, and long thin necks. Click here for my Modigliani powerpoint. Students did a practice drawing of Mom on copy paper.
I didn’t focus on Modigliani’s life as much of it was tragic. Click here to learn a bit more about Modigliani’s life.
Day 2: Draw portrait, color with oil pastel
We drew our portraits on watercolor paper using pencil. We colored with oil pastels. I offered several skin color options. Students were encouraged to rub two colors of oil pastel in the background.
First grade results:
I taught this project before – click here to see more examples of student work. This project would work really well for Father’s Day – Modigliani made many portraits of men.
Educate the parents
This year I sent the classroom teachers an explanatory email with images of Modigliani’s work and a link to his biography. The email will go home in the weekly classroom newsletter. (Why? Last year a mother commented she didn’t understand her gift – when I explained she said she had never heard of Modigliani).
Here is a 2-minute video of Modigliani’s portraits of women.
Enjoy!
CD Case Greeting Cards
Got old CD cases? Here’s a great way to use them: create greeting cards using oil pastels and Sharpie. Our 5th and 6th graders made Valentines, birthday cards and more during a single 40-minute class.
Materials:
- CD jewel cases (trays removed)
- oil pastels
- Sharpies
- rubbing alcohol
- baby oil
- baby wipes for clean up
Several students made birthday cards. One made a farewell card. Another made a card consoling his father on the Bronco’s loss in the Superbowl.
Sharpie on the Outside, Oil Pastel on the inside
Students start by drawing a design on the front of the CD case using a black Sharpie. Then they open up the case and color the inside with oil pastel. The process is repeated on the back of the case. A lot of students wrote personal messages on the back of the case.
Correcting Mistakes:
It’s easy to fix mistakes. Rubbing alcohol will remove Sharpie. Baby oil will remove oil pastel. Our 5th and 6th graders fixed their own mistakes.
Keep it neat:
CD cases trap the oil pastel-mess on the inside of the case. These greeting cards can travel home without making a mess in the backpack.
At clean up time, wipe down the tables with baby wipes.
EASY! Plus you are keeping those old CD cases out of the dump!
Enjoy!
Kindergarten Cookie Collage
Our kindergarteners just finished a fun paper cookie collage project. We used real cookie cutters as tracers to create our own paper cookies. Here’s one ‘cookie cutter art project’ you and your students will really enjoy.
Materials:
- large colorful paper plates, one per person
- paper doilies, one per person
- manila paper, 9″x12″
- construction paper, light brown and dark brown, 9″x12″
- cookie cutters in simple shapes (star, heart, bell, gingerbread men)
- circle tracers (old lids)
- pencil
- construction paper crayons
- optional: metallic crayons
- glue stick
- scissors
Kindergarteners trace real cookie cutters onto brown paper, decorate with construction paper crayons, and glue onto a paper plate. Allow 60 minutes.
The Art Project
Pass out brown papers and a variety of cutters for each table. Students trace a cutter, then swap cutters with their neighbors. We were able to fit about five large ‘cookies’ on each sheet of paper.
Decorate with ‘frosting’ (color with construction paper crayons).
Now get the paper plate ready. Rub glue stick all over the front of the plate, place doily on glue and pat down. Cut out the cookies and use glue sick to attach them to the doily. Overlapping is fine.
We added a few final decorations with metallic crayons.
The project was inspired by this post from ARTASTIC!
Connections to literature:
Mr. Cookie Baker
What’ll I do differently next time:
- Use embellishments (glitter, beads, yarn, etc.)
- Have a ‘cookie exchange’ so kids can swap with a friend
- Use a variety of colored paper plates and doilies
- Adjust the project for Valentine’s Day (heart cutters, red plate) or Mother’s Day.
Enjoy!
P.S. Want to see more food-related projects for kindergarten? Check out these Common Core-aligned lesson plans from San Diego’s New Children’s Museum.
Mondrian Cake, Rothko Pie and Dali Salad
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 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
For 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
Dali’s Salad from MoMA Artists’ Cookbook
Back in the ’70s, New York’s MoMA published Museum of Modern Art Artists’ Cook Book
- 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!
