Giant Rafflesia

Did you know? The Rafflesia is the largest flower in the rainforest! It is also VERY stinky. I didn't know this until my first graders told me and I decided to investigate....they're so smart!

First grade does a unit on the Rainforest that coincides with Earth Day each year. I love that they still do thematic units so I usually hop on board and make art with them that matches their curriculum. THEY LOVE IT (and so do the teachers!)

These are simple flowers that use lots of construction paper, and you can pretty much see how they were constructed, so I'm not going to leave a tutorial....

We used a lot fringing techniques for the leaves and centers of the flowers...and crumpled tissue paper for the seeds.

We used 12x18 papers for the flowers and 18x24 black paper to mount them on. This year I've been doing a ton of projects on very large scale and the kids are loving it!

Look for more Rainforest projects soon!

circle, circle, dot, dot weavings

These were some simple weavings with 1" strips and some 1/2" strips glued on every other one.

Yes, I pre-cut their paper looms for them.
Yes, I realize I'm crazy. I've learned my lesson over the years, though, because watching some students cut looms is A.G.O.N.I.Z.I.N.G. It doesn't matter how many different ways I show them, measure them, etc half of them end up being a total disaster.

The result of my labors? 100% perfect results from EVERY.SINGLE.STUDENT, which to a first grader, is what makes the world go 'round. Their beaming faces after completion make my world go 'round!

we ain't gonna paint no more! (splatter painting)

This book, called "Ain't Gonna Paint No More" by Karen Beaumont (illustrated by David Catrow) is an Art Teacher's delight. It's a sing-songey book about a mischevious little boy who sneaks into his paint stash and gleefully paints himself silly. I am in love with the illustrations in the book, and my kindergartners like to "guess" what body part he's painting next using rhymes.

It's a fitting book to read at the end of the year, too. Guess what? We Ain't Gonna Paint for another 2 months! We might as well enjoy our last couple of days here. *Really you can do this lesson anytime, I just like having projects that really hook the kids in at the end of the school year for my own sanity!

After reading the book, we talk about illustration and self-portraiture. Do we think the boy in the book was a portrait of the illustrator, David Catrow, as a child? Students then draw (in crayon) a self-portrait on 12x18" paper. This is the "clean"version of themselves, the angelic child their parents think they are! On day 2 we put our papers in our splatter box (a big paper towel box---which looks SO lovely on day 7 of this project!) I thin down some red, yellow and blue paints (in case they mix on the paper we still have nice colors and not muddy colors) and show the kids how to shake and splatter.

Needless to say they LOVE it!

The end results make me laugh after a long day of "sit, stop, come here, go there, tie your shoes, put your shoes on, yes you may go to the bathroom, time to clean up, push that chair in".

Happy splatters!

tint and shade collage

This is yet another wonderful idea from www.thechocolatemuffintree.blogspot.com (sorry, Melissa! I don't know why my hyperlink isn't working in Blogger!), adapted for my Kindergarten and First Grade students! This weekend I was, er, shopping at a certain home improvement store and, um, "sampled" a few of their paint sample sheets. I am going to have to hit up another nameless large home improvement store sometime this week for a few (hundered) more!

First off, I cut all the sample sheets in half and put them in a basket on their tables. I had them lay them out in "favorites", primary colors, secondary colors, spectrum order, etc. We then discussed tint and shade. They were to then choose 4 sheets of color(s) they liked and arranged them in their personal space from lightest to darkest.

The trick was that they had to use EVERY SINGLE SCRAP from their four sheets. No one was to throw anything away! We talked about abstract art, also, as they were to NOT make a picture out of anything. We were focusing on color, not on a subject here.

This was really fun and I think I am going to do this next year, adaptable to Picasso faces or something of that sort with my older students! That means a few (twenty-ish) more trips to another unsuspecting home improvement store! Gheesh!!

bunny sculptures

These are great centerpieces, egg-hiding-places, and just all-around wonderful paper sculptures of bunnies! I make these with my Kindergarten and First Graders each year and they love them every single time! Materials you will need: 1 9x9 sheet green paper (for "grass") 2 9x3 pieces of white paper (for the bunnies' bodies) -- you could sub toilet paper tubes for these 1 4 1/2x6 piece of white paper for the ears and feet 1 small piece pink paper (for nose and ears) 1 small piece blue paper (for eyes) wiggle eyes (I use the sticker eyes from SAX Arts) 1 cottonball some crinkly easter grass (just for fun!) I will post a step-by-step tomorrow. My camera is M.I.A and I had to take these from my cell phone!

happy feet!

I saw these on ARTolazzi's website and knew it was the perfect lesson for my first graders and Kindergartners! After all was said and done, they learned a LOT about geometric forms (circles, right triangles, etc) as well as collage!

For the snowflake "frame" they used pieces of cardboard dipped in white paint. They loved it, though some of them got VERY messy. First grade is doing a huge unit on penguins in their classrooms right now, so their teachers want these for writing prompts and for decoration. I love when teachers take a work of art one step further, or extend the lesson into their classes. It truly shows that art can run the course of all subject matters.

Speaking of that, I was reading in People Magazine this past weekend (on their last page- the "Top Five") about actor Ricky Gervaise. The question was for the actor to mention a "hidden or secret talent". He said he's gotten into painting lately. Abstract mostly. He also mentioned that he considered Art to be man's greatest achievement.

My little art heart melted. In this great time of educational uncertainty...some folks get it.

Kindergarten's Composition VI

This is a project inspired by Wassily Kandinsky's Composition series of paintings. I have done this project two ways: one with bleeding watercolors in the background and this one which is done with bleeding tissue paper for the background. Both turn out equally as gorgeous!

We discuss Kandinsky and how he used music as an inspiration for his paintings. As he worked with a composer, his paintings depict the tones and tempos heard in the music. On day one we dedicate the entire class period to painting the background. Of course with the tissue paper I tear all the pieces up and the kids use glue water to "paint" on top of the tissue to make it stick and bleed into the other colors. This usually takes the entire class period.

On day two we take a vote on what kind of music we will listen to while we paint. On this particular day the kids voted on a violin concerto. While the music is playing, the kids use ONLY black paint to "paint what they hear". As you can see on the painting above, she painted long, swirly lines--most likely depicting the long runs you would hear in the concerto.

Whether or not the kids "get it" every one of these projects turns out awesome and SO colorful! These are definitely a favorite every year!

Jasper Johns' Alphabet

Inspired by the Jasper Johns painting "Numbers", I thought this project would be a wonderful way to introduce students to the work of Jasper Johns and to create a piece of Pop Art!

First of all, I pre-folded all the papers. I used 12x18 white paper and folded it into 24 symmetrical boxes. What? You say the alphabet has 26 letters in it?! Well, we'll get to THAT in a minute!

I had the students use ALL CAPITAL letters so they would be uniform. We started with the letter "A". I did the rows like this:

ABCD

EGFHI

JKLM

NOPQR

STUV

WXYZ

On the lines where I had to squeeze 5 letters, we worked in the middle and then out from each side. I didn't tell the kids WHY we did this when we did it, but at the end they told me "oooooh, now I know why we did that!"

After the letters were written we used crayon (sans black and brown) to "color trace"---yes, I told them I invented this thing called color tracing. It's not tracing, it's also coloring. I told them if they didn't use my invention this time they would never be able to use it in the future.

I'm good like that.

Anyway, this will come in verrrrry handy for when you do the watercolor resist on the top of each one! If they don't press hard their letters will disappear under the paint.

For the next portion (day 2), use watercolor paints. I like to use the Crayola 16-color watercolors. There is obviously more of a variety there. Students will use ONE paint color to paint in each box (up to the fold). On the lines where there are 5 letters, they simply make a box around each letter and paint it in.And VOILA! A super-fab piece of Pop Art which is sure to brighten up your fridge. Or classroom. Or office.

Happy Creating!