zentangled zebras

My fifth graders just finished up these zentangled zebras and I JUST LOOOOOOOVE THEM! They were large...about 12x18". I had them draw the zebra head, trace it in black Sharpie, and then zentangle until their hearts were content!

The whole point of a Zentangle is to create a state of "zen"...I think maybe half of them were in "zen" and the other half were stressed out trying to think of more designs...or finish!

*If they finished early I had some of them use watercolor on top...will share more of those later!

he wanted to make art

My fire-truck-loving, match-box-car-obsessed son asked me to bring him to MY school the other afternoon to make art. Of course, I obliged! I had some q-tips out from a Kindergarten project and he requested paint.

DANDELIONS.

Love them.

Read more about his art-making adventure over at our collaborative blog www.prekandksharing.blogspot.com!

wacky birds

My Third graders have been working on some awesome glue-resist birds this week that I really wanted to share! First off, I pinned this free downloadable printable on Pinterest. I admit that I love those sort of handouts because they give students choices and inspiration and save tears and frustration. 

The students drew their birds in pencil on a black 12x12" sheet of paper and then traced their birds in white glue. This took an entire class period and we allowed the projects to dry.

 The next week we talked about how the state of the glue had changed: from white, wet, and sticky to clear, dry, and hard. We used chalk pastels to color the birds in. This was their first time learning to blend colors and shades, and to work with chalk in general. It was a bit of a messy experience, but they loved it!

 At the end of the project, I had them use oil pastels to create shapes or designs in the background for a little more visual interest. 

 So far they have turned out amazingly well! The kids love them, too...even though we've sprayed them, I sure hope they make it home intact :) How do you send home oil pastel drawings or chalk drawings?

Happy day, happy art.

Sea (salt) Turtles

Please excuse the lack of posting in the past couple of weeks. I received some "not so nice" comments, which have since been removed, and kind of put me in a blogging funk. I guess you have to take the good with the bad when you put yourself out there, right?!

I saw these adorable Sea Turtles on Pinterest and wanted my fourth graders to do them for our Kids Art Fair project. It's basically a watercolor resist with some rock salt thrown in there for a cool effect in the background.

For this project we used Sax liquid watercolors and Morton's Ice Cream Salt. You can use table salt, too, but I wanted a little chunkier effect (and in case you're wondering, it isn't expensive. The salt was $1.55 for a large box of it and I put some in little cups on each table. We went through 1 1/2 boxes in 5 classes.)

For the designs on the shells, I taught the students how to connect hexagons to form the scoots. I then gave them 6 different color choices in which to color those scoots in, most analogous color schemes.

I do love the way they've turned out, and how the salt "sucks up" some of the moisture from the paint, as well as some of the color from the paint!

I hope to post more this week...but if not, have a wonderful Spring Break!