Third Grade Didgeridoos

The last project that the 3rd graders worked on this year was an Australian didgeridoo.

I started out by reading the book Do You Do a Didgeridoo? to them. It's a very silly, sing song book and they loved it! After that, I showed them a Power Point that I had put together explaining what didgeridoos are, how they are made and at the end, included a YouTube video of an aborigine man playing a real didgeridoo.



After this, we went to the teacher work room and each student got a piece of butcher paper (I let them choose their color). We went back to the room and I had them divide their paper into at least 8 sections. I demonstrated how to fill each section with a Zentangle design using their fine tip black marker (we used quite a few of these- 3rd and 5th grade were both using them and with 200 students using markers, they either dried up or the tips got smashed).


When their designs were completed, I showed them how to take either paper towel rolls or toilet paper rolls (I always haveb large bins outside of my door where students and faculty can drop off any items that they want to recycle, so I had plenty for this project!) and tape them together so that they were long enough for the butcher paper to wrap around.

We used clear packing tape to tape the outside and I have stored these for the summer so that I can put them on display when we go back to school in August.

Unfortunately the pictures are not the best, but hopefully you will get the idea. I think next year, I will give them more than just black markers.....

Pin It

Mehndi Hands

I found this lesson in the April 2011 issue of School Arts magazine. I started the

project out by reading the students the book Nadia's Hands by Karen English and 

Jonathan Weiner. Then we discussed what Mehndi is and compared it to tattoo art, 

which, of course, they are all fascinated by.

I found this wonderful Power Point by Linda Welling that had some great info and really nice photos (I have used a lot of her Power Points in my art room and would like to thank her for the resources and the time and hard work that she has put into them!)

I had them trace their hands onto a piece of watercolor paper at least 2 times.

At this point, I found a couple of YouTube videos that gave good demonstrations of Zentangles.

I had a wide variety of Zentangle resources ready for them to use. They divided each hand into at least 3 sections and then filled each section with a different Zentangle pattern using a fine point Sharpie marker (just an FYI- we went through a LOT of markers- with 120 students, I had to keep a supply on hand).

Once the hands were filled with patterns, they chose their color scheme. I demonstrated how to do a wet-on-wet wash and they filled in the background using liquid watercolors (I have pretty much stopped using the pan watercolors- the liquid lasts so much longer and the colors are beautiful!), letting the colors bleed together.

Pin It