Kindergarten Calder Sculptures

This project started out with a presentation that I put together about Alexander Calder. The students really enjoyed looking at his art and learning about mobiles. This was something completely different than what they had done in the past.

All of the students started out by tracing basic shape tracers onto construction paper. They cut these out and placed them into an envelope that we had created out of a piece of newsprint.

The next week, the student took markers and decorated all of their shapes with patterns. They used a hole punch to punch a hole in each shape.

Then they chose which project they wanted to build: a hanging mobile or a free-standing sculpture.

For the mobile, the children got a wire hanger. I showed them how to bend the hanger into a fun shape. This was not as easy as it sounds. Some of the children had a difficult time manipulating the thick wire.

They tied pre-cut yarn onto their shapes and then tied the shapes onto the hanger. Before we did this, we had a quick lesson on how to tie a knot.

For the sculptures, I had ordered Foam Carving Blocks from School Specialty. I cut them in half and gave each child 1 piece. Then they were allowed to get 2 pieces of Sculpture Wire. I showed them how to add the shapes to the wire first. Then they twisted the wire to make interesting designs. Each end was poked into the foam block.

Once the wire was in the block, they manipulated it and twisted it more to make it stand up the way they wanted it.

Some issues that I had with this project and which I will need to fix for next time:

1.  The hangers were difficult for little hands to bend.

2.  The shapes that the students used were too big. We will need to use smaller shapes.

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Prekinder Shape Self-Portraits

For my precious little 4 year olds, we started the year by doing a self-portrait. Now for the majority of these students, this is their first exposure to any form of school. They have never used scissors, glue, markers, etc., so we are starting out very slow.

I found a great YouTube video for 3 basic shapes- square, circle and triangle. I warn you, though, it will be stuck in your head for the entire day.....


Then I showed them how to make a self-portrait using shapes (circle, triangle, square and rectangle). The goal of this was exposing them to using glue, so I demonstrated the "just a dot, not a lot" mantra.

For the next class, they used crayons to add eyes, nose, mouth, hair, and any other details that they wanted to add in.

This little one has his arms raised over his head...

 Another one with his arms in the air.

Love the feet on this one.

 She wanted to make ears, so the only shape that worked for her were the triangles.

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Kindergarten Eric Carle Insects

 Eric Carle is one of my all time favorite children's authors. When I was in the classroom, I used his books all the time.

I have tried a variety of different art lessons using his books as inspiration, but have never been happy with the results- until this year.

I started this project off by showing my students how Eric Carle paints his tissue paper. This slide show was basic enough for my kindergarten students to understand the concept of what they were about to do.

I place 1 tray of tempera paint on each table (8 in all) and on each tray 2-3 textured rollers. I demonstrated how to carefully walk with my tissue paper from table to table (I even demonstrated what would happen to my paper if I ran, ripping a piece, so that they would see the end result).

We reviewed how Eric Carle had used 4 colors on his paper on the website, so they had to stick with 4 colors on theirs (this was a guideline I set out so that I didn't have to go around refilling all of my paint trays every 5 minutes. There were a few students who used all of the colors and got beautiful results

and no one was the wiser!)

I demonstrated how to put the roller into the paint and roll 1 time and then place it onto the tissue paper. Then they were able to move on to another color.

When they had finished filling their tissue paper with color, they brought them to me at the drying rack and went and washed up.

This was actually less crazy and chaotic and than I had originally thought it would be! They were so involved in what they were creating, that they didn't even think about what they could have been doing!

I then took all of the painted tissue paper and cut them into 4 pieces and divided them up between my 6 kindergarten classes.

 The next week, I had a copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which came with an audio CD of Eric Carle reading the story- they LOVED it!!! We then brainstormed all of the different insects that we could think of, as I drew them on the board.

For this part, let me clarify- I am NOT a big pattern person. I believe in letting students use their own creativity to create an end product. However, for this project, I really wanted them to create a large image.

I create tag board shaped for each table: 2 different circles, 2 different ovals, 2 different teardrops.

I showed them how to use these shapes to trace onto the tissue paper, cut them out and then glue them onto a piece of white paper to create an insect composition.

Even using the patterns, their pictures turned out so different!

I will definitely be keeping this lesson for next year!!

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First Grade Joan Miro Portraits

I first saw this lesson on Deep Space Sparkle and decided to adapt it for my first graders who have been learning about lines, shapes and warm/cool colors.

We looked at a variety of different Joan Miro paintings, focusing in on what shapes and lines they saw in his artwork. I found a good sampling of  Joan Miro artwork in a YouTube video and the kids ended up playing a game of "I Spy" searching out all of the lines and shapes.

Then we brainstormed 2 different lists: lines and shapes.

From there, I did a sample drawing showing how we could make the body out of any shape that they wanted to use.

They used 1 line for the neck, 1 line for the arms and another line for the legs, then added a different shape for head, hands and feet.

From there, I had them draw 2 shapes inside the body (trying to use a shape that they had not used previously). 2 lines were then used and I told them that the lines had to go through the shapes.

They added 1 line in each of the hands and feet.

When they were ready to color, we reviewed warm/cool colors and they then had to color each individual section a different color, never letting the same color touch.

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Third Grade Miro Drawings

 My third graders had a blast with this project! They usually have a very difficult time working on anything that doesn't look "real", which is why I specifically chose Joan Miro as the artist that we were going to study for this project.

We started out by looking at a video that I had found on YouTube http://youtu.be/Fc-SrCJiArs which showed a wide variety of his artwork, but was fairly short (only about 2 minutes).
Before watching the video, I told them that I wanted them to look for the following things:
1) lines that Miro used in his paintings
2) shapes that he used
3) colors that he used
4) are there any recognizable figures in the paintings

When the video was finished, we brainstormed a list for each of these items.


Then I demonstrated how they could use shapes- circle, squares, triangles, ovals and add very basic lines- straight, wavy, curved, zigzag to create an artwork that looked amazingly similar to that of Joan Miro.

I had them practice in their sketchbooks first (for my 2-5th grade students, I usually spend the 1st day of a project planning out what they are going to do in their sketchbooks).

They had to choose if they wanted their project to be warm or cool (they used crayons in their sketchbooks, but oil pastels would be pulled out for the actual project).

For the next class, I pulled out black construction paper. Here's where I learned my lesson! I had a stack of random black construction paper. I also had the beautiful no-fade black construction paper. The projects that were done on the regular construction paper looked very washed out. I would highly recommend using the no-fade paper. It might be a little more expensive, but the end results are so much better!!!

The students then recreated their sketchbook design onto the black paper, using oil pastels in their chosen color scheme.

I pointed out to them that Miro did not color in every shape that he painted, so they left some sections outlined and colored in others.





For the finishing touch, I gave them a little cup of white tempera paint and a paintbrush and they painted a variety of lines onto their paper.

I would change the size of the paintbrush that I give them next time and give them a smaller brush, but other than that, I was very happy with how these turned out.

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Kindergarten Self-Portraits

After we did the last lesson with shapes, we moved into a project where we created a self-portrait. Except for this self-portrait, we used die-cut shapes. I had a parent volunteer fill a plastic container with small die-cut shapes. I also had her cut large ovals and circles that the students could use for their heads.

We started out by gluing on the head. We figured out where the best spot would be to glue it. Most of them figured out the gluing it in the middle of the paper would not be the best spot, that gluing it near the top would work better. At this point, I also reminded them that they were to use glue dots so that their paper would not end up full of glue.

Once they had their head glued on, they used the other shapes to add their body, arms, legs, fingers, feet, eyes, etc.

They were not allowed to use pencils, crayons or scissors at all. This was very difficult for many of them. I kept finding some of them trying to sneak in a crayon or reaching for the scissors. This was a new way for them to look at themselves and the shapes that make up our bodies.

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Kindergarten Shapes

At the beginning of the year, I do a lot of work with my kindergartners on shapes. What are the shapes, how do you make the shapes, where do you see the shapes, etc.

One very simple activity that we do is an activity with die-cut shapes. I usually have a large tub filled with shapes that the students are learning about in their classroom. We start the lesson by reviewing the shapes and how we make them: how many sides and vertexes. Then we go around the room looking for these shapes.

I give each child 1 shape and they have to create a picture using that 1 shape. A rectangle could be a book, a house, a TV, etc. Then we come back to the carpet and they share their creations.

Then I give them 3 shapes. This gets a little harder for them. With the 3 shapes, they have to create 1 composition. How can they put these shapes together to create 1 object? It gets their creativity going and gets some of them thinking outside of the box!

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PreKinder Matisse Animals

For this project, we started with the background paper. I gave each table pieces of colored tissue paper. (Make sure that it is NOT the bleedless tissue paper. You want the color to transfer to the background.) Each table had bowls of vinegar and paintbrushes. The students put pieces of tissue paper on their white background paper and brushed the tissue with vinegar. They covered the entire paper with colored pieces of tissue paper. We put these up to dry for the next class.

For the next class, I read the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear to the students.
We talked about the different animals in the book and the shapes that are used
 to draw them. Each student chose 1 animal to make using die-cut construction
paper shapes. I reminded them how to apply glue using dots and they got to work.

When their animal was finished, they used crayons to decorate their animal. Pin It