Chicka Chicka Boom Boom kindergarten art lesson

 Chicka Chicka Boom Boom kindergarten art lesson 

I got this great idea from Cassie Stephens. You can see her original post here Cassie Stephens Chicka Chicka boom boom

I just changed it to fit the needs of my classroom. You can watch my demonstration video below. 

Because I'm on a cart because of COVID I have to keep coming up with messy free art projects. Our kindergarten classrooms do not have sinks so it has really been a challenge coming up with projects. 

For this project I had my students use Black bingo daubers to draw letters all over a piece of 12" x 18" multi-media paper. After they drew their letters we then watched the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom video by Andre Penn on YouTube. It's a little over four minutes long. I also played another ABC video just to give the papers time to dry. They dry in about ten minutes. 

The next step was to take neon paint sticks and draw lines around all the letters. I stressed how important it was to not draw on top of the letters in case they weren't dry. In Cassie's art project they used water soluble markers to trace around the letters and then painted the letters with water to make them bleed. They look really cool but my teachers wouldn't appreciate the mess in their classrooms. Paint sticks have been a great alternative this year! 

Charlie Harper Seals kindergarten art lesson

Kindergarten Charlie Harper Seals 

I'm still teaching on a cart because of COVID. I've picked my brain for messy free art projects and this is one I came up with. Our school is around 30 miles north of Cincinnati where Charlie Harper lived and taught. We have murals around the city in his honor. Hopefully the kids will recognize his art when they are out in the community after this lesson! Here is my demonstration video.

 

This is the inspiration print.

I actually came up with the idea while looking at this board book I bought for my class. I use mostly art board books for my students because I like the simple words for their reading level and they hold up better in the art room (well, when we return!). 

This lesson took one, fifty minute class period. 

I provided each student with a 12" x 9" piece of drawing paper with two circles printed on them. We did a step by step tutorial of how to draw the face on the smaller circle. They cut them out and glued them together.

My kindergarteners used a white oil pastel and drew any kind of lines they wanted for the water on a piece of 12" x 18" construction paper. 

They used their left over scraps to make ice bergs and flippers for their seals. 

I think they are pretty cute. 

Edvard Munch 1st grade art lesson

Edvard Munch 1st grade art lesson

This lesson is based on the famous painting "The Scream". 

                                                                 My demonstration video. 

I got this idea from the book "Get into 

Art! People" by Susie Brooks. I changed it a bit to fit the needs of my classroom. 

We discussed the painting "The Scream" noting the warm colors  and what we thought was going on in the painting. 

I explained to the children that they would have two choices. They could either make their person yawning or their person screaming. If they made their person yawning then they had to use cool colors and if they made their person screaming they had to use the warm colors. 

I then taught the children how to make a simple person and reminded them on using good craftsmanship skills when coloring. They did amazing!!! 

The last step was to use cool or warm colors of paint sticks to make lines going around the person. I'm still on a cart because of COVID so anything I can use that has less mess is what I'm using this year! 

We used Colorations Paint sticks. 

I love these!! They really enjoyed the paint sticks and were so quiet with this activity. This one is a keeper! 

Most of the students chose to do their person yawning. I'm not sure why! 

Self Portraits with masks 1st grade art lesson

 Self Portraits in 1st grade with masks

I got this great idea from art teacher Cassie Stephens. Head on over to her page for her video on how to create these. https://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/2020/07/behind-my-mask-super-kid-self-portrait.html

I love art history so I discussed the many self portraits of Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Frida Kahlo. They all have great stories so I highly recommend discussing their lives and displaying their self portraits. 

I was a little worried about teaching this in first grade but they did great! Some of the kids needed help folding their paper and some guidance on where to place the heads but other then that they did an amazing job!

1st grade Chinese New Year Lanterns

 1st Grade Chinese New Year Lanterns

I got this idea from The Kitchen Table Classroom. Head on over to her post here https://www.kitchentableclassroom.com/how-to-make-a-chinese-lantern-a-chinese-new-year-craft/

I just changed it a bit to fit the needs of my classroom.  Check out her webpage. She has tons of ideas! 

I first showed the students the video on Youtube CBeebies: Celebrating Chinese New Year-Let's Celebrate. It follows two American Chinese children celebrating the Chinese New Year. It's around three minutes. 

Each student could pick a colored cardstock paper with the template of the lantern. I chose the blank one from her website. 

Children could draw what they wanted. I displayed photos of Cherry Blossoms as well as dragons for children to model if they chose to do so. They drew this on the back of their papers (the side without the lines). 

They folded their paper with the lines out and cut them on the fold. The next step was to glue the edges (the long sides) onto the yellow construction paper 6 1/2" x 10". Don't forget to have them cut the box out on the end for the tabs. A lot of my students needed help with this part but we got through it! We allowed these to dry overnight. 

On the next art class the students put glue on the outside tabs and glued the lantern together. I had them hold the tabs tight and count to 20.  I punched holes in the top for them, they strung the yarn through and they were to tie a knot. Many of my students needed help with tying! 

They were so proud of them! Here is my demonstration video: