1st grade color wheel art lesson

 1st-grade color wheel art lesson

Here is a different take on how to teach the color wheel to 1st graders. I copied a blank color wheel on multi-media paper. Students only used the primary colored oil pastels to color in the correct sections. They had to mix the primary colors to create the secondary colors. Of course, purple is a little challenging but they got it! 

Students used their imagination to make the color wheel into anything they wanted after they finished coloring. They created flowers, people with raincoats, leopards, and hot air balloons to name just a few. The last steps were to draw raindrops with white oil pastels and paint over the entire drawing with liquid watercolors. 

2nd grade Picasso cubism portraits

Students used the "Roll a Picasso" game I found online. You can find the original here bloglovin picasso game

 

 I found many of my 2nd graders struggled with the concept so I didn't want to spend most of their art time teaching the game. With those who struggled I allowed them to pick a facial feature of their choice and copy it. 

Students used rubbing plates to create the implied textures after they drew the portraits. My 2nd graders then traced the outline of the portrait with markers and were encouraged to use complimentary colors for the rubbings. The last step was to paint the drawing with liquid watercolors. 

Alexander Calder 4th grade sculptures

 

My 4th graders really enjoyed this project's process and end results. On the first day, we did mono-printing on Gelli plates that I purchased through an education grant. We used regular copier paper and old pages from a dictionary and tempera paint.  They used paint combs, forks, and various found objects to create implied textures on the plates. My students really enjoyed this process and caught on quickly. 

On the second day of class, we viewed the many works of Alexander Calder and set to work on our sculptures. Each student was provided with a piece of molding clay and a craft stick/dowel rod. They traced their shapes with various lids etc. and used Elmer's Glue All to attach them to the rod. Students could add beads in between the shapes if they wanted. I made little name tags for them to tie to the base. 

Definitely a win for the process and end product! This took three, fifty-minute class periods. 

5th grade dream catchers

 

5th-grade paper plate dream catchers

My 5th graders did a great job on these dream catchers. These are pretty popular on Pinterest so it's easy to find a printout on how to do the web part. We did eight holes for the string. Here are directions if you need them directions for 8 hole dream catchers

Students cut a hole out of the middle of a paper plate, created a pattern with markers, strung the web, and then added beads and feathers. This took three 50-minute class periods.