Kandinsky abstract glue painting 1st grade art lesson

Kandinsky Abstract painting

                                                          Demonstrating part one. 

I started the lesson by introducing lines in art. I showed a video on YouTube called "The Line Song" by Scratch Garden. It is only about two minutes long. Another resource I have used is the book "Lines That Wiggle" by Candace Whitman. It's a book about how a line turns into all kinds of different things.

We then completed a worksheet together on lines. I  found a great idea for a worksheet from the blog "artisbasic.com". It's just a worksheet where they fill in the various kinds of lines. I had to make my own because I couldn't get it to download for me. 

My classes are 50 minutes long so at the end of class I read "The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky's Abstract Art" by Barb Rosenstock. It's a wonderful children's book about Kandinsky's journey of becoming an abstract painter. 

The next art class we reviewed lines and Kandinsky's art. We viewed his various paintings noting the shapes and lines he used in each one. I then demonstrated how to trace various shapes and lines onto paper to make an abstract painting. Thanks to the blog "Art With Mrs. Smith blogspot" for this idea of my lesson. This was a good time to introduce how to use a ruler for drawing straight lines. 

After they traced shapes and added various lines they then traced everything with black glue. It helps to tell the children to get the tip of the glue as close as they can to the paper. 

The next class we added watercolors. The results were amazing. I was so proud of my 1st graders (and this is in August!). 

This one won the Superintendent award at our annual art show!