Square 1 Art kindergarten hand print art project

Square 1 Art kindergarten hand print project

I always like to have my fundraiser at the beginning of the year so that the orders come in time for Christmas. This being said, it is hard to come up with a project for kindergarten. Some are just learning how to write their names as well as learning other skills necessary for school. Paint daubers are pretty easy for kindergarten so I decided to use them for this project. You can buy them already filled or buy empty ones to fill up yourself. I bought the kind you fill up. Just check the various art supply stores for these. 

Students used paint daubers filled with washable tempera paint and covered their papers with the various dots. 

The paint dried pretty quickly (we have 50 minute class periods) so I called students over to my table and painted their hands with black tempera paint. After they dried they printed their names.
After doing about five classes (I have nine kindergarten classes) I found it was more efficient to have them write their name first and then do their hand prints. You need to watch where they write their names since they could be cut off when Square 1 Art scans them to place on their products.

 The kids had so much fun doing this. I'm hoping the parents will love them!

kindergarten paper sculptures

Paper sculptures

I found this awesome lesson for kindergarten from Cassie Stephens. Thanks Cassie!! Her original blog post can be found here https://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/2018/08/in-art-room-getting-to-know-you-paper.html
This is a perfect lesson to do at the beginning of year for kindergartners. Honestly kindergarten is tough in August. I love this lesson because all they have to do is fold the paper and use glue and crayons. On the first day of class (we have 50 minute classes) we discussed what sculptures and paintings are and the difference between the two. I try to use examples that students may be exposed to such as a statue on display at the Solid Rock Church in our community.  This photo was taken from Wikipedia.

This statue is pretty popular and all the students were pretty excited when I showed them this photo.

For the art project I provided various colors of cut construction paper strips for students to fold and glue onto their 12" x 9" multi-media white paper. Cassie has a great way to teach them how to fold the paper. You will have to check out her video posted on her blog. She teaches them to make little feet for their paper lines. It works like a charm!

On the second day we discussed various types of lines. They used crayons to draw lines onto the strips before they glued them to their previous sculptures. 

I was so surprised how well these turned out. 

They absolutely loved this lesson and were so proud of their sculptures.

These were hard to store so I allowed them to take them home after the glue had dried. I like to provide parents with an explanation of the project so students took home a little note about what they had learned from the project.

1st grade Gusta Klimt tree of Life art project

Klimt Tree of Life art project

I actually found this idea here http://ourartlately.blogspot.com/2010/12/gustav-klimts-tree-of-life.html

The last time I taught this the students drew a tree on a Styrofoam sheet and printed them onto painted papers.  I love this version because the kids were so thrilled to use gold paint. I was a little nervous since this paint isn't the easiest to get out of clothes but as far as I know no one got any on themselves. 

The kids are crowded since some classes have 28 students. This photo was taken before I rearranged my classroom and added another table. I actually love my set up now (and the kids aren't elbow to elbow!).

Students first painted a tree on black 12" x 18" black construction paper with the gold tempera paint. They did not draw their tree with a pencil first. Everyone was successful!

I provided sequins and Elmer's school glue for students to embellish their trees. By the time they cleaned up their paint the trees were dry enough and they could add the sequins.

This lesson took 50 minutes including the introduction of Gustav Klimt and my demonstration.

I actually took a trip to Vienna, Austria and got to view "The Kiss".