Square 1 Art kindergarten Art lesson

 Square 1 Art kindergarten Art lesson

I always do my Square 1 Art at the beginning of the year so families can order things in time for Christmas. This can be a challenge since kindergarteners have limited skills at the beginning of the year! 

I came across this lesson here The Clever Feather.

I printed off hearts on each cardstock the company provides for the students. 

My only direction was to fill the whole page with color. Since it was the first two weeks of school I had to teach the basics of watercolors and how to use a paint brush properly. I did remove the black and brown paint palettes from the trays (don't want a muddy mess on these!). Other then that they were free to create anything they wanted! 

Alexander Calder 1st grade sculptures

 Alexander Calder 1st grade sculptures 

My 1st graders absolutely loved this lesson!!! 

We looked at his many sculptures and mobiles on line and watched a video of him performing his famous "circus" on YouTube. 

Untitled, 1937 

Tate Museum of Art, Britain 

I also summarized the book " Sandy's Circus" by Tanya Lee Stone. 

My first graders picked four pipe cleaners and wrapped one around three of them to form a tree shape. 

They were allowed to add beads to the "branches" and lastly they stuck it in a pack of model magic. 

Some of the students added markers to the "Model Magic" which made a neat color combination! 

When the model magic was hard they were allowed to take them home. I also sent home a little note with them explaining the art project to the parents. Many of my kiddos couldn't remember the name "Alexander Calder"! 

Kindergarten art African Collar Necklaces

 African Collar Necklaces for Kindergarten

This year I'm on a cart because of COVID. None of my kindergarten classes have sinks  so it is challenging to come up with creative activities for the kiddos. So,  pulling from a lesson I did years ago (I get tired of teaching the same thing) I came across this lesson. 

 The last time I taught the lesson  I let the kiddos make their own patterns with shapes and lines. This year I decided to teach them the same pattern and then let them chose two colors to color their necklaces. Believe me, this went a lot smoother! 

I instructed the students on how to draw a zig zag pattern all around the paper plate. The paraprofessionals at my school actually had time to cut out all the holes in the middle of the plate for  me so that saved a lot of time! 

After we drew the zig zag pattern I gave each student their first choice of color. 

After they colored their zig zag pattern then I gave them their next color and they were to color the rest of their plate. 

The last step was to trace their zig zags with a black marker. 

They were so proud of them!