Wayne Thiebaud kindergarten birthday cake art lesson

 Kindergarten birthday cake drawing art lesson 

Sorry no photos for this lesson. I retired and the last month of school I did not save my class photos on this blog. But here is my video! 

        Here is the video I recorded for  virtual learning during COVID. 

We discussed the art of Wayne Thiebaud especially  his cake paintings. 

In kindergarten students are taught the 3-D shapes in their classrooms so this was perfect to tie in their general education curriculum. 

I did a step by step tutorial of how to draw the cake and then the kiddos could add their own touches. This was completed in May so my kindergartens had grown quite a bit in their skills. Students used crayons and a 12" x 9" piece of drawing paper for the lesson. 

I love how they all turned out so differently! 

kindergarten textured alphabet painting

Jasper Johns Inspired textured Alphabet lesson 

I found this great lesson from the talented art teacher Cassie Stephens. You can find her original lesson here 

https://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/2018/02/in-art-room-kindergarten-alphabet.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+CassieStephens+(Cassie+Stephens)

Here is a video of me teaching it. 

 I copied a grid onto 12" x 18" multi-media paper for each student on the copy machine.  Each paper contained 32 boxes. When the students copy they alphabet at the end of the lesson they will be allowed to add additional shapes to complete the boxes. 

We viewed many examples of Jasper Johns letters and alphabet paintings and then got straight to work. 

Students traced their grid with a neon oil pastel and then used rubbing plates to create textures in each box. 

After each box was completed they painted each box with watercolors to create an oil pastel resist. 

This was pre COVID and when the kids were allowed to have art in the art room. I started this lesson right before COVID hit so the kiddos didn't get to finish them. 

This year with my kindergarteners we used crayons to rub the textures in each box. I can now have one class come to the art room every day so the kiddos did the rubbings in their classrooms and when they came to the art room they added watercolors and instead of using paint daubers they used black paint sticks. The paint sticks worked better on the wet paper. 

Thanks Cassie for the great idea! 

Big Mouth kindergarten and 1st grade art lesson

 1st Grade and Kindergarten Big Mouth Art Lesson 

Sorry no photos for this lesson. I retired and the last month of school I did not save my class photos on this blog. But here is my video! 

Aren't these so cute?! I'm still on a cart this year so I'm still coming up with messy free art projects for my students. This art project is easy and a good one for a substitute art teacher. I provided 8" x 11" paper with a box already drawn in the middle of the paper. You could have your students make the box if you wanted. There are many examples of these all over Pinterest so this is not my original idea. 

Here is a video of me teaching it.

Students drew a head around the box and then added eyes, tongue, teeth etc. I instructed the kiddos are how to fold the paper to make the mouth open and close. They really love these and had so much fun. I couldn't decide on which ones to post so here are lots of examples!! These are all from my kindergartners! Of course this was done in May and not August!! I actually taught this virtually during our COVID lockdown. 

Gustav Klimt trees 1st grade

Gustav Klimt art lesson

Students viewed the many paintings of Gustav Klimt, especially studying his "Tree of Life"  painting. 

They  could use a sharpie or an oil pastel to draw the tree. 

They then picked either warm or cool watercolors and painted squares of colors in the background. We review the terms positive and negative spaces.

Beautiful results!

Grant Wood kindergarten landscape art lesson

 Grant Wood Kindergarten landscape art lesson 

Sorry no photos for this lesson. I retired and the last month of school I did not save my class photos on this blog. But here is my video! 

For this lesson students learned about the America artist Grant Wood. We viewed his many landscapes (and of course his famous painting American Gothic) discussing foreground, midground and background. 

Fall Plowing by Grant Wood

I did a step by step tutorial on how to draw a landscape drawing to include a foreground, midground and background. 

Students were to draw various patterns in each section of their drawing. They could make up a pattern or include patterns of corn etc. 

My kindergarteners were very happy with the results! 

Here is a video of me teaching it. 

Kindergarten pattern suns

 Kindergarten Pattern Suns

Sorry no photos for this lesson. I retired and the last month of school I did not save my class photos on this blog. But here is my video! 

For this lesson I provided drawing paper with a blank sun. 

I have actually taught this lesson virtually and had the kids trace a lid and draw triangles around the circle for a sun. It's a little tricky for kindergarteners so I decided to provide these patterns for them. 

Students were instructed to draw a face on the circle and then add various patterns on each triangle. 

The last steps were to trace the sun with a black crayon and color the sky. 

You can watch my demonstration here:

1st grade art lesson Murakami flowers

 1st Grade Art Lesson Murakami Flowers

                                                             My demonstration video. 

Here is a great lesson to teach children in the spring. Takashi Murakami is a contemporary Japanese artist who is known for his sculptures and paintings as well as commercial media.  Children love his art as many of them look cartoonish. 

This lesson is based on his Flowers with Smiley Faces. 

Students started their flowers by making a circle in the  middle (they could trace the lid of their glue sticks if they wanted) of a 12" x 9" piece of drawing paper. The next step was to draw 12 lines around the circle making sure to space them evenly. The last step was to draw arches to connect the lines. 

Students colored their flowers with neon sharpies (they love these!) and traced the lines with a black marker. 

The last steps were to cut them out, assemble them on construction paper, glue and draw stems coming out of the circles. 

Love!!!