Charlie Harper Seals kindergarten art lesson

Kindergarten Charlie Harper Seals 

I'm still teaching on a cart because of COVID. I've picked my brain for messy free art projects and this is one I came up with. Our school is around 30 miles north of Cincinnati where Charlie Harper lived and taught. We have murals around the city in his honor. Hopefully the kids will recognize his art when they are out in the community after this lesson! Here is my demonstration video.

 

This is the inspiration print.

I actually came up with the idea while looking at this board book I bought for my class. I use mostly art board books for my students because I like the simple words for their reading level and they hold up better in the art room (well, when we return!). 

This lesson took one, fifty minute class period. 

I provided each student with a 12" x 9" piece of drawing paper with two circles printed on them. We did a step by step tutorial of how to draw the face on the smaller circle. They cut them out and glued them together.

My kindergarteners used a white oil pastel and drew any kind of lines they wanted for the water on a piece of 12" x 18" construction paper. 

They used their left over scraps to make ice bergs and flippers for their seals. 

I think they are pretty cute. 

1st grade Charlie Harper window clings

Charlie Harper window cling birds

Being close to the Cincinnati area I feel I need to touch on Charlie Harper. Here is a great link with his art https://www.charleyharperartstudio.com/ Students do a bigger project on him when they get to 5th grade but I thought it would be neat to make little birds to hang in our school's huge window down in the basement. You will need window clings. I bought mine in a roll from Blick art materials. It's called Grafix Static Cling Vinyl. Yep, I had to measure and cut the paper for the kiddos.

I showed the many prints of his birds (he did so many) and the buildings around Cincinnati that has his art on them. I was pleased to show one by the Cincinnati Zoo and a few students recognized it! 

Students wrote their name in the corner of their piece of window cling and then peeled back to reveal the card stock underneath.
 1st graders were encouraged to draw a big bird (I provided many examples) and then peel back the vinyl over their drawing. We used permanent markers and then colored the birds. Remind students to try to keep their hands off of the part they have colored or it will smear. 

You can see here that this student is sketching his bird underneath the vinyl.

Here the student has placed the vinyl back on top of the cardstock and has begun to color.

Many students got the idea of drawing big, but a few did not. They were still pleased with the results and they love seeing them hanging in the windows in the hallway.