1st grade Clay hearts

 1st Grade Clay hearts 

This lesson is great for Mother's Day, Valentine's Day or Christmas.

 Each student was provided with a ball of clay which they rolled into a slab. I provided handouts of hearts which they then traced around with a clay sculpture tool.

Students could add textures with various tools provided such as paint combs and textured rolling pins. The last step was to carve out a hole for a string. 

These only took a few days to dry so the following week students painted their hearts. I don't have a kiln so students used Crayola air dry clay. Acrylic paint works the best for providing bright colors but it is risky with this age group. I did have some students use tempera paint but the results were dull even after I sprayed them with acrylic gloss spray. If you can, try to use the acrylic paint. I do have aprons for all the students. 

After they were dry I sprayed them outside with gloss spray. With donations of bubble wrap from parents I wrapped all of them, added a string and sent them home. Hopefully they all made it without breaking! My students were so proud of them! 

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!!!

1st grade pop up flower cards

 1st Grade Pop Up Flower Cards

Here is another great idea you can teach virtually or if you are teaching on a cart and you need a messy free art project. I found this idea here Red Ted Art cardmaking. I just changed it a bit to fit the needs of my classroom. You can see my demonstration video below. 

         Students folded a piece of card stock in half and cut  slits on the fold. Watch them on this part!!

                                                   

 I provided white cardstock for students to draw various flowers, birds and bees. They could use crayons or markers. 

Students loved the results and many are giving them to their moms for Mother's Day. 

Kindergarten Doodle flowers

 Kindergarten Doodle Flowers 

I borrowed this lesson from Kitchen table classroom. I just changed it some to fit the needs of my classroom. You can watch my demonstration video below.

I instructed students to draw big circles all over their 12" x 18" piece of drawing paper first. They drew various lines around the circles to create unique looking flowers. 

 Students then added big thick stems and leaves to the bottom of their flowers. 

My kindergarteners then used crayons to color the flowers and lastly outlined all the details with a black crayon. 

I love these! I think these would make a great Mother's Day gift! 

1st grade art Picasso flowers

Picasso Flowers

I took my inspiration for this project from the Picasso painting Bouquet of Peace. I actually found a copy at a yard sale!

Aren't yard sales awesome?!

There are tons of children's books on Picasso. Some of these are even available on You tube. 
Students' traced their hands and colored them with multicultural colored crayons.

 I know Picasso didn't paint the hands in his painting but I'm teaching my students that no one is the color of white paper! I thought it would be neat if the students could trace their hands like they were holding the flowers but they really had a hard time doing this.

We talked about different ways to make flowers with our paint brushes and then students created their stems and flowers with tempera paint.

Perfect for Mother's Day!