Doodle flowers in 2nd grade

 Doodle Flowers in 2nd grade

Students were provided with 12" x 18" multimedia paper to draw big flowers. I encouraged them to make up their own designs, such as adding various lines and shapes. They outlined them with a black marker and used gel sticks to color them. My 2nd graders loved the gel sticks! The last steps were to color over the gel stick coloring with water, and then they could splatter paint around them. 

2nd grade Picasso cubism portraits

Students used the "Roll a Picasso" game I found online. You can find the original here bloglovin picasso game

 

 I found many of my 2nd graders struggled with the concept so I didn't want to spend most of their art time teaching the game. With those who struggled I allowed them to pick a facial feature of their choice and copy it. 

Students used rubbing plates to create the implied textures after they drew the portraits. My 2nd graders then traced the outline of the portrait with markers and were encouraged to use complimentary colors for the rubbings. The last step was to paint the drawing with liquid watercolors. 

2nd grade Claude Monet watercolor resist

 2nd Grade Monet watercolor lilies with bridge

I showed the video  about the life of Claude Monet on YouTube. The one I used was "Claude Monet for Kids, Art History for Kids".  We discussed his life and I shared with the students various photos of his Japanese bridge with waterlily paintings. 

                                                          The Water Lily Pond, 1899 by Claude Monet

Students drew a bridge in the middle of their 9" x 12" multi media paper and lily pads with various shades of green pastels.  Quickly they covered their paper with water and brushed blue and purple liquid watercolors all over it. My 2nd graders then sprinkled salt all over their painting before it dried. The salt will soak up some of the paint and leave flakes of water glistening through the water like light. 

The last step was to glue squares of tissue paper on the lily pads. 

5th Grade Christmas ornament painting art lesson

 5th Grade Christmas ornament watercolor painting

I found this idea from the  Tiny Art Room blog.  She said she found it on Pinterest so I'm not sure who thought up this great lesson but here is how I taught it. 

I began the lesson by talking about still lifes and showing examples of Van Gogh's sunflowers. We discussed the difference between still lifes, portraits and landscapes.

Students were given three different circles to trace. They were to overlap them and then add shadows and a highlight. I did a quick lesson on shadows and lights for this part with the kiddos. 

If you want to see how I taught this here is the link. Just copy and paste it in your browser. 

https://youtu.be/UxcyyENu2S4 

          I would number each circle so students make sure they have one of each shape. 

 Students drew hangers and erased lines to make the ornaments appear they overlap. This took one 50 minute class period. 

The next step was to outline all the lines with a black crayon and color the highlights with a white crayon. My students complained that they needed the crayon to have a finer tip. They probably could have used a black fine tip marker but it wouldn't have had the same effect with the watercolors. 

They still turned out nice! The last step was to paint the ornaments with watercolors. If they dripped paint onto their background then they were encouraged to come up with how to mask it. Have a look! 

3rd grade winter mittens art project

 3rd Grade Winter Mittens art project 

I found a photo of something like this on Pinterest. It was a painting by adults but I thought my 3rd graders could do something similar. 

If you want to see how I taught this here is the link

https://youtu.be/bLXfo7TeBeY 

                Students painted a curvy or loopy line across a 12" x 18" piece of blue construction paper. 

They then used a q-tip and painted dots all over their paper. They loved this part! 

 I provided mitten patterns for my 3rd graders to trace. I reminded them to make sure they drew two left hand mittens and two right hand mittens. They used 12" x 18" multi media paper. 

We discussed various pattern ideas and then my kiddos used neon oil pastels to draw their designs. They loved the colors!

When the mittens were complete they painted over the pastels with liquid watercolors. I would remind them to keep the lids on each cup of paint while they aren't using them. I've had to many students ruin the watercolors because they drip paint over them. 

They could paint outside the lines since we would be cutting them out. 

Finally when the mittens were dry, they cut them out and glued them on their snowy sky paper. 

                                     I think they turned out great and they loved making them.