Symmetrical Paper Cut Aliens!

This lesson is based on symmetry so as far as teaching kids cool subjects, this one is perfect. In my opinion, there is nothing more pleasing to the ear than hearing a six year old explain symmetry, let alone saying it. It's a fun word...lots of syllables that when spoken correctly (or very near to it) earns a pretty respected look from parents and teachers. Kids LOVE this word.
So now turn the word into creepy, strange, whimsical ALIEN and you have one hour of pure joy on your hands.


Step One: Creating the Alien.
Not easy for wee kids, but the older they are, the easier it'll be to teach. I have done this lesson with first and third grade students and it's a safe bet to say that the older kids got more out of the lesson. But the younger kids do, too.
Take a sheet of construction paper and fold it in half lengthwise. It doesn't have to be lengthwise, but it'll make the alien taller. Please forgive the kid who folds it the wrong way.
Now, for the next step, you have options...
First option:For younger kids (1st-2nd grade), give them a crayon (not a pencil...it evokes to much perfectionism) and have them draw a line from the top of the paper down to the bottom. Not just any old line, but something that resembles a half of a head, half of a body, arms, legs, etc. A little talk on symmetry helps here. Explain how the children will only draw half a body. You will need to demonstrate this step repeatedly, but consider it an investment since the rest of the project is a breeze.
Once the line is drawn, cut it out.

Second option: For older kids, give them a pair of scissors and instruct them to create their half of an alien body just by cutting. This ends up to be more of a surprise. When they open up the paper, they will have a big blob. Now it's time to turn that blob into an alien.

Step Two: Decorating the Alien
It really helps to have small scraps of paper (get out your scrap box), sequins, googly eyes, plastic and aluminum gizmos...anything that the kids can use to decorate their aliens. But first things first. Glue the alien onto a piece of white paper. I like white because it provides a great contrast, but so would black. I just had an idea...you could, in another class, paint a planet or alien habitat on the background paper. Hmmm. Might try that next year.

Tips: Many kids will cut the wrong side of the paper. They will end up with two pieces instead of one alien. I wish I had a picture of this common mistake but trust me, it'll happen. One way to fix it, is to glue the two pieces together. They'll have a line down the middle of their alien, but to be honest, there is no better mistake a kid can make. They really understand symmetry by trying.

Colorful Clowns for First Grade

These clowns are a perennial favorite in the art room. They add color to the art room walls, bring smiles to your budding artist and teaches a plethora of art techniques. You can either cut out the clown and paste onto a black piece of paper or leave as is. I have done both but my preference is pasting onto black.

Supplies:
18" x 24" white paper (yes, I know! It's big!)
Small and large bristle brushes
Tempera Paint in a variety of colors
Black Tempera Paint (watered down slightly)
Pencils
Scissors and glue

Step One: Drawing the Clown
I chose a large sheet of paper because it's almost impossible to draw a small clown! Demonstrate the different ways you can identify clowns (red nose, fuzzy hair, patterned clothes, etc.). Now draw examples of these. As many types of faces as you can. If you have photos of clowns, great!
Using pencils, give the children 10 or 15 minutes to draw a clown. I don't do a directed line drawing here. This project should really come from the child's imagination, so let them explore. The only interference I'd give is to encourage them to draw large. If they are having trouble, put out a round plastic container so they can trace a round face. This at least will get them off to the right size.

Step Two: Painting the Clown
Using any color but black (at least for now!) paint in the clown. This is a good time to teach how to layer paint. For example, to add polka dots to the pants, fill in the background of the pants with one color, then wait until the paint dries a bit. Then, use a small brush to add dots. The trick here is to have the children start thinking in layers.

Step Three: Adding Details
Now that the paint has dried a bit, add facial features, flowers to their hair, balls for juggling, etc.
Then, using a small brush dipped into watered-down black tempera paint, trace over all teh pencil lines. This step will really make the clown pop!

Step Four: Cutting out the Clown
After the clown has dried completely, cut it out and paste onto a large sheet of black paper.

City at Night: Paper and Scissor Lesson for Kinders

Here is another great lesson for kindergartners to practice their cutting and pasting skills.

Supplies Needed:

Scissors & glue stick per student Construction paper in various colors cut into rectangles 1 12" x 18" black paper per student white tempera paint mixed w/water 1 small stiff brushes per student

Instructions:

Step One: Creating the moon and stars.
Show the students how to create a moon by swirling the small brush in a circle and splattering the white paint to create the stars. This step takes about five minutes. Set black paper aside.

Step Two: Creating the skyscrapers.
After a short discussion on what a skyscraper is, I show the kids how they can take a rectangle and cut the top part to create a custom skyscrapers. It's a simple as cutting out small squares and rectangles from the top and sides of each piece.
Have the students glue the skyscrapers as they go, going from one side of the paper to the next.

Step Three: Adding the windows and doors.
I cut strips of yellow construction paper the width of their windows and give a couple of strips to each student. They can cut the strips into small rectangles and glue them to the windows. Same for the doors.

The kids LOVE being skyscraper builders!

Kindergarteners do Kandinsky!

This is a terrific lesson to teach the fundamentals of kindergarten curriculum basics:

Cutting and Pasting!

I discovered this lesson over at the Artsonia website. Camelback Desert School in Arizona provided the original lesson of which I altered very little. The kids are literally tracing, cutting and gluing. There is nothing else involved and what good practice it is.

Instructions:
Hand out a sheet of black construction paper.
Tip: If you have only a little time to do this project, consider making the paper size small than the regular 12" x 18". It'll go much faster and the effect will be the same.
Despite the lesson being quite easy, the set-up requires a bit of time. Every student needs a glue stick, pair of scissors & pencil. Easy. But to reduce the amount of paper waste with this project(we all know that the kids will cut the tiniest circle from the middle of the largest piece of paper), you'll need to provide paper in stages.
Here's what I did: Give each student a plastic container with a 5" diameter (yoghurt, salsa, sour cream containers), then have them trace and cut out 6 circles. Provide paper that is just the size for the container. Glue the cicrcles onto the black paper.

Next step: Do the same but use a small plastic cup and smaller pieces of paper. Have them cut out 6 medium sized circles. Glue the medium circles to the large circles. Tip: talk about contrasting colors or else you'll have the yellow medium circles glued to yellow large circles. I suspect for this age it's all about matching things up!
Repeat steps, but this time, the kids can use the scraps of paper from steps one and two to make smaller and smaller circles.
Good luck!

Colorwheel Clown Art Project:

I wish I could remember the website where I found this lesson! It's one of my favorite kinder lessons that incorporates a color wheel. This lesson is a bit involved. It usually takes three 30-minute classes to complete this project but it's worth it.

You'll need the following:

• white card stock with a color wheel pattern (I made mine by tracing the bottom of a container and adding the lines).
  
• Plain white card stock (for the head)
• small pieces of leftover construction paper in a variety of colors.
• 12" x 18" colored construction paper for each child.
• glue sticks
• Red, yellow and blue tempera paint
  
• pencil, scissors and a plastic cup for each child
  

Step One: Making the color wheel.

Pass out a blank color wheel to each child. Each child should have their own paper plate with a small dab of yellow, red and blue paint, a small paint brush and a container of water to share.
Instruct the children to paint one "pizza" slice yellow, then red, then blue. Next, ask the children to paint a slice orange. They'll tell you that they don't have any orange paint so you'll show them how. Do the same for purple and green. Set the colorwheels to teh side to dry.

Next, have the children trace the opening of the plastic cup onto the blank piece of paper. This will later be the face. If there is time, cut out the face.















Step Two: Adding facial features with paper
Now that the color wheel is dry, the children can cut around the edges. Glue the face and color wheel (belly) to the colored sheet of construction paper. Make sure to glue the head first and demonstrate the proper place to glue it.

Once the face and belly are in place, the kids can use the small bits of colored paper to add eyes, a nose, a mouth and even hair to their clown's face.

Step Three: Painting the clown's outfit
Using tempera paints, paint hair, arms, dress, pants, clown shoes, etc. on construction paper. Encourage patterns like polka dots and stripes.

Note: If the length of your class runs longer than 30 minutes you can probably complete this lesson in two sessions not three.

Eric Carle Inspired Fish Art Lesson

Eric Carle Fish
Very same as the owls, except use a fish template (see "Barns and Farms" below). This is one project that the children often chose not to use a template. If that's the case, encourage them to cut big! They tend to cut too small when creating their won fish.

Eric Carle Inspired Owl Art Lesson

Slightly less time consuming than Barns and Farms, Owls take only two classes to complete. Follow the instructions for Day One: Getting messy (see below). For day two, I use Owl templates. You can create your own. Draw a simplified owl, then trace the parts onto cardboard or tag board. The kids can use the templates or not. I encourage the kids to add a night sky, branches, rocks, etc.
(The owls were created by Mrs. Biondo's 3rd grade class in 2005)