Ceramic Guppies

I usually do regular pinch pots with my first grade students, but this year I was inspired by all the little fish I've seen throughout art teacher blogs. These are our rendition!

I use Laguna Clay, Laguna Underglaze and finish with Duncan Dipping Glaze.

Instructions are simple....give each student a palm-sized ball of clay, form into a pinch pot, add a tail, fins, eyes and teeth/mouth/lips, scratch attach using a scoring method, write names on bottom, dry completely, fire (05), paint with underglaze and dip in glaze, fire again (04).

This is an easy shape for young hands to make. Give them lots of opportunity to create different sized fins or tails, even eyelashes! My time with my students was limited to 40 minutes of clay time, so I kept the children moving along with the basic shapes. If you need to break up the project, use a zip lock bag to keep the clay moist.

This would be a great project for air-dry clay and acrylic paints...might try that next year as kiln work is time-consuming!

Repeat Fish Collage using Painted Paper

Kids love painting paper. Place a piece of white paper and a few tubs of paint on a table and watch 'em go at it. Pure joy. If you think Kinders love this technique, watch your fifth graders. They go all out.

This project is simple. Set out 2 pieces of white paper per student and approx 3-5 tubs of paint (reds, blues, greens, yellows...mix it up) per table. Place large brushes in the paint tubs. I suggested creating two coordinating sheets of paper, explaining that one paper will be used for the bodies and the other paper will be used for details. Well, the kids barley listened and came up with their own agenda. Honestly? It worked out much better.

When the painted paper dries, draw one or two fish (silhouettes only) on the back of the paper or on a separate sheet. Trace onto painted paper and cut out.

Use the cut-out fish as a template to trace onto more painted paper.

Cut out as many fish as you would like (alternating painted paper choices...the kids made two) and adding fins, tails, decorations, etc. Arrange fish on a sheet of black construction paper.

Use metallic paint to add bubbles, scales and other embellishments. if you don't have metallic paint, use oil pastels, gel pens, crayons, even glitter.
Anything to add another dimension to the project.

Fifth Grade Results!

Fish Printing Project

Here's a quick lesson that will only take about one hour to do. It requires a supply of foam, so either purchased the foam sheets from your favorite art catalog or recycle the foam lunch trays or even meat trays from home.

Step One:Painting the Background

I used glitter liquid watercolors for this project but any paint would do, even a nice even coat of tempera. In any case, set out one color and a few large wash brushes and ask the students to lay a wash over the entire sheet of watercolor paper (size is up to you). If you use tempera paints, water them down significantly and use just one color. Set aside to dry (about ten minutes for watercolor).

Step Two: Etching the Fish Design

Hand a small piece of foam to each child (approx 2" x 4"). Draw a fish along the entire length or foam. Add scales, eye, designs, etc. Then, with a dull pencil, push down all of the foam surrounding the fish. This takes a bit of time.

Step Three: Printing the Fish

Place a palette of blue tempera paints of the table. I selected greens, blues, whites and purples.
With a dry brush, apply paint to foam fish and gently press the fish onto the watercolor paper. if your foam is thin like mine, encourage the kids to tap gently instead of rubbing so the fish won't move or smear.

Step Four: Repeat Fish Print

Encourage the kids to overlap their fish and point them in the same direction so they look like a school of fish.
Third Grade Results!

Line Drawings Part II: Owls and Cats

In keeping with my theme for line drawings, I'm posting a few of my samples that I have done with my students over the years. I don't like to show "teacher samples" as I don't feel that helps you much with your expectations, but I'm making an exception here. Hopefully, you'll get inspired to try a few with your students this fall.

The instructions are simple and are mostly the same for all the line drawings that I do. Start with a directed line drawing (these are great at the beginning of the year because it gives you an idea of how able the kids are at listening) and then progress to showing examples of patterns. Let the students finish up their drawings at their own pace. Many teachers I've talked to love to have their students work on these line drawings while reading a book. It gives their hands something to do, while listening intently to a story. Beware though, some kids cannot listen and draw at the same time. Many will stop drawing! Either way, it's good for the child.
Here are a few samples of cats, owl and fish. As you can see, you can do any animal, even insects (think ladybug!). The focus is to teach children about patterns. To extend this project, cut out the image and paste onto a colorful piece of construction paper. The contrast of the black and white drawings is stunning with a bright color.

Foil Turtle and Fish Collage

This lesson was inspired by a lesson in The Usborne Book of Art Projects. It was a huge hit with my third grade class. The lesson in the book focused on fish but I thought a sea turtle would look lovely swimming in these glittery waters.

As for the glittery waters, I had some glitter concoction left over from my Fancy Fish Lesson, so I had the students brush the leftovers onto a piece of blue or lavender drawing paper. The results were shimmery and ocean perfect.

If you don't have the supplies to make the glittery concoction (glitter paint, Mod Podge and liquid watercolor) try making the background using 6" x 9" pieces of watercolor paper. Wet the paper with a sponge or large brush, then mix blues and green watercolors and paint on the wet watercolor paper (wet-on-wet technique). Salting the surface will give the "ocean" a sparkly quality.

Drawing the Fish and Sea Turtle:

While the paper dried, I demonstrated how to draw simple fish and a sea turtle. See diagrams for a step-by-step.

After demonstrating the drawing technique, hand out pieces of tin foil (regular is fine, but heavy duty works really well), colored Sharpies, and texture boards (instructions below). Put tin foil directly onto texture boards and draw fish or turtle. Color with Sharpies and watch the texture of the netting show through. The kids LOVE this step. I do, too. It's really cool!
After drawing a large turtle or a few fish, carefully cut out fish and glue (white school glue) onto glittery or watercolor paper.



To make a Texture Board, cut heavy board (tag board, etc) into 9" x 6" rectangles. Sizes can vary so don't stick to my suggestions. Cut up old vegetable or fruit bags and tape to cardboard. I made about 25 and had a few 6th graders help with the taping.

Fish and Turtle Artwork by Ms. Welbourne and Ms. Hinkley's 3rd Grade Classes at Brandon School