Germs Make Me Sick!

First graders just read a book in Art class called Germs Make Me Sick by Melvin Berger. Together, we thought of many ways we can all stay healthy. Students made a fold painting for the body of their germ and added cut paper body parts!

Truffula Trees

In honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday and Reading month, first graders made some Truffula trees in Art class. Inspired by the book The Lorax, first graders drew, cut, and pasted these fun creations.
 

“It’s a Truffula seed,

It’s the last one of all!

You’re in charge of the last of the Truffula Seeds.

And Truffula Trees are what everyone needs.

Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care.

Give it clean water and feed it fresh air.

Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack.

Then the Lorax

and all of his friends

may come back.”

-Dr. Seuss

The Art of Miro

First graders just learned about artist, Joan Miro. We began by looking at various drawings and paintings and tried to identify meaning behind his abstract images. Each painting told a unique story and the first graders were very creative as they tried to uncover that story! Then we looked at symbols Miro commonly used and created our own works of art inspired by those symbols.

Charley Harper Cardinals

I love the artist Charley Harper. His beautiful images of animals and birds are the perfect subject for elementary students. Here are some examples of cardinals that the first graders have made in art class.

Silly Pumpkins

First graders just made these silly pumpkin faces using oil pastels and cut paper. It was a great project to practice drawing and cutting shapes and using scissors and glue! It was cute to see the range of expressions the children came up with!

Guided Drawing: Owls!

Here are the steps the children and I followed to create our owls. I really like guided drawings because they all turn out diffrently, yet the kids have some help. It's also a great lesson for listening!

Pattern Owls

First graders made these adorable pattern owls in two 55 minute art classes. We read The Little White Owl and Owl Moon for inspiration and spent the first day thinking of line designs and sketching. The second day, we used oil pastel and watercolor paints to finish. The results were so bright and colorful!

Spring Chickens

First graders had so much fun making their "spring chickens." First they created colorful paper using tissue paper prints. They saved the tissue and used it again for the fluffy feathers. They practiced drawing and cutting shapes to create the eyes, beak, wings, legs, and feet for their birds.

Elmer's Day Parade

First graders just love Elmer! We read just about every "Elmer" book there could possibly be, but our favorite was Elmer's Special Day, by David McKee. We were so inspired by all of the beautiful Elmer designs that we drew and painted our own elephants. Then we used cut paper and oil pastels to create circus cars. First graders loved this project. They are displayed in trains around our school and are receiving so many compliments!

Mondrian Meets Britto

First graders compared the work of two famous artists, Piet Mondrian and Romero Britto. They are similar because their art both has bold lines and colors. However, first gradres concluded that Britto's art is easier to understand and not as abstract as Mondrian's. Britto also has a lot of pattern in his work! First graders used both artists as inspiration to create their works of art.

Jim Dine Hearts



I love teaching about Cincinnati Pop Artist, Jim Dine. His colorful and expressive hearts are the perfect subjects for January and February! Collaborating with other wonderful art teachers, here are a few ideas we've tried.

Second and third graders used crayon resist, model magic, and wire to create these colorful heart collages.

Students used a combination of marker and paint (oil pastel is another great possibility) to create these hearts. They layered warm and cool colors and used glitter to finish.

Kindergartners made their hearts by smearing plasticine clay!

These hearts were made by cutting and gluing pieces of painted paper and using oil pastel to add additonal designs!

Wayne Thiebaud Creations

I love the art of Wayne Thiebaud. His colorful depictions of ice cream cones, cakes, gumball machines, and collections of toys are great for working with kids! For this project, we created a background with tissue paper painting. We lay pieces of wet tissue paper onto white drawing paper and when it's dry, it leaves a beautiful print from bleeding colors.

Children then used silver paint and oil pastels to make a cupcake holder and joint compound mixed with paint to "frost" the cupcakes. Colored rice was used for sprinkles!

Egyptian Blue Faience Hippos

Tiny blue hippo figures were created long ago in Ancient Egypt. To the Egyptians who lived and travelled along the Nile river, hippos were considered to be the most dangerous animals in the world and presented a constant danger! The Egyptians believed that to appease these animals, offerings and charms needed to be given to render them harmless. Tiny hippo figures were made from clay and decorated with plants that live along the river. These figures were also buried in tombs with pharaohs when they died. Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art website to find out more about William, the famous blue hippo/mascot of the museum! http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/FAQ/htm/willy.htm

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More!

Kindergartners and first graders love the book I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! To make our projects, we used watercolor to paint designs all over our traced hands and arms. Then we painted our background with some kind of abstract design or color composition. Finally, we made our paintbrush with cut paper and chalk. The results were very nice!

Gustav Klimt Ideas

I am just fascinated with the art of Gustav Klimt. Here are a few of my favorite lessons-the Klimt cat and the Tree of Life-that were inspired by his paintings. I love to use the book Klimt and His Cat (although I had to get my markers out to add some more clothes to some of the characters!) These projects were taught to first and second graders.

For the tree, we began by painting with gold paint. We decorated our trees with squares of scrapbooking papers, sequins and jewels, and crumbled up tissue paper balls.

The cat is my favorite. We used gold paint to make the cat, cut it out, mounted it on black, and then used oil pastel and cut paper to make Klimt-inspired designs on our cat! Glitter would have been cool on this project, too. Maybe next time!

Elephants from India

This is one of my favorite lessons to teach! Indian elephants were used long ago to carry members of the royal family. They are still ridden in processions at important festivals and are decorated elaborately! First graders made their beautiful works of art with oil pastel and watercolor paints. A great book to use is Elephant Dance by Theresa Heine.

Anansi the Spider

Second graders were read several of the Anansi books in art class. The Anansi tales are Ashanti tales from Africa. In Gerald McDermott's version, Anansi's web is full of pattern and geometric shape. We were so inspired by his illustrations that we created our own Anansi webs.