luli sanchez dot paintings

I was so inspired by the beautiful fabrics that Luli Sanchez (http://www.lulisanchez.com/) makes! They are so simple and understated, but the simple geometric patterns were a great "jumping off point" for some upcycled bottle cap printing done by my fourth graders!

*Recently I was cited by the Fire Marshall for storage in my classroom. I hoard stuff BIG TIME in case my budget doesn't add up, which will probably be the case in the near future! Alas, I decided to dip into my bottlecap stash and that is what we used for the dots (the back sides) and the circles (the bottoms) for this project!

I gave them each 4 colors of paint. They printed the backs (dots) first in rows across and down their papers. On day 2 we printed the circles (rings) in empty spaces and on the tops of the dots in some cases. Sometimes there were distinct rows of circles and dots, and sometimes things got a little confusing. Either way, they turned out GREAT!

One hang-up some of my kids had were the imperfections some of the stamps made. Many of them wanted to have complete circles....but after looking at Luli's "professional" work, they embraced their imperfections, too.

I have lots more to photograph and add...I will do another post with a photobomb later!

woven valentines hearts

My friend Kari called me one day and asked me for a quick Valentine's project to do with her fourth graders. Of course I delivered. I sent her the following series of text messages (technology!!!) She never told me if she did the project or not, or how it turned out...

I've done this project numerous times with different shapes. Butterflies, as one example, look really good (you need something that is symmetrical). You can hit all kinds of benchmarks and standards with paper weaving, color theory, symmetry, scissor skill, following directions, shape, line, texture, etc with this project!


Happy Creating!

Spectrum Color Bursts!

This is a great lesson to do with 4th or 5th graders and can be modified into all kinds of different versions!

You will need:
9x12 white paper
crayons (primary, secondary, tertiary colors are a MUST!)

Procedure:
Have students locate the "center" (as best they can) and start with ANY color in the spectrum. Have them draw a zig-zaggish color burst around their finger (leave the center WHITE). Going in spectrum order, they will follow this until they reach the edges of their paper.

*Sometimes the kids will line up their crayons in order to make sure they don't make a mistake, this is not necessary, but helpful!


And there ya have it! A simple, easy project that promises great results!!!

BaTIKI Totems

Yes, this is a play on words: tiki and batik. It's a word I invented--BaTIKI. I know, I'm clever like that. I laughed when I told the kids about it...they weren't amused. Maybe if I used the word "butt" they'd laugh harder. Har har.

You will need:

white 9x12 paper

photocopies of examples of tiki totems

crayons (namely red, orange, yellow, different browns, and black)

black tempera

sink, blotting paper towels

paper for mounting tikis when dry

The batik process is a Polynesian/Indonesian art form usually done on fabric with painted hot wax and fabric dye. OBVIOUSLY this was not a choice for us. The method of using crayon works just as well!

Procedure (this took 2-3 days):

Give students a handout with different tikis on it. They were NOT allowed to copy all the elements of one tiki, they had to pick and choose from different tikis, or make up their own features. This gave them each the "unique-y tiki" I wanted from them. *No, they did not find my "unique-y tiki" funny, either. After drawing in pencil, they traced the pencil with black crayon and pressed HARD with it. The harder they press, the more it "pops" and the better it looks!

Color the tiki in using crayon. I gave them a limited pallette of reds, oranges, yellows, and browns. They were to press HARD again with the crayon. This will become very important once they get to the batik step.

After they are finished with their coloring they were to roll and crunch their paper 6-8 times. They were VERY careful and considerate of their artwork as to not tear it. This causes the wax from the crayons to crack, exposing small crackles in their tikis. This is a good thing!

Using black tempera paint, paint OVER the tiki. Yes, make the entire tiki black! When finished, rinse the black tempera off and what is left over is the black tempera which sticks into the cracked areas of the wax.
Blot off the paper. Allow to dry.

We mounted these on a light, torn 12x18 sheet of brown paper which was then mounted on a 12x18 sheet of darker brown paper. This really gave it a rustic, finished look. The kids loved them and so do I! Hope you do too!

Happy tiki time!