Mixed media fish, Kindergarten

My kindergarten artists packed four different media into this fun fish lesson which was inspired by Alexander Calder's sculpture, which has a great feature in Colleen Carroll's new book in the How Artists See series. Around the same time I received the book, I saw a student artwork featuring printing and collage on the @Sittonstudio Instagram page - after all this inspiration, we gave it a go! Drawing shapes first in pencil, then painting our outlines with thin brushes, and finally stamping scales with cardboard edges was a fun way of thinking about how to use different media. The next week, we added foam shapes and hand cut/torn bits of shiny metallic Fadeless paper to create that look of metal or glass bits found in Calder's work.

Kindergarten clay gingerbread houses

 Kindergartners really had fun experimenting with clay and we used a variety of hand building techniques to create our gingerbread houses. We added the color using oil pastels and we strung some beads from the hanger and decorated our to go bags. So cute!

Kindergarten leaves and owls

Our owl drawings were made using one of the kids’ favorite things we do in the art room - the mystery drawing! Listening for clues, I guide the students through the shapes until someone guesses what it is - then we personalize with details, colors, and descriptive titles. They are always full of personality. My Mystery Drawing sets are available in my Teachers Pay Teachers shop, Mrs. Knight's Smartest Artists.

The leaves were made using a crayon and watercolor resist, giving them a feeling of floating on a pond or blowing in the breeze.

Self-portraits 2019 - K, 1, and 3

Kindergarteners made head-to-toe self-portraits by combining shapes and adding personal details and interests. We made them colorful using the tissue painting technique. Just adorable!

   

     

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First grade made similar portraits but used a combination of crayon and watercolor for the addition of color. These are full of personality.









Our third graders advanced to a head and shoulders self-portrait, featuring facial proportions.

Kitten's First Full Moon by Kindergarten

This was a fun first lesson for my youngest artists! We started with this wonderful book by Kevin Henkes and discussed the importance of illustrations in a book to help tell the story - in this case, the story of a kitten chasing the moon because he thought it was a bowl of milk.

After discussing the neutral colors of the book to represent nighttime, we drew a large circle using a tracer and a variety of lines and shapes below for the flowers and grass. We traced and colored with white and black crayon, then washed over the whole page with black watercolor. The next week, we drew the shapes for a cat and bubble cut around her, finally gluing her in the middle. 

I had a couple of fifth grade volunteers help me with each class and it was so wonderful having a few extra capable hands to guide my new kindergarteners as we learn routines in the art room. I'm going to take advantage of this scheduling situation as long as I can! 

Thanks to @primaryartwithmrsgenna on Instagram for the lesson idea!

"Monster picture day" portraits, Kindergarten

So much good stuff is covered in this adorable and expressive lesson - mixing paint colors, collage, texture, using your imagination, and a fun book connection - Jeepers Creepers: A Monstrous ABC. After reading the book together, we brainstormed ideas for imaginary creatures and talked about how they might look on school picture day, since we just had ours and everyone was all dressed up.

Self-portraits and Magic Carpets, kindergarten

Kindergarteners have recently completed their first two projects of the year. We started with an old favorite, magic carpets created with crayon lines and watercolor paint resist. We added some foam shapes and practiced making tiny glue dots while discussing geometric and organic shapes. We finished them off with a fringe - great cutting skills practice. 

Next, we drew two self-portraits - a head and shoulders view and a head to toe view. We always share a little something about ourselves in our portraits, like a favorite pet or activity. We used the tissue painting method to make our portraits colorful and fun. 

Kindergarteners are loving learning about art and taking care of our work and art room!