We “Heart” Art…

  I was reading the blog The Elementary Art Room! (which is a great blog) and Megan got me thinking about Jim Dine projects I have done in the past.   I have to admit, I was really pumped my first year teaching when I discovered there was a famous artist who painted hearts.  If I am going to do a holiday project, I want to make sure there is good content.

  

      This project I have done with 2nd and 3rd.  I show a PowerPoint with all Dine’s various hearts.  Then the kids use mixed media to create  there own.  The kids are very creative.  One year we started in tempera and then added finished designs with oil pastels.  Last year we used squirt bottles full of tempera to outline and add finishing touches.  When the bottles got near empty they  splatter paint and the kids liked that effect.

Another project I have done, and thought was successful, was using tissue paper pieces/squares to decorate a background.  Then the kids would take black oil pastel and  and draw a big  heart.  I also gave them white oil pastel to add a highlight.  This project is inspired specifically by Dine’ confetti heart.  Sadly, I can’t seem to kind a picture of this project

Just imagine colored tissue paper glued down with black drawn on top.  I guess Dine’s will have to do…hehe

Gingerbread House Drawings...

I have to admit I do enjoy adding some festive lessons plans into my curriculm. The students enjoy them, and they tend to fit well in the art schedule right before break. Here are a few cute gingerbread houses my 1st graders created.

We started by drawing a house together. I then showed pictures of gingerbread houses and we discussed what to add to their houses. The students used color sticks and construction paper crayons to colors their houses (I showed a demo on how well theses materials work on back paper in comparison with regular crayons. The kids are always amazed). On the next day they added “frosting” of white paint, to finish their pictures.

This little girl was absent on the first day we drew our houses, but I love what she came up with on her own. Very creative!

Halloween Silhouettes

I love Ed Emberley's drawing books. If you do not have any in your classroom, I would highly recommend them. They are simple and easy for even my youngest students.

My 2nd-4th graders made halloween silhouettes with their free time. They got ideas for Ed Emberley's Halloween drawing book. They used orange paper, sharpie markers, black paint and googly eyes. A fun and easy project.