String Crayon Rubbing

   In Kindergarten, part of our initial texture exploration involved us using crayons and string pieces to create crayon rubbings.  We read the book 'Where the Wild Things Are' and we looked at the illustrations and found places that were showing great texture- plants, fur...  We then looked at a power point that showed many examples of textured surfaces.  We discussed as a class how if we were to feel the image, it would not feel the way it appeared.  Students then were able to get a piece of string and then arrange it in many ways to create their own implied textures.  The students had a lot of fun experimenting with their strings and seeing how they showed up in the crayon.

   Here are some of our string implied texture artworks:

Line Paintings

In Kindergarten, as part of our line art series, we created a painting using various lines.  This was our first artwork in the line art series.  We started by working together on a worksheet where we practiced drawing various lines, some we were familiar with and others we were not- it was great! Then, the students drew their favorite lines on our Fancy paper and outlined their lines with oil pastels of ANY color, that was an exciting thing!

  The next day, we took our paints and then painted in between our lines.  Some students became so swept up in the excitement of painting that they went all over their paper, but it's understandable... it's painting!  They did a great job working and focusing on trying their best with their painting.

Here are some paintings:

Kindergarten Color Monsters

In Kindergarten, we started the year off by reviewing/introducing the colors.  We watched some fun videos that display colors by Sony (their Bravia t.v advertisements) and then we read a book- Monsters Love Colors, by Mike Austin.

This group of kiddos were all so good at identifying all of the colors and calling them out, I think we are going to have a talent filled year in the kindergarten art room!

For the project, the students colored in circles that I had drawn onto the paper with the necessary colors.  They were then instructed to think about how they could turn their circles into monsters!  They were all very excited with the opportunity to create their own monsters, they all turned out very unique and had great details!

Here are a few of our Monster Circles:

Line Sculptures

In Kindergarten we have started to discuss various types of Lines that can be created.  We started off by filling out a line worksheet and talking about the lines that were on it, we created a line painting, and finally we created our own Line Sculptures.  This project was a lot of fun and challenged the students to use their fine motor skills with the various types of paper folding and rolling.  They all did a great job!  I demonstrated the different ways in which they could fold their construction paper strips to achieve a different type of line.  It was up to them how they then glued their strips onto the paper, my only goal was that the line stuck up and away from the paper base.  

  We discussed what a sculpture is and how it's different from a painting or a drawing, students were then given the paper strips and glue and let loose!

Here are some of our Line Sculpture solutions:

This is a favorite of mine, a racetrack!

Warm Color Pumpkin

  In Kindergarten, we had learned about the warm colors through many different projects.  One of the projects dealt with the field trip that their classes took to the Rocca Berry Farm pumpkin patch.  Students talked about what the pumpkins looked like- the outline wasn't a perfect circle or a straight line. We worked together to create a drawing of a pumpkin, then we put the warm color paint inside of the drawing.  Students were allowed the ability to mix together the warm colors within their pumpkin, this was a lot of fun for them.

   We then started to create the background on the second day.  We talked about the cool colors and how they can be used to create a background.  Students painted with purple and blue in the sky and green for the grass.  We used some scratching with our brush end to create line designs in our sky and ground.  The next day students cut out their pumpkins and glued them onto their painted backgrounds.

  Here are some of our warm color pumpkins:

Kindergarten Gingerbread Man

In Kindergarten, our special Winter project was creating our very own Gingerbread Man out of clay.  First, we read the book Gingerbread Baby which was enjoyed by all, then we started off on creating our own Gingerbread Man.  The students received a pre-rolled slab of clay and then a stencil in the shape of a Gingerbread Man.  They traced the stencil into the clay and cut out their figure.  Then, details were added- buttons, mouth, nose...

To add color, we used Oil Pastels-any color they wanted, and then Brown watered down tempera paint.  This gave them the 'cookie' look.  The students had a lot of fun working with the clay and seeing their Gingerbread people come to life.

Kindergarten Line Flower

In Kindergarten, we used our new knowledge of many different lines to create a Line Flower.  In this project, we started discussing shapes- Circle and Rectangle, and used them to create our Flower. 

For the top of our Flowers, we used three different sized circles and inside of each circle we created lines.  Any kind of line that we talked about was okay for the Kindergarteners to use in their flower. After creating their lines, Kindergarteners were able to trace over their lines with crayon and then color in if they wanted. 

This was another great opportunity to practice using scissors, the small nibbles and big chomps.

Kindergarten Cut Out Lines

In Kindergarten, we just finished learning about different types of lines and how we can create them.  We discussed Wavy, Zig-Zag, Straight-Horizontal and Vertical, Thick and Thin, Diagonal, Spiral and a few fun others.  We practiced our lines on a worksheet where there were labeled squares and we filled them in with the matching line, we did this activity together.

Upon finishing the practice, the Kindergarteners selected three lines to use on their project. These lines were drawn on black construction paper and then cut out.  We discussed how it is easy to cut out lines when our scissors use little nibbles and not big chomps.  This project was great scissor practice!

Once the lines were cut out, the black pieces of paper were then glued onto a colored paper that we filled in with crayons using ROYGBIV (the rainbow). The black papers were placed far enough apart so our colors peaked through and made a colorful line.

Kindergarten Secondary Fish

In Kindergarten, we are learning about the Secondary colors- Green, Orange and Purple.  We read the book Rainbow Fish and the Big Blue Whale focusing on the different shapes that can be used to create a fish. 

The students created three fish, using a stencil for the body shape, and then adding the shapes for fins and the face.  Some students created lines to help show scales on their fish.  Crayons were used to add color to their fish and any background details they added- seaweed, bubbles, rocks.  Blue paint was used to add color to the water.  Kindergarteners had a lot of fun with this project, they enjoyed seeing how the paint would not stick to the crayon... art can be magical! 

Kindergarten Value Flowers

In Kindergarten, we looked at the artwork of Georgia O'Keeffe and saw how she used her colors and value to create beautiful flowers.  We then created our own colorful flowers using chalk to get our values.  The kindergarteners had a great time making their flowers and seeing how vibrant the colors were against the black paper.

This was a really fun project for the kids, a little messy but they did great!

Kindergarten Cubist Heart

     In Kindergarten, we looked at the artwork of Pablo Picasso the famous cubist artist.  We discussed how in his artwork, the viewer can see many different shapes.  We also discussed value and how artists use it within their artwork to create light and shadow.  Students created a drawing of a heart and then divided it up to create a cubist heart, so their goal was to have many shapes inside but not too small.

     Inside of the shapes, the students used crayons of any color to create value.  The goal for the value was to go from dark to light.  They really enjoyed seeing that they could create a darker value with the crayon as well as a lighter value.  The end result looks great!

Kindergarten Tropical Birds

  In Kindergarten, we just finished up talking about texture within art and the many ways in which artists create various textures.  With our tropical bird project, inspired by a fellow Art Teacher's blog, we read a story about a tropical bird who was stuck in a cold place.  We discussed where tropical birds live, as well as the various colors that can be seen on the birds.

   This project was split into two days, the first day we drew our birds and added tropical colors onto them with our cork stampers.  Day two we outlined our birds with black marker to help them have distinguished edges and we gave our birds tails using rolled construction paper and feathers.  The students had a lot of fun getting to pick out their feathers and rolling the construction paper for their bird's tail.  In the background, we stamped some tropical flowers for our birds to fly around.

Kindergarten Arlo Drawings

In Kindergarten, we looked at the book Arlo Needs Glasses, which is about a dog (Arlo) who needs glasses.  We looked at the texture of Arlo and discussed how he would feel in real life.  Then, we looked at a Power Point that displayed various artworks where artists utilized a soft texture for animals in their drawings.  Kindergarteners came to the conclusion that in artwork, artists use different lines to display soft textures.

After our discussion, we began to create our very own Arlo the dog using oil pastels on our paper.  We chose to use short, repetitive straight lines or zig-zag lines for our dog's soft texture. The students had a lot of fun creating their dogs and putting the texture onto them!