A Magical Forest

I love the outdoors, so bringing landscapes into my classroom is always a great joy for me. The first thing my little artists created were the painted paper trees. We divided the paper into sections and drew patterns with crayons. Students then painted over these patterns with different shades of green. Day two consisted of setting up the landscape. We created the ground with construction paper, an orange sun and some clouds. We talked about the secondary colors (orange, violet and green) because they made up most of our beautiful landscapes. In the end, we added some texture with sponges and cut out different sized trees with added white paint branches. This is an easy and fun project that is abstract just enough so all students felt confident and created a masterpiece!

Ice cream Snowmen

Students in PreK and Kinder created these delightful mashups of snowmen and triple scooped ice cream cones! We began by painting the backgrounds with a pattern of the three cool colors- purple, blue and green. Next, I had students construct the ice cream and cone and showed them how to add all the necessary details to turn it into a snowman. We even used cool colored oil pastels to smudge a little shadow along the side to make it appear more three-dimensional. This turned into a perfect winter project just in time for snow to fall!

Elmer Collage

Elmer is a wonderful children's story about appreciating people's differences. I enjoy teaching this lesson to PreK and Kinder classes and the kids love the story. Elmer discovers that when he tries to change his appearance in order to 'blend in' with the other elephants, they no longer recognize him or accept him as one of their own. This makes Elmer sad and he experiences how it feels to be treated like an outcast after being ostracized by his old friends. It's only when it begins to rain and the grey paint that Elmer has covered himself with starts to disappear that Elmer's 'true colors are revealed, much to the surprise and delight of his friends who preferred his multicolored and fun loving persona. Following their happy reunion, the elephants reassure Elmer that they love him because of his differences and not in spite of them. As a way to celebrate the elephants cover themselves in multi-colored paint in recognition of Elmer's unique appearance and personality.

We began by using a glue and water mixture and brushing it over squares of tissue paper to attach it to a white paper. During the next class, we drew an elephant shape on the back of that paper and cut it out to create the Elmer. All you need to add is an eye and an ear with black crayon or marker. We glued our elephants onto a torn paper background of palm trees.

Fall Leaves that POP!

Students in grades 4 through 6 created these autumn inspired paintings to learn about color contrast. We began by painting an abstract cool color background as the sky. Students used white crayons to create a sense of movement in the background. During the next class, students used styrofoam to print leaves. We drew detailed contour line drawings of leaves and carved them into styrofoam. We then colored the foam with warm color markers making sure to blend the colors together. The final class was used to create textured tree branches and add the leaves in a way that fills the space for an interesting composition.

Woven Snakes

PreK and Kinder created these woven snakes to learn about pattern, weaving and color contrast. We began by creating a painting by blending yellow and green together. During the next class, students cut out and added patterns to snakes in red and orange. We then cut the green/yellow painting to create a loom and wove the snakes in and out. The final step was to glue down the snakes once they are in place and add little tongues and eyes. 

Penguins!

PreK and Kinder students created these adorable penguin collages just in time for the cold weather! We began by painting a line pattern with cool colors for the background. During the next class, students used orange, black and white paper to create their penguins. Except for the nose, all the parts of the penguins were made with circles or half-circles. To complete the artwork, students cut a triangle border with white triangles to look like ice and dabbed some white in the back for snow. 

Notan Collage

Notan is an arrangement of light and dark that creates an impression of beauty. Notan is a popular form of collage in Japan. Students focused on two art principles for this project- shape and space. Students were allowed to work with either realistic or abstract shapes when creating their collage. Notan collages are so unique and beautiful because they focus on a play of positive and negative space that create interesting shapes. We overlapped several different colors to create an even more dynamic and layered design.

Ladybugs

Students in PreK and Kinder created these collage ladybug artworks in the style of author/artist Eric Carle. We began by learning the different types of lines (straight, curvey, zigzag) and created the ground and grass in the artists choice. Next, students cut out circles to create the ladybugs. These were then completed by adding spots, heads, legs, and antennae using black paint. We read the story The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle to be inspired by the artworks as well!

Woven Crocodiles

Montessori students in grades 1-3 created these woven crocodiles as the final project for the 2013-2014 school year. We began by painting an analogous colored background. Students painted several circles and traced them repeatedly to form a pattern that would fill the page. During the second class, students cut out a crocodile and wove strips of painted paper through the body. The cool colors create a color contrast that makes the crocodiles stand out from the background. Last, we added eyes and teeth and placed some textured grass along the bottom of the painting. This is a great lesson to teach weaving, texture, and color contrast.

Raven

Raven is a trickster tale from the Pacific Northwest. Raven is a bird living in a world of darkness, until he steals light from the great Sky Chief and gives it to the world. It is a interesting Native folktale describing where the sun came from and a Caldecott award winning book. We began by cutting out Raven and adding brightly colored designs to his body. Next, we created textural paintings for an interesting dark sky. The final class, students added a symmetrical cut out border using similar shapes from the body. This was a highly successful lesson for all students and a greatly enjoyed story as well!

Matisse Flowers

Students discovered the various artworks of Henri Matisse and completed these still-lifes in his style. We began by doing some crayon rubbings of various Matisse style cut-out pieces. We then created a vase and several pop-up flowers, a subject seen very often in the artwork of Matisse.