Mixed-Media Snow Globes

I’m SO excited to finally share some of my 1st Graders finished mixed-media snow globes! I’m so proud of my students and they had a ton of fun creating these!! This new winter art lesson I created blends a variety of the elements of art too!

Step-by-step directions with photos of each process, as well as the learning goals for the lesson are below pics of the final artwork.

My teacher example below

This lesson took 4 Art classes to finish (40 minutes each)

DAY 1

Students each get a template of the globe that I drew then photocopied on 80# 9×12” drawing paper (this template btw is in my TpT store for just $1.50– link to my TpT store is HERE) and draw along with me, as I demo the snow line, house, and tree. They could add other details as well if they had space next to the house (which most did, and added additional trees, snowmen, bushes etc.) Once finished, they drew whatever they wanted in the globes base ( I did demonstrate how to create the bubble snowflakes too, if they wanted to add them in).

Then students went over all their pencil lines with a fine point black sharpie.

DAY 2

On day 2, students colored in their house, tree, bushes, and other details using crayons. I encouraged them to press hard as they colored, so the colors would be more vibrant. They also colored in their windows with a yellow crayon, to make it look like the lights were on inside their houses. Then they outlined everything with a black crayon after. After that they added a little bit of blue to the snow with crayon just along the edges (for the snow on the ground, on the roof, and on the tree branches).

If there was time, they then drew white snowflakes with a white crayon (just small circles and filling them in) in the sky within their globe, being sure to press down hard as they colored.

DAY 3

Students finished coloring if needed, making sure to add some snow falling (SOME not tons!) with white crayon and then painted the sky using turquoise liquid watercolor paint (we used Sax brand liquid watercolors) going right over their falling snowflakes creating a crayon-wax resist.
Then I walked around with a big box of kosher salt, as kids finished painting, and gave a small handful out to each student to sprinkle the salt on top of the paint while the paint was still wet (creating a salt resist technique)!
This was everyone’s favorite part!! They were SO surprised that we were incorporating salt into the artwork!
Then students placed their snow globes into the drying rack and did a little free draw until clean up. I wish I took photos of kids while they were painting to add those here, but it was a busy classroom with paint cups and handing out salt to all the students! So here are a few pics of the snow globes painted with sprinkled salt —but still drying.

DAY 4

I rubbed all the salt off of each students painting ahead of time (this only took maybe 10 minutes per class). The salt left a tiny fleck of white showing, thus resulting in a snowy look within their sky.
Then for the final part of the lesson students each received a photocopied red 9×12” sheet of construction paper (already folded in half) with the lines and “name” and “class” written at the top.

I drew this ahead of time on a sheet of white 9×12” 80# drawing paper (folding the white paper in half first, as if you were making a card, and holding the folded paper horizontally, with the folded part on the bottom, and the open part at the top. From there, I measured 1” from the top and drew a line with a ruler. Then wrote “name” and “class” along that line. Then found the center (roughly the center) and marked it with a short vertical line. Then found the halfway point between the center line and the left edge and marked it with a short vertical line. Then did the same thing for the halfway point between the center line and the right edge of the paper. Then continued finding the halfway points for those areas and marking it with short vertical lines.
Once that was complete, then I drew vertical lines using a ruler along each of those short marks all the way down to the folded edge.
Then I opened up the paper and ran it through the photo copier printing copies on red 9×12” construction paper for the whole class. I figured black colored pencil would show up better with the red paper, so I used that instead of a regular school pencil, to draw the lines mentioned above as well as “name” and “class”.

Once all the red papers were copied, I folded each one in half ahead of time (I felt like this was a good idea, as it saved a step for students and 1st graders may have had difficulty folding the sheet in half).

I also cut 1” x 9” strips of green construction paper using a paper cutter ahead of time (making sure to cut extra! just in case). Students each received the red paper and green strips, scissors and a glue stick and then watched me as I did a demo.

Students watched me as I demonstrated under the document camera (while the red paper is still folded) how to cut into the bottom center line going UP and then making sure to STOP on the black horizontal line where they wrote their name and class. This part is VERY important in order to successfully weave the strips in, so the green strips can align straight as they weave and not be tilted!!

Then after ALL vertical lines were cut to the horizontal line, I opened up the red paper and showed them how to weave in the green strips one at a time, going over and under on their loom. Once one green strip was in place, I showed them how to “push up” on the green strip to make it snug, then glued the ends of the green strip to the red loom (flipping the loom over once one side was done, to glue the ends with a glue stick). Gluing the ends as soon as one green strip is in place is also VERY important, so that the green strip doesn’t shift around and move on you as you weave the next strips.

Students then started working on their own and began cutting their red folded papers along the vertical lines.

Then they opened their red papers, laid them flat on their desks, and started weaving in their green strips -being sure to glue each one down as soon as the strip was in place.

Once all the strips were in place and glued, students wrote their name and class on the loom in pencil, flipped it over, then cut out their snow globe, and glued the back heavily with a glue stick, then glued it to their paper weaving!

As you can see in the photo ABOVE, kids that finished early were then my “teaching assistant’s” (THEY LOOOVED THAT!!) and helped out any students that were having difficulty with weaving. I loved seeing students beam with pride and confidence as they helped their classmates. This definitely incorporated some SEL in the lesson! I did walk around and help some students as well—-the weaving was definitely the most challenging part of the lesson but kids got the hang of it after demonstrating again one-on-one and they turned out beautifully!!

LEARNING GOALS: 

• Students use their previous knowledge on lines and shapes and can create a 3D looking house
• Students can make connections to math concepts (drawing geometric shapes, pattern recognition, measurements) 
• Students can define and create a crayon wax resist painting 
• Students explore salt resist techniques 
• Students can create a paper weaving and build upon their fine motor skills

I’d love to hear from you if you use this lesson in your classroom!! (and also please tag me if you post your students mixed-media snow globe artwork on any social media platform).

Thank you to all of you who clicked “YES” on my survey (in my previous blog post about this lesson), to create a YouTube tutorial on these snow globes!!!!!!!!! I definitely will! I am planning on creating one very very soon! So be sure to check this post again in the near future or on my YouTube channel HERE

Thank you so much for visiting my website!! I’ll be posting another NEW winter art lesson within the next couple of days as well!