I LOVE these flowers!!!  I also think this may be my new favorite art lesson to teach!

2nd Graders did such a fabulous job creating them– SO proud of their work!!

Step-by-step directions with photos below! As well as a YouTube Tutorial (listed under menu drop down) and you can download a free printable water lily petal tracing template. Read more below!

The art display (almost complete! Waiting on another 2 classes to finish then will add the rest!!)

CLICK HERE TO GO TO MY TEACHERS PAY TEACHERS PAGE TO DOWNLOAD A FREE TRACING TEMPLATE FOR THE 3 PETALS (LARGE, MEDIUM AND SMALL)

This lesson incorporates focusing on 5 of the 7 elements of art! – ( line, shape, color, form, texture) and is inspired by artist Claude Monet and his water Lilies.

This lesson took (4) 40 minute art classes.

ON DAY 1 students learned about Claude Monet and looked at a slideshow of some of his paintings- Especially (of course ) his water lilies!

Students then painted a sheet of 10×10” heavy weight tagboard with turquoise liquid watercolors, adding salt while wet!! This becomes the water background, and the salt, (once dry), will make it look like light is reflecting off of the water.

The blue paper is set aside to dry.

Then, students painted an entire sheet of 12×18” heavyweight tagboard either fuchsia or orange using liquid watercolors.

Kids had a choice of two colors to keep clean up simple—(did I mention I don’t have a sink or access to water within my art room at one school, and teach off a cart at another???)

ON DAY 2 -Create the lily pad

To create the lily pad, students glue various shades of green and yellow and light blue tissue paper (pre-cut into squares) using watered down white school glue (or watered down mod podge)  on an 80# 10×10” piece of drawing paper.

I pre-draw the circles for the lily pads with sharpie to save time.

I use watered down glue (just a smidge of water per glue container) to thin it out to make it more easily spreadable. Kids apply it with a regular tempera paint brush.

Students applied a thin layer of watered down glue, then a piece of tissue, then another thin layer of watered down glue to make the tissue smooth and flat. Students repeated this process until the entire circle was filled, overlapping tissue a little as they glued.

Let dry

ON DAY 3  – Attach lily pad to blue water background, then cut out petals.

Students cut out their green lily pad and then cut out a triangle from their lily pad

Then they glued their lily pad onto their blue paper with a glue stick (using lots of glue) and pressed for 5 seconds to make sure it was flat and glued on securely.

Then after setting aside, students cut out their flower petals.

(Prior to class, I traced 6 large, 6 medium, and 6 small petals using tracers I created, on everyone’s pink or orange painted sheets, to save art making time).

As kids cut EACH petal out, they wrote their names on the backs of each one with a pencil, then put it in a zip lock baggie, with their name on the baggie in sharpie, and was set aside for the following art class.

Students thought it wasn’t necessary to have them write their names on the backs of their petals since the zip lock bags would have their name, but I just wanted to be extra cautious in case petals were misplaced/mixed up with someone else’s or fell on the floor…. Which did happen a few times–  So I’m glad I had them do that extra step!

These baggies were then set aside in a box for later. Each class had it’s own box.

ON DAY 4:  Assemble the flower!

Students finish cutting out petals (if needed) then glue down all the large petals first, then medium, then small.

I show students under the document camera,  how to stack the fish “tail” of each petal (we talked about how the shape of the petals looked like fish)  right on top of each other like when making a sandwich –stacking the next rectangular  fish tail over the previous one each time.

I used “Aleene’s” quick dry (and other types of Aleene’s tacky glue) to attach the petals. It’s important to use quick drying glue that is stronger than regular school glue in order to support the weight of the petals and it helps them pop up.

Another bonus—The glue dries clear!

I bought packs of 5 for $5 at A.C.Moore, (also sold at Michael’s). Each student had their own glue bottle.

(Since the bottles are small, I re-filled the same small bottles with a larger sized one for the following classes). 

Students put a dot of glue per petal’s “fish tail”  (about the size of a pea). I have students count to 5 for each petal, while pressing.

After applying glue and pressing the “tail” down for 5 seconds, bend the petal back at its base with one hand, while pressing the “fish tail” down securely with your other finger. This makes the petal stand up and pop out rather than laying flat. (See photo below— I think this pic explains it better)

Once all petals are attached, then add the yellow felt fringe to the flowers center!

Students roll the fringe, starting from one end —keeping it tight as they roll it up.

Glue the bottom of the rolled fringe (heavily), with the same tacky glue.

Put some glue on the center of the flower as well.

Attach fringe roll to center and hold for 20-30  seconds. Don’t worry if the fringe is squished – you can adjust it once totally dry (20-30 minutes later).

I had students set the finished flowers in the hallway to dry flat for awhile– and hung later at the end of that day!

I could NOT w-a-i-t! To hang these beauties up!!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!!

We haven’t watched it YET, but I plan on showing my second graders one of the cutest videos on Claude Monet that I found via Pinterest, next art class. It’s narrated by an 8 year old girl, a bit long (10 min.)  but so stinkin cute and full of info! I might show just a portion of it

If interested check it out on my Pinterest page under “Art Videos”

Thanks for checking out my blog! I’ll be posting again Thursday 12/21….STAY TUNED!