KINDERGARTEN and FIRST GRADE SELF-PORTRAITS WITH PATTERNS 

First of all let me just say that these Kindergartners and first graders did such an INCREDIBLE job creating their self-portraits! I am blown away by their artwork! Great job everyone! 

But before I show you pictures of their artwork, I want to first do a description on the lesson before posting pics. Hope you don’t mind! 

This self-portrait lesson took about 4 (40 minute art classes) to complete. 

On day 1 of the lesson, we talked about what a self-portrait is vs. a portrait, and then I showed them my example drawings. 

Then I showed them a bunch of different artist’s self-portraits in my Google slides— 

(Vincent Van Gogh, Mabel Alvarez, Henri Matisse, Paul Gauguin, Rembrandt and Elizabeth Peyton) 

We then talked about patterns and how a pattern is when any lines, shapes, images of things, or colors repeat! We looked at a variety of patterns and then some google slides that showed a series of shapes that wasn’t a pattern! and I asked students “ Is THIS a pattern?” to check for understanding. 

Then I showed K and 1st graders some of my students’ drawings from previous years with my Google slides, and we discussed how we’d only be drawing ourselves from the chest up, not the whole body (like in kids school photos!) 

—DRAWING THE FACE—

Then after students got a sheet of 80# 9×12” white drawing paper, they drew with me as I demonstrated under the doc camera. We started by drawing an oval for the head, then the neck and shoulders. Then I showed them how to lay their pencil down in the middle of their head, and to bring their pencil up slightly and that was where we’d draw the eyes! 

I showed how to draw a curved line arching up for the top of the eye, then a curved line arching down for the bottom of the eye. We talked about how the shape is kind of like an almond or a lemon. 

Next, I explained to draw a circle inside for the color part of our eye called the iris, and to make sure that it touches the top and bottom, because if you don’t, it can make the expression look scared or surprised!  Then to draw a smaller circle for the pupil, right in the middle. We talked a little bit about how our pupils are always in the center of the iris- no matter where we are looking. I love explaining stuff like that to kids, and tossing in some science here and there when creating art! 

Kids could then add eyelashes, (I talked about how eyelashes protect our eyes from dust and debris, and act like a little visor from the suns rays, and then we drew a curved line for eyebrows. 

Next was the nose. I had kids lay their pencil down again on their paper about halfway between the eyes and the chin. Then to put their finger there (where their pencil was). I broke it down so that we drew a small “smile” line for the bottom middle part of the nose, then a curved ”c” on the left side with space in between and then a backwards “c” on the right side with space in between. Then we connected those areas with a small curved line for the nostrils. Then we drew a small, slightly curved line for the bridge of the nose. I explained, that’s where eyeglasses or sunglasses rest on the nose. 

For the mouth, I told kids to lay their pencil down again on their drawings, so it was about halfway between their nose and their chin. Then I broke the steps down for the lips. TBH a little challenging to explain in words without showing, haha, so I won’t be describing that portion. (I however, might make a YouTube tutorial on “how to draw a face” sometime in the near future)! Would you be interested in watching a tutorial on that? I’d also include my handout on different hairstyles for the lesson in my TpT. Please send an email if interested! (Email can be found in my “Contact” page) 

—DRAWING THE HAIR—

Then we added hair—- that was the trickiest part. SOO many different kinds of hairstyles out there!! — but I did show a few variations under the doc camera. I explained to start at the top, above the drawn line for the head, if you didn’t have bangs —so cute—some kids asked “what are BANGS?” Then showed to erase the head line after the hair was added, because our hair isn’t see-through.  I also had a sheet that I drew with a bunch of different hairstyles that I passed out that they could look at for inspiration while they drew. 

Then I showed them how to draw a shirt collar—a big “U” for a crew neck or a “V” for a  V neck—or any kind they wanted!  Then they could add buttons, zippers, pockets and designs of any kind in their shirt. 

Then we drew wide horizontal stripes in the background. Then kids drew patterns inside the stripes. They could draw any kind of pattern they wanted. They could use numbers, letters, lines, shapes, images —as long as it was a pattern. 

This drawing in pencil portion of the lesson took a good 2 art classes, then on day 3 kids traced over all their lines with black sharpie. 

I just can’t believe the skill level with this student below- look at that duck and lizard?!?! The kid is 7 years old!

There ARE photos of finished artwork coming up!!!

—COLORING SKIN—

When it was time to color, I told students to try their best to match their skin, hair, and eyes, using crayons. I set aside 3 different skin toned crayons in containers and said to draw a bit on the back of their drawing to test the colors out and then put their hand up to the color to see what worked best. 

Not the best picture of these crayons, but the ones on the bottom left are more of a caramel brown

—COLORING THE EYES—

For eyes, I mentioned if you have hazel eyes, to color in the eye with green first, then add/blend brown on top. Blue eyes, use blue and brown eyes use brown. Some kids exclaimed “I have black eyes!” but I said, “it looks almost black – like mine – but we have super duper dark brown eyes. So just use a dark brown”. I explained to not color in the whites of the eyes, as I showed them my eyes with my eyes open wide so they could see, and one student asked “can we make them red?”, I said “why red?” and he said, “for the veins”. I said, “oh, that’s true we do have red veins in our eyes, but nah, let’s not do that —we don’t want to make our eyes red because then we’ll look super tired” haha

We also talked about freckles and to add dark brown on top of their skin color to add freckles if they had them. Students could also color their cheeks with pink to make them rosy if they wanted! 

—COLORING THE HAIR—

For hair color, if students had dark blonde hair, I showed students how to color in their hair with yellow first and then draw brown lines on top to create a “dirty blond” hair color for those that had dark blonde hair. If they had brown, use brown, red/brown hair to blend those two colors, brown use brown, black-use black etc. 

Students could color their clothes and patterns in the background any colors they wanted, but we talked about how adding a pattern of color would enhance the pattern drawing in the background even more. 

Look below at all their fantastic artwork! Students did SUCH an AMAZING job creating their self-portraits! I couldn’t be more proud of their hard work and creativity!! 

Learning Goals: 

Students learn how to draw facial features and begin to understand correct facial proportion

Students can layer and blend colors to create eye and hair color 

Students can define “pattern” and can draw a pattern within their artwork 

AND NOW FOR THE FINISHED ARTWORK!! FINALLY!

This photo is just too funny – I had to include it

KINETIC PIRANHAS – 3rd GRADE 

Students learned that kinetic artwork is art that moves and depends on motion from someone or something to make it move, in order to reach it’s full effect. This could be from a bunch of rotating gears, a computer, batteries, the wind, solar power, water etc. or in our case—hands to open and close the folded paper!!

I showed them examples of previous students kinetic piranha’s as well as my example piranha’s and how they look closed and then opened.

I showed students kinetic artwork by artists Theo Jansen, Arthur Ganson, Anthony Howe, and Mark Nixon before they began their drawings. 

These are screenshots of my Google slides that I show my students. 

Below are videos of Theo Jansen’s “Strandbeests” (kinetic creatures) that I show my 3rd graders. Watch these videos! They are incredibly amazing! My students LOVE them!!! 

Anthony Howe’s kinetic artwork below—these are so cool! You have to watch these too!!  

Students each received a piece of 12×18″ 80# white drawing paper and I showed them how to fold it under the document camera. 

While the paper was closed, I showed students how to draw the body of the fish in pencil, making a football shape so that the top half of the fish’s body was along the top and the bottom half was drawn along the bottom. 

Then we drew the circle for the eye, the tail fin (and I showed a few different ways to create that—wavy, zig-zag edge, or straight) then added a fin at the top and bottom. Then I showed them how to draw stripes inside the body and then to draw whatever patterns they wanted within the stripes.

Then we opened up the paper entirely so you could see the top and bottom parts of the fish with the paper in the middle blank. 

Then I showed them how to draw the mouth with a large curved line and big sharp teeth. Then how to continue the stripes within their body to connect the top portion to the bottom portion. Then we just continued drawing the patterns inside each stripe! 

Students could then draw smaller fish and other imaginative things about to get eaten by their piranha! Students got really creative with this! 

On days 2-5 of the lesson, students carefully went over all their lines with a thick black sharpie, and then colored in adding bright bold colors with marker. 

Students really enjoyed this lesson, and took their time when coloring! I’ve been teaching this one for years —and it’s always a hit! 

Learning Goals:

– Learn about and have an understanding on kinetic art and create their own kinetic piranha

– Be able to create intricate patterns and show that in their work

– Learn about artists Theo Jansen, Anthony Howe and other artists that create kinetic art

Such a fun way to teach younger students about kinetic art, and I love how they all come out so different!

And some kids had fun with jabbing markers and adding blood!!! Haha

Such a fun lesson for kids —students absolutely love making them, it incorporates sooo many elements of art, they learn about some amazing artists, and it’s so fun to teach!

I’ll be posting 5th grade “Mixed Media Watercolor Self-Portraits” next —-which is a NEW LESSON that I’m VERRRY excited about!!!

I also just added a new page to my menu called “Every Art Lesson Since 2017” —On that page you’ll find every single post (link to the post) that I ever created on this site! Starting at the top with the most recent—working your way down the list —to my very first post in August 2017! 

Also—- I added 15 more pics to my “Favorite Fun pics/Kids Creating Art” page (at the bottom)! Check it out! 

Thank you so much for visiting my website today! Check out some of my previous blog posts below! 

“Mixed Media Bouquet of Flowers” by 4th grade

4th grade “Enlarged Flower Drawings” and 5th grade “Splattered Paintbrushes”! 

Mixed Media Cake inspired by Wayne Thiebaud 

Mixed Media Watercolor Self-Portraits – 5th grade

One point Perspective Cityscapes – 5th Grade

NEW YouTube Art Tutorial! “April Showers Brings May Flowers” -2nd Grade 

2nd Grade “Thinking of Summer Self-Portraits” and 1st Grade “Dream Houses”

Winter Northern Lights! 5th grade Art Lesson

Blackout poetry – 5th Grade 

Draw your own Inventions – 1st Grade

GRID DRAWINGS inspired by Chuck Close!  -5th GRADE

Winter Cardinals -4th grade and Superhero Masks – 2nd grade!

Thanks again for visiting today! Please subscribe below ( it’s FREE! ) You’ll get an email notification every time I post a new blog entry. I usually post about every 7-10 days. 

Also…I’m thinking of doing a fun raffle give-a-way. I’m not sure what that entails yet— but if selected, I’d give out some freebies from TpT or something good! I’ll figure something out soon! If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them! 

Yikes! I think that was possibly my LOOONGEST blog post EVER