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SNAILS, FLOWERS AND BUTTERFLIES OH MY!

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In the last few art classes, before summer break, my special ed students made these lovely creations!

These snails were a cinch to make! We used model magic air dry modeling clay, liquid tempera paint, pipe cleaners, and large googley eyes!

It was a 2 day process since the clay needs more than 24 hours to dry before painting.

I demonstrated how to roll out the clay like a snake, then rolled one end on top of itself to create a large spiral for the shell.

We rolled out another “snake” for the body with another piece. We then curled up one end of the body creating a hook shape for the head, and wrapped it around a pipe cleaner that was made into two spirals on either end for the eyes. Students watched me demonstrate first and then we did it together as I demonstrated again.

The snail shell (large spiral) was then attached, by just pressing onto the body.

I love model magic since it’s so soft to work with AND STICKY! which adheres instantly to itself. Great for so many art lessons! —-A little pricey to to buy in large quantities if you ask me, but when you need small amounts per student or for small classes like this, it’s perfect!

I let them dry on tinfoil sheets on a paper plate, until the following class when they painted them. Kids could pick whatever colors they wanted. For a final touch, I hot glued the eyes on after they painted them!

These flowers came from Pinterest. I’ve seen many varieties on this easy paper strip flower and thought we’d give it a try! All it took was pre-cut strips of paper, punched out construction paper circles for the centers, and glue sticks. I thought it was a great lesson to strengthen students fine motor skills. They did a fantastic job! I wish I had more photos of kids art and of kids working on them- but at least there’s 1!

These butterfly beauties were all created with just cut up tissue paper and watered down white school glue!

I did a similar lesson with students using this method on fall pumpkins (these can be viewed here (then scroll down to see them) which I LOVE. I just love how the colors all bleed into one another. The centers were done with just smaller strips of black tissue.

Students each received a 9×12″ 80# sheet of drawing paper with a pre-drawn butterfly in black sharpie.

They used pre-cut warm colors and did the gluing themselves, overlapping colors as they glued.

On a separate sheet of 9×12″ they used pre-cut cool colors (just various blues really) to glue on the entire paper for the sky background while overlapping shades of blue.

It was okay to go beyond the black outline since they would be cut out later. Same with the blue background– they could go beyond the papers edges, since the edges would be trimmed off later as well.

*** …I DID cut out the butterfly for students and attached to the blue background to save a step (and save time!) for one special ed class, but for my other special education classes in my other school, we had more time, so students cut them out and glued them themselves. However…. I completely forgot to take photos of them before they snatched them up and took them home!!

For our FINAL art class before the break- they created a quick construction paper ice cream cone!

I had pre-drawn ice cream scoops on various colored papers as well as pre-drawn cones that kids cut out themselves, and assembled together. They added sprinkles and texture for the cones with crayons.

They also decorated their own cute white cotton baseball caps! I got these at Michaels art supply store. They used fabric markers for decorating whatever they wanted!

Thanks so much for visiting today! 🙂 

Be sure to check back sometime tomorrow to see 1st-2nd grade final art lessons of the year as well as 5th graders AH–MAAA-ZING Grid drawings!! 

HAPPY SUMMER EVERYBODY !!!! Especially to you art teacher friends out there!!! Woo-Hoo!!!

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ANIMAL DRAWINGS – 4TH GRADE

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I had JUUuuust enough time to squeeze in one more art lesson before the last day of art for 4th graders at Roosevelt—–so they created these wonderful animal drawings!! Students at Roosevelt had 4 (40 minute) art classes to work on them.

The goal for this lesson was to draw at least 1 animal within it’s natural habitat (kids could choose their own animal to draw), and draw them either in the foreground or middle ground, with objects drawn in all 3 areas- showing an understanding of the elements of art –space, and value, as well as foreground, middle ground and background. 

I had a variety of “step-by-step” how to draw handouts on various animals (deer, sloths, pigs, horses, rabbits, foxes, owls, among others etc. ) for students to refer to, as well as packets of images of animals to refer to when drawing.

Students drew on 12×18″ drawing paper, and could draw on it vertically or horizontally.

I showed them my examples as well as students drawings from previous years on a powerpoint, and we reviewed foreground, middle ground and background. We discussed how objects in the foreground appear to be the largest, and are drawn large and along the bottom of the paper, things in the middle ground appear a bit smaller to show they are further away, and are drawn smaller and near the middle of the paper, and things in the background are the smallest to show they are the furthest away and are drawn smallest near the top of the paper—which creates the illusion of space!

After students finished drawing, they began coloring in everything with colored pencils.

Before coloring though, I went over the element of art VALUE and we talked about how when we see things in real life, objects that are CLOSEST to us, tend to look darker and have more detail and contrast than objects that are further away. Particularly things that are very far away. Those objects tend to look lighter in value, have very little detail, and appear blurry.

The goal for coloring their drawings was to color in the foreground with darker values, and show detail and texture, and students colored in the middle ground and background the colors should be lighter in value. 

I showed them photos of animals in their habitat that depicted this to help them understand better, then we reviewed how we could change the value within artwork using colored pencils. In a previous lesson on Victorian Architecture (these can be viewed under “4th grade art lessons” under the drop down menu) students learned about “value” and created a monochromatic house with colored pencils. We reviewed how to change the value by simply pressing hard while coloring the color would appear darker in value. By pressing with a lighter touch while coloring- the color would be lighter in value. Another way to change the value is to select a variety of shades of one color (say dark forest green, a medium green, and lighter lime colored green).

Students did a great job! Take a look below!

I hope you enjoyed reading this post! Check back again very soon for 5th grade Grid drawings, 2nd grade “thinking of summer” drawings, and 1st grade “dream houses”!! Plus more!!….

Thanks for checking out my blog!

 

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KINETIC ARTWORK BY 3RD GRADE!

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This was my 3rd graders last art lesson of the year before summer break! Kinetic Piranhas (OR…. any other creature really!) In previous years I had students draw only piranhas, but decided to open the lesson up to anything the students wanted to draw! They came up with some fantastic and creative ideas!

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!!

Students looked at kinetic artwork by artists Theo Jansen, Arthur Ganson, Anthony Howe, and Mark Nixon before they began their drawings. Below the photos of students artwork, is a video of Theo Jansen’s “Strandbeests” kinetic creatures– watch the video! It’s incredibly amazing!

Doesn’t the one above remind you of something from Monty Python?! Or is that just me? 

 

Here are a couple videos on artist Theo Jansen and his AMAZING kinetic Strandbeests…..

 

 

Hope you enjoyed this post! Be sure to check back in a few days to see 1st grade “Dream Houses”, 2nd Grade “Thinking of Summer Self-portraits”, 4th Grade “Animal Drawings”, and 5th Grade “Grid Drawings”!! I will be posting these throughout the week!

If interested in checking out artwork by grade level, click on the grade level under the drop down menu!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

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NEON POP OUT SELF-PORTRAITS – 4TH GRADE!

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They’re done!! (Well… most of my classes anyhow!)  I LOVE them so much! It’s a new lesson I started this year and I think it’s a keeper! Read below the pics to see how these were created!

This lesson took (4) 40 minute art classes to finish.

This lesson focuses on The Elements Of Art: (Line, Shape, and Color) and the Principles of Design: (Balance, Emphasis, Variety, Movement, Contrast and Pattern) as well as enhancing knowledge on drawing facial details and proportion.

I don’t think this self-portrait would be the same without the POP OUT 3D element! It makes it SO much more fun!

Plus, If you’ve been following my blog or Instagram account this year, you’ve probably noticed a lot more 3D artwork in the mix. I’ve made it a goal to incorporate more 3D elements in different art lessons for each grade level, since we don’t have a kiln for firing clay pieces at either school I teach in. This was definitely a fun lesson to teach and students seemed to really enjoy it!!

DAY 1:

On the first day of the lesson students drew their self-portrait large on a sheet of 12×18″ neon construction paper. Students had a choice of pink, lime, orange, yellow, or green.

I demonstrated under the document camera to start drawing the head a little bit more than halfway up the paper, and we reviewed ways to draw facial features. I also said they could draw their eyes closed or open, or winking! They were also encouraged to draw a pattern on their shirt for added detail.

Once drawn in pencil, they went over all their lines with a black sharpie to define them and make them stand out.

I absolutely LOVE the texture and movement of this student’s hair!

Check out the pattern on this student’s shirt!  Loving the detail!!!

 

DAY 2 – 3

The following art class students finished drawing and outlining if needed, then carefully cut out their self-portrait leaving a little neon color all the way around the edges.

They then traced their cut out self-portrait along the bottom of a piece of 12×18″ black construction paper, vertically with a pencil.

After that- they set the cut out one aside, and wrote positive attributes in pencil all around their traced self-portrait. We talked about VARIETY and BALANCE and to write some words larger than others and some diagonally, sideways, and straight across.

I had a printed list of adjectives that each student could refer to for suggestions if they needed it. Kids could write other things as well of course if it wasn’t on the list, as long as it was positive.

Then they went over their words with a white colored pencil, making sure to make some brighter and more bold than others. The bright white lettering adds CONTRAST against the black paper.

 

DAY 4:

On the final day, students then traced a variety of colored chalk pastels all along the traced outline on the black paper. We went over the color wheel beforehand and reviewed primary, secondary, warm, cool, complementary, and analogous.

They applied the chalk pastels in short, thick lines and then using their finger- smudged the chalk going outward and away from their outlined self-portrait to create a glowing affect.

Students washed their hands (or used baby wipes) after using the chalk pastels, then took their neon cut out self-portrait again and traced it once more but this time, onto a sheet of 12×18″ white 80# drawing paper. Then went over those pencil lines with black sharpie.

Then carefully cut that one out –leaving a bit of white paper showing all around the edges. Then glued it into place on the black paper using a glue stick.

Then later on I attached their NEON cut out to go over the white one. I originally thought it would be a good idea to hot glue strips of cut cardboard to mount between the two in order for the neon one to pop out.

HAha…. That proved to be waaaay to time consuming cutting cardboard into strips. Plus I’d have to layer more than two strips to achieve the thickness I wanted.

SOOOoooo…. scrap THAT idea!

Then I tried bending strips of cardboard (from the neon paper packaging) into an accordian fold and hot-gluing those in between the two. Like so…

That DID work….however….. it too was VERY very time consuming (and kinda hurt my hands after awhile folding back the cardboard over and over and over).

I knew it wasn’t a very good method, but went on with it anyways. I wanted to get what I could done, since I planned on working on them that afternoon, and only had those materials on hand to make the pop out portion work. I think I got through 20 pieces of artwork.

THEN…. had the idea of using SPONGES!!! I went to Dollar Tree the next day and basically bought out the store of ALL of their sponges!! They sold them in packs of two, for just a buck and I only needed 1 sponge per students art.

I also cut each one up into smaller pieces to help spread and distribute the needed pop out support. Cutting them with scissors was super easy, thank goodness!!! It went SUPER quick and worked out perfectly with the hot glue!

YAY! (insert happy dance)

TA-DA!!!

Would LOVE to hear what you all think! I hung up a bunch so far at both schools, (I have a total of (5) 4th grade classes doing this project) and will be adding everyone else’s SOON!! 🙂

To view other artwork by 4th grade from this year (and previous years) click on “4TH GRADE ART LESSONS” under the drop down menu!

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my blog! Join/Subscribe to my blog and submit your email to get up to date notifications!

Be sure to check back SOON for more amazing artwork! Take care and be kind everybody! 🙂

 

 

 

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BUBBLE BLOWING SELF-PORTRAITS- 1ST GRADE!

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This was a really fun lesson where first-graders learned the difference between a self-portrait and a portrait! This lesson took (3) 40 minute art classes to finish.

I just love this artist’s winking self-portrait! So cute!

 

DAY 1

Students looked at different self-portraits by famous artists and then learned how to draw the head by drawing an upside down egg shape. They learned how to draw facial features in correct proportion and learned that eyes are drawn like the shape of almonds/footballs or lemons and ways to draw the nose, mouth, ears and eyebrows through a demonstration under the document camera.

Once they finished their self-portrait, students added a pattern of circles in the background, then traced over all their lines with a thick black sharpie.

DAYS 2-3

On the second day of the lesson I read them a story called The Colors of Us, by Karen Katz. I absolutely LOVE this story because it talks about appreciating each others differences and to notice the variety of skin colors we all have and that they are ALL beautiful!! We talked about how weird and boring the world would be if we were all the same skin color!

Students then found a crayon that best matched their own unique skin color, eye color and hair color and colored in their self-portraits. I demonstrated that they could combine and layer colors to create the colors they needed. I encouraged students to press hard when coloring and to try to color in completely so no white paper showed through.

For a final step, I poked holes in their papers using a pencil and a pre-tied balloon was attached to their self-portrait using tape on the back!

Students did a fantastic job creating their self-portraits! (*Some students are still finishing coloring and I will be adding more photos later on!)

Now a beautiful and colorful hallway!! 🙂

Thanks so much for dropping by!! Read below to check out yesterday’s post on 2nd grade artwork!

If interested– sign up for new blog post updates via email, (to the right, or scroll all the way down on a cell phone) 🙂

I will be blogging again tomorrow night on NEW 4th grade artwork (Neon Pop-Out Self-portraits!) Stay tuned!…

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MIXED MEDIA BIRD NESTS- 5TH GRADE!

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LOVE, LOVE LOVE THESE!! This is a new lesson I introduced this year for 5th grade and it’s definitely a keeper!! Thank you Painted Paper Art for this wonderful lesson idea!

These are created by 5Y, 1 (of my 5)  5th grade classes! (Other classes are going on day 2 of the lesson later on in the week). It’s a 3 day art lesson (40 minutes each) and incorporates ALL the Elements of Art (value, shape, line, color, form, space, and texture!)

HERE ARE A FEW CLOSE-UPS OF INDIVIDUAL NESTS!

 

DAY 1: 

Students created the nest using oil pastels on a 6×6″ sheet of manila tagboard. They drew a large circle with pencil, then chose whatever color blue they wanted, to fill in the background.

They then drew a small black circle in the center, a loop of dark brown around the black circle, then looped various shades of brown oil pastel within the remaining part of the nest, layering as they went around. After that they drew short, curved lines extending outside the nest with brown, to create little pieces of hay or sticks sticking out from the nest.

Students then used various shades of yellow and golds to overlap the brown, until the manila paper was completely covered with oil pastels. As a final step with oil pastels, students used black to lightly draw circles close together extending outward from the center, to create the illusion of space and the nest going inward in the center.

 

For the last step on day 1, students glued on strips of pre-cut, painted papers all around the nest, to add texture!

 

 

DAY 2: 

On the second day of the lesson, students shaped and created 3 eggs out of model magic air dry clay and glued them on in the center of their nests with tacky glue. Then they glued down 8-10 small twigs using tacky glue to add even more texture to their nests! (BTW- Twigs were collected while walking my dog in the park on a previous day. With only 7 more art classes remaining before summer break, (although it might have been fun), I didn’t want students to spend an art class searching around the school for them!!)

I love the various shades of blue in this one!

I have to say, I REALLY LOVE tacky glue!! I’ve used it for so many art lessons recently and it’s WAAAAAY better than regular old white school glue! It adheres quickly (which is super important for this lesson) and best of all—dries clear!

These were all set aside to completely dry in Mason paper box tops until the following week!

 

DAY 3: 

Students painted their eggs using liquid tempera (students could choose from a variety of blue/ blue-green paints).

They had the option to then add spots of white and brown speckles using the end of a paintbrush handle.

 

Students did a wonderful job creating their beautiful bird nests and eggs, I couldn’t WAIT to hang them all up!!!!

I hot glued twigs to create their sign and added some colorful cupcake liners for flowers! More nests to come SOON  to fill in the empty spaces on this bulletin board!!! 

 

Thanks for checking out my blog!! Be sure to check back tomorrow (Tuesday) night for another new post on some NEW artwork!!! To view other 5th grade artwork -click on 5th Grade Art Lessons under the drop down menu! 

 

 

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1st Grade– “MIXED MEDIA ALPHABET SOUP!”

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SOUPS ON!!! 

I was so excited to try this lesson out with my first graders this year–I absolutely LOVE them!! Especially the mixed media/ 3D aspect of them!!! A big shout out and thanks to Lauralee Chambers for the wonderful lesson idea!!

Read below to view process pics and read how we created them!!

(the photos of artwork above and below are by first graders in Mrs. Uthoff’s class)

 

 

The focus of this lesson combines letter formation/identification with an understanding of mixed media (we used oil pastels, liquid watercolor paint, markers and charcoal), and three-dimensional elements within artwork. 

This lesson took 3 (40 minute) art classes to complete.

DAY 1: 

After showing students my teacher examples, and reviewing what mixed media is (using multiple art mediums in a piece of artwork), and what 3-D means (artwork that isn’t flat and sticks out–soup spoon and plastic letters), students each received a piece of 9×12″ 80# drawing paper with a circle traced on it (for the soup). The alphabet was projected onto the white board for students to review if needed.

Students drew the alphabet using oil pastels inside the circle to create their alphabet soup. They were encouraged to draw their letters large, pressing hard (so the oil pastel later on would resist the paint!) as well as draw some upside down, and backwards and going in different directions with multiple colors.

Once drawn and the letters almost filled up their bowl, they drew small orange squares (for carrots) and green circles (for peas).

Then students painted over their letters with a yellow-orange liquid watercolor (creating the broth), creating an oil pastel resist!

These soups were then set aside to dry until the next art class!

 

DAY 2: 

Students each received a 12×18″ piece of 80# drawing paper with another (larger) circle pre-traced with black sharpie. This circle was drawn off to the side of their paper, so there would be room for the napkin later on.

After reviewing vertical and horizontal lines, students drew a plaid tablecloth (or placemat) using 2 chosen colored markers. Then kids painted over their lines with water to create a “painterly” look. Students thought it was so fun that the marker could turn into “paint”!

I had students place a paper plate over their “bowl” while painting with water, to avoid water getting inside their traced bowls.

These were then set aside to dry until the following art class.

 

DAY 3: 

Students cut out their soups carefully and then glued down in the center of the larger traced circle bowl, using a glue stick.

Then they glued down a pre-cut “napkin” (heavyweight tagboard cut to about 4 1/2″ x 9 1/2″) next to their bowls of soup using a glue stick. They then used a piece of charcoal to outline one side of their napkin (I told them to create the letter “L” with their charcoal, as well as half the side of their soup bowl (I told them to create a “C” with their charcoal). I explained this would create a shadow effect, and make it all look more realistic and 3-D. Then students smudged the lines of charcoal with their finger!

This is a first time for first graders using charcoal, and they loved this step!

For the final steps, I glued down a plastic spoon (metal imitation soup spoons found on Amazon) and 2 colored plastic letters (plastic letter beads from Roylco) using a hot glue gun!

They look SO real don’t they??!!

Like I said, I absolutely LOVE this lesson, and I hope you do too!!

Thanks for visiting my blog! Please check back again SOON for more student artwork!!

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4th Grade Enlarged Flowers and 5th Grade Falling For Foreshortening

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4th Grade- Enlarged Flower Drawings inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe!

Students learned about the artist Georgia O’Keeffe, and viewed examples of her flower paintings. We talked about the scale (size) of her work and that her flower paintings were so large because she thought flowers were incredibly beautiful and wanted people to notice them! She loved to create close-up paintings of flowers. Looking at her flower paintings is like looking at a flower with a magnifying glass!

We also reviewed what abstract artwork is (artwork that focuses on mainly lines, shapes and colors), which is how Georgia O’Keeffe depicted a lot of her flowers in her work. She focused on just small sections of a flower –instead of the entire flower in a lot of her work, therefore abstracting the image. Not all of her flower paintings are abstract, but many are.

DAY 1: 

I showed students multiple examples of her flower paintings through a power point presentation and discussed her work and background.

After demonstrating how to focus in on one area of a flower and block out the rest (students could choose their own printed flower image to observe) by using a viewfinder, (using a black square piece of construction paper with a small (about 2×2″ square) cut out in the middle). Students had to select an area of their flower so it’s petals touched or ran off at least 3 sides of their viewfinder (see pics below).

Students then practiced drawing and enlarging small sections of their chosen flowers, in their sketchbooks. They did this 3 times, each flower drawing on a different page in their sketchbook. They had a choice of choosing 3 different flower images OR drawing from 1 flower image but focusing in on different areas of the flower each time.

 

DAYS 2-3:

Students selected 1 photo of a flower for their final drawing. They enlarged a section of their flower on 12×12” paper, making sure that their drawing of their chosen flower ran off or touched at least 3 of the 4 sides of their paper, while considering the composition (how and where things are placed on the page).

Once drawn, students colored in using oil pastels. Students had a choice of coloring in their flower any colors they wanted!!  In previous years I had students color in their flowers trying to best match their flowers colors in the photo. The only rule with color I had was, was to switch to a different color when their was a transition of color in their flower photo.  Also, If their was a bit of background showing in their composition, (some students selected areas of their flower that only showed the flower– without any background) they needed to color it in with any one chosen color for contrast.

DAY 4: 

For a final step, students created a bit of depth within their flower by adding shadows around the edges of their flowers petals with black oil pastel, then blending with their finger. Adding black for shading with oil pastels is a pretty tricky step, and can be a bit challenging, but I think students did a wonderful job adding that element to their artwork!!

 

5th Grade- “Falling for Foreshortening” Drawings! 

 

 

For this art lesson, students learned about a type of perspective called foreshortening.

(Scroll down further to view more photos of students working on this lesson!) Foreshortening is a drawing technique used to create the illusion where parts of something or someone appear to come out at the viewer strongly, making those areas seem closest to the viewer, and some parts appearing to recede strongly, making those areas seem the furthest away from the viewer.

Students used this technique by drawing a person that appears to be falling backwards into something, with their arms and legs outstretched. They did this by tracing their hands along the top of the paper, and their feet along the bottom of the paper, leaving space in the middle. They then drew the head, neck, arms, and legs of a person smaller, to create the illusion that the body was further away than the feet and hands.

Students were instructed to pay special attention to the soles of their shoes, being sure to add details and texture to make it look like the bottom of their shoes. Students also had to draw the person’s facial expression to match whatever it was they were falling into (something scary, or something soft and fun!), show movement in the hair, and add details to the palms of the hands.

Once the person was drawn, 5th graders outlined in black sharpie, then drew a background depicting what their person was falling into, and colored in everything using colored pencils.

 

Thanks for visiting my blog! Check back soon for NEW artwork by 1st Grade!! (Mixed Media Alphabet Soup!!)

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2nd Grade- BIRCH TREE LANDSCAPES!

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Students at Roosevelt finished these beauties up on Tuesday!  Amvet students just started today, and will finish on 4/12! 

This is a 3-4 day art lesson (40 minute art classes).

The objective of this lesson is to create a LANDSCAPE painting, while students are introduced to, and gain an understanding of, FOREGROUND, MIDDLE GROUND, and BACKGROUND within artwork, as well as learn about the size/space relationship within those areas. Second graders looked at the artwork of Bev Doolittle for inspiration.

Students learned that objects in the FOREGROUND in artwork, are the things closest to us as viewers. Objects in the foreground should be drawn larger and lower on the page to show this.

Objects in the MIDDLE GROUND within artwork, are a little bit further away. Things in the middle ground should be drawn in the middle of the page and drawn smaller.

Objects in the background within artwork, are the furthest things away. These need to be drawn even smaller and higher up on the page.

DAY 1: After demonstrating, on a sheet of 12×18″ tagboard students drew one large tree in the foreground, then a line for a hill in the middle ground with two medium sized trees, then another hill line higher up on the page with three small trees for the background.

***Making any more trees than this amount on 12×18″ paper can make the landscape look too crowded, and would also be a lot more challenging to paint in the sky later on. 

Students then used the side of a piece of corrugated cardboard dipped into a little bit of black liquid tempera paint, to create the black lines within their birch trees (shown below). 

***Here, it’s important to take any excess paint off the cardboard after dipping, by tapping the length of the cardboard on the paper plate. Students simply scraped the cardboard from one edge of their tree to the other, and then repeated that step working their way up the tree. 1-2 branches were then added per tree by scraping thin, diagonal lines.

Paintings were then left to dry until the next week. Students could draw in their sketchbooks or read an art book for the remainder of DAY #1.

 

DAY 2:  Students drew grass blades and flowers using crayon in just the foreground (pressing hard!). We reviewed how things in the foreground are closest, and that our eyes can’t make out details of objects that are very far away.

Students then painted the land and sky with liquid watercolors, creating a crayon wax-resist! 

 

DAY 3:  Students drew 1-3 animals to add to their painting.

They each got a step-by-step, “how to draw” animals packet that I made to refer to (with multiple woodland animals to choose from–Fox, bunny, deer, squirrel, owl, skunk, racoon, horse etc.) and drew them on separate small pieces of 80# drawing paper.  Students could also choose not to draw from the packet and draw an animal of their choosing!

***I used to give students only packets of photocopied PHOTOS of animals to use as reference, but after teaching this lesson for a few years, Ive found that it’s more successful for kids to understand how to draw animals in this step-by-step way for this age group, and they enjoy doing it as well! 

Once drawn they colored their animals in with colored pencils, carefully cut them out and glued them onto their finished paintings with a glue stick to inhabit their wonderful birch tree landscapes!

 

Look at that cute itty bitty skunk!!! 

 

Students could also create their own animal!

The results are beautiful and I think students did such an incredible job!

What do YOU think? I’d LOVE to hear from you! Comments, questions, suggestions are all welcome! 

BE SURE TO CHECK BACK TOMORROW FOR MY NEXT POST!! 4TH GRADE AND 5TH GRADE ARTWORK! 

Thanks for stopping by!

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MORE Mixed Media Bridges inspired by Monet!!

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*****Students!*****

If you are looking for my YouTube channel, click HERE to go directly to it!  

-OR- You can go to my Art Instruction Videos page on this website by clicking on “Art Instruction Videos” under the menu!! 

ALSO– I am planning on creating some “how-to-draw /step by step” drawing YouTube videos, and want to hear back from YOU with ideas on what you would like me to show you!! What kinds of things would you like me to show you how to draw? I’d LOOOVE  to get some ideas from my students!!! 

To share your ideas, click on the words “continue reading” below at the end of this post, and then type inside the comment box under where it says “Leave a reply”! Ask your parents to help you and send the reply using their email (emails will not show on my blog to others). 

Thanks!! I can’t wait to hear some of your ideas!!

Students learned about the artist Claude Monet and watched a video on his life and artwork. 

On day 1, Students layered tissue paper pieces with watered down white glue on 9×12” tagboard, to create the water and tree background.

On day 2, they glued on their photo, then a pre-cut bridge to go over their lily pond, drew lily pads with green oil pastel, and added white and pink dots with their fingers dipped in tempera paint to create lily flowers!

I LOVE how they turned out!!

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