Ripped Paper Trees with Painted Sky

Kindergarten learned about the autumn season by working on some autumn trees. They began by painting the background, starting with the sky, then grass, then using a paper towel to sponge on some clouds. The next class, they put together a tree by using small, medium, and large brown rectangles. They drew lines to create texture. Then, they ripped pieces of warm colored paper to glue on leaves!

Artist: n/a

Elements: Line, Color, Space, Texture

Concepts: Collage, Painting, Size

Materials: large tag board, tempera paint, crumpled paper towel, construction paper, scissors, glue

Matisse Inspired Collage

For the first graders' first project, we talked about how Matisse would "paint with scissors" by using paper cutouts. I have students complete freedom to make whatever they wanted using any colors on black paper. The only rule was that I shouldn't see any pencil marks. I did this to get a feel of the students' skills and creativity before introducing them to a more structured project. Some of the results were so creative!

Artist: Henri Matisse

Elements: Shape

Concepts: Collage

Materials: black construction paper, construction paper, scissors, glue

I love this ghost busters inspired collage!

SO many emojis

A 6 year old thought of this! So creative!

Farm Animal Drawings

Last year, I taught Kindergarten how to make pigs by using simple shapes. It was a simple first lesson, but I think they were a little board. This time, I taught them how to draw a pig, cow, sheep, chicken, and chicks, all by using simple shapes. It also incorporated straight, wavy, zig-zag, and loop-de-loop lines that we learned about in our last lesson. They loved it!

Artist: n/a

Elements: Line, Shape

Concepts: Using line and shape to make an image

Materials: white tag board, crayons

Crayon Portrait Wall

Last year, I spent a lot of time trying to hang artwork on the walls on the way to my room, but everything kept falling down. No matter what I used, the heavy artwork never wanted to stay on the walls! On the first day, I had students decorate a crayon with their favorite color, and write their name on the bottom. Inside, they drew a self portrait. I hung up all 252 crayons in the hallway on the way to my room to brighten up the hall! The students are so excited to look at all the portraits on their way to the room.

Last Day of Art Class

I see my students twice a week, and the last week is always half days. During the last week, I gave students a worksheet to fill out to reflect on their year in art class. When they are done, they get to do free art until the class is over. I love seeing the results!

You can find the worksheet for sale at my Teacherspayteachers store.

Edward Hopper Lighthouses

I love Edward Hopper's work, and wanted to come up with an appropriate lesson inspired by him for the litte ones. The students looked at his lighthouse paintings and talked about what lighthouses do and where we would find them. With summer coming soon, the student were excited to start a beach-themed project!

Artist: Edward Hopper

Elements: Line, Shape, Space

Concepts: Wax resist, mixed media

Materials: Tag board, white construction paper, crayons, glue, scissors, blue watercolor paint, tan and blue tempera paint, yellow and white oil pastels

Jellyfish Paintings

First grade's last project was this fun jellyfish project! I knew that I would be away for the end of this project, so I thought of something that a substitute could help with. Students began by painting the paper with blue, purple, and magenta paint. Then, when the paint dried, students used construction paper crayons to draw jellyfish, bubbles, and other fun sea creatures! They loved using the bright colors.

Artist: n/a

Elements: Line, Shape, Space

Concepts: Filling up a whole space

Materials: Tag board, tempera paint, construction paper crayons