Aboriginal Art

Little Yellow Leaf Collage

Before we began this project, I read the sweet story called "Little Yellow Leaf"  by Carin Berger. It's a story of a leaf that was afraid to fall from the tree. A red leaf was also afraid, so they decided to fall together. The kids loved it and we were able to talk about friendship and fears.

I like to teach the pre-k students about the shape of trees, so that they don't make what I call "cloud-top trees". We looked at pictures of trees and at real trees outside and discussed the trunk, branches and limbs. They then painted the tree part using brown tempera paint. After the painting was dry, they cut out one red and one yellow leaf and glued them to the branches.

Noise Makers

I wanted my class to think about different purposes of art. Some art can actually be used for a purpose other than strictly being visual. We discussed other types of art such as music, dance and theater. Using paper plates, the class made "noise makers" with a painted pattern for decoration. First they painted the back-side of a paper plate. I told them to consider how the plate was going to be folded while they were adding their patterns. After the paint was dry, I folded them in half and stapled the edge to close it up. I left a small opening so that they could add the dried beans and macaroni to create the noise. After they had filled the shaker, I stapled it closed and punched two holes in the bottom. The girls added yarn of their choice as a final decoration.

Painted Patterns

First graders loved making patterns and shapes with a variety of tools. I put out cut up boxes, bottle caps, clothes pins, and corks and allowed them to dip the objects in paint to create patterns. Each one turned out differently. We discussed many art terms including pattern, repetition, space, texture and color.