Color Wheel Lolipops

Second Graders were given a circle of paper with a center dot. They drew 6 curved lines from the center and filled each space created with primary and secondary colors and patterns. A Popsicle stick was added and plastic wrap was used to cover. 

Hot Air Balloon and Space

Second graders learned about space, where to place objects and how to manipulate size of objects to create distance in a work of art. The background was painted with tempera paint, and the balloons were designed with marker, then added to the background. 

Symmetry Collages

Second grade cut two shapes at a time by stacking paper before cutting. Once they had the two pieces, they created a mirror image, abstract design collage. 

Second Grade City Scapes

Second grade combined printmaking and watercolor to create these fun city scapes. We used foam plates for the print and then the girls added the buildings and details after.

Picasso Portraits

Paul Klee Buildings

Second grade created these colorful abstracts of buildings using construction paper crayons. After looking at several works by Paul Klee and learning a bit about his life, students used rulers and pencils to draw vertical lines that would become the buildings. They used the width of the ruler, which is about one inch. Negative space was also discussed and the girls were encouraged to make the tops of the buildings end at different points, as well as adding triangles in a few areas. Each "tower" was then divided up into squares and then some squares were filled with "x's" or straight division lines. The whole drawing was outlined in black crayon and then each space was filled with construction paper crayons. 

Day of the Dead

Living in Houston, Texas, we have a wonderfully diverse community. This year I decided to teach the girls about the Mexican holiday called Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. There are many Day of the Dead celebrations in Houston each year, and since our school is Catholic, the girls had been learning about "All Souls Day" and "All Souls Day" which is celebrated at the same time and is basically a Western-Catholic version of the same holiday.

Day of the Dead celebrates the life of those who have passed. It is a wonderfully happy and colorful holiday with parades and altars created to commemorate the lives of our loved ones. A common symbol used in the holiday is the skull or calavera. Second and fourth graders viewed many different versions of the colorful skulls, and we discussed common decorations and colors used by the Mexican people.

The second grade project was created by first looking at skulls and drawing a skull facing front. They decorated each skull with colored pencils, cut them out and glued them to black paper adding a border around each in either lime green or hot pink. Patterns were added to the frame and jewels and glitter embellished the final product.

 

The fourth graders looked at classroom skeletons so that they could create a three dimensional skull out of self hardening clay. When the clay dried, they painted them with tempera and embellished them with glitter. The products were amazing and many students had the opportunity to celebrate the life of a loved one lost.

 

 



 

 

Color Cubes

This is a great alternative color scheme project. You will need to print a cube pattern from the Internet; there are loads of options if you google "cube pattern". Make a list of color schemes on the board and have the girls define each. Have examples of artworks that follow each color scheme. My list included: warm, cool, triad, complimentary, monochromatic, and neutral.

 

 

We used colored pencils as the medium. I asked them to use variety in each design, and they could add pictures if they liked as long as they kept to the color scheme. Every side had a different color scheme.

Pretty Peacock

Second grade used oil pastel to create these brightly colored peacocks. I printed several images of peacocks from the web for them to use as reference. We discussed texture, color and blending. They cropped the images of the peacocks closely before they drew them.

 

Paper Relief

The second grade classes enjoyed creating these textured reliefs. We discussed pattern, balance, texture and variety before the girls began creating components to their reliefs. They had fun inventing new ways to make the individual pieces, and loved seeing the results of adding several pieces to create a new pattern.