Winter Wonderland

In an effort to help my little ones understand how important details are to artworks, we looked at artworks that had wintry scenes in them such as Peter Brugel's "The Hunters in the Snow". We had a discussion about all the picture clues-- that tell us as the viewer--what the subject of the painting is. The girls pointed out the bare trees, the heavy coats, the ice skating, snow on rooftops, the fire, etc.

I gave the students light grey construction paper and construction paper crayons. They were told to draw a wintry scene that had many clues about the subject.

                                                      The Hunters in the Snow, Peter Brugel

Flower Collage

Kindergartners need plenty of opportunity to work those "pincers" and this is a perfect project for that. I laid out a ton of scrap paper of a variety of colors and let them go for it! Their instructions were to make a garden with flowers, grass, and if they had time, bugs and sky. They had to tear the pieces into small sizes before gluing. We also went over proper gluing procedures.

Tree Collage

I like to teach kids early about the shape of trees, so that they can get out of the habit of making what I call "cloud-top trees". We look at pictures of real trees and talk about their branches, limbs, twigs and leaves. I gave them a lot of brown strips of paper in different widths. They were able to cut them however they liked. They then used these strips to make the trunk (a thicker strip), the branches (a medium strip) and the limbs and twigs (out of the thinnest strips). 

After they glued their brown strips, they cut out a yellow and red leaves and added them to the branches. They also added some to the ground that had already fallen.

Clay Hearts

Clay is always a big hit. I used Crayola self-hardening clay in this project. The Crayola brand worked well, but you have to make sure the students add a small amount of water to keep it moist, and they need to make sure all the cracks are smoothed out (this will keep them from cracking more when they dry). It was around Valentines Day, so I allowed this class to make a heart to either keep for themselves or give to someone. We talked about the tradition of Valentine's Day and the heart symbol. I also showed them a picture of a real heart to help them understand that this was a symbol, not the same shape as a real heart. I also showed them the artwork of artist Jim Dine, and we discussed how he used the heart shape in his artwork.

It was easiest for the girls to make a ball first, then start to create the shape. I also gave them a lot of different tools to etch shapes and patterns into the surface. After the hearts were dry, they painted them however they wanted.

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.

Template Patterns

Using templates are fun for all ages and are useful when teaching patterning, repetition and other design skills. They are also very beneficial in improving fine motor skills in young children. For this project, I laid out a large amount of templates and allowed the students to choose and share what they wanted. They first used a pencil to trace shapes. I encouraged them to think about symmetry, overlapping and color when they designed their artwork. The students used markers to color the designs in.

Texture Burgers

Kindergarten had a great time making these texture burgers. First we discussed what a texture is, and they felt some textures, from scratchy, to soft, to bumpy. I had printouts of the hamburger buns all ready for them to cut out, and several items on the counter that they could use to fill the burger with texture fixings.

After gluing the top and bottom buns to the top and bottom of a piece of black paper, each child was given a small container in which they could fill a variety of textures. Some items included pipe cleaners, beans, foam pieces, string, foil and buttons. These items were glued between the buns to make the textures.

Block Towers

The Kindergarteners loved this project because it had so many different componets. First we discussed 3-d shapes. I brought in a huge box of wooden blocks and scrap wood for them to dig through. They chose blocks to build a tower with, then did their best to draw the shapes. After they completed their drawing, they covered the lines in crayon and painted using watercolor.

Paul Klee Golden Fish

Kindergarten classes  learned about Paul Klee and the story of the Golden Fish before they made their own golden fishes. They used oil pastels on black paper so that the image had a glowing effect. After they completed the drawing, they used pencils to scratch details into the fish.

Color/Mood Portraits

Kindergartners viewed and discussed several portraits that are heavily focused on color and mood. Among them were portraits from Picasso's Blue Period, Matisse, and Kirchner.  I demonstrated how the order in which you paint is very important to the success of the painting. They started by painting their faces first, letting the paint dry before painting details on top. This helped greatly with bleeding and helped them avoid having to paint around small facial parts. We also discussed facial proportions and then they got to work.