Japanese Lanterns

Third graders first learned about Cherry Blossoms and their importance to Japanese culture. They also learned about the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington D.C. and how the trees there had been a gift from Japan. They used a template to draw a circle on white paper. The girls practiced painting Cherry Blossoms on a separate sheet of paper before painting them on the circular paper. The paper was then accordion folded to create a 3-d image, A black piece of paper was glues to the top and bottom of he lantern and a string was drawn onto the red paper with a Sharpie. 

https://www.arlingtontours.com/dc-cherry-blossom-history

Pattern Trees

Third graders used a circular format, and drew a open tree. The background was divided into sections with wavy lines. Each section was filled with a different pattern using a Sharpie marker. Lastly, watercolor was added.

Woven Prints

Third grade wove two different mediums in this interesting weaving. One paper was printed with color diffusing tissue paper, the other was a print made with foam plates. The foam plate was divided into sections of patterns.

Matisse Pattern Painting

Third grade observed several Matisse paintings and discussed his use of bright colors and patterns. They learned how to draw a cylinder before drawing their own coffee or tea cup and adding different patterns to the artwork.

Faith Ringgold--Tar Beach

Mixed Media Collage

Multi-Media Collage

Third grade worked through this project over several class times. This is a multiple step project that covers many techniques. The background in simply tempera paint applied thickly then scraped with a texture scraper. The girls drew a tree on a separate piece of paper and when they were happy with it, they cut it out and traced it onto brown construction paper. On another paper, they used a wet-on wet technique to fill it with colors, considering color blending while they worked. The students also experimented with salt in some areas. After the watercolor was dry, they cut out the leaf shapes and glued the collage together. 

Warm/Cool Color Weaving

Third grade used painted paper to create these weavings. They were asked to paint one paper with warm colors, and one with cool colors; one was a circular format and one was a striped. The striped painting was woven into the circular painting. 

Owl intaglio Prints

Kids love printmaking. It can however be a long, sometimes messy process, and figuring out how to manage the process can be difficult. I love teaching it and have gotten the process down to make it a pretty painless activity. 

We used owls as our subject and I placed several different pictures of owls on the tables for reference. I used printer paper first because it is easier to transfer a drawing from a thin paper. I gave each girl a foam piece that was 6" X 9" and they traced the perimeter on the printer paper (this helps them make a drawing that is the appropriate size for printing). The girls then drew their owl--vertically or horizontally--and they could crop it if they wanted. We discussed adding detail and they also had to figure out how to fill the background space. 

When their drawings were complete, we taped the image on top of the foam plate. They retraced their drawings, removed the drawing, then used their pencils to retrace the image directly on the foam. Retracing on the foam ensures that the image is deep enough to make a clean print. Make sure your pencils are not too sharp, because they will tear up the foam. 

I have learned after many printmaking projects, that having each child print their own print is not as successful as me just printing them all. I always print one in front of them, and show them all the printmaking tools so that they understand the process, but having 20+ students printing at once has proven to be quite a crazy class. Plus, it takes up too much time, and I only meet with them once a week. If I print them, they are guaranteed a nice dark, clean print.