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.

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. 

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.