Haunted Houses

These amazing haunted houses were created by my Grade 1/2 class.  

I used this lesson idea by Art Teacher in LA.

First we used a directed drawing lesson for the house.  I used the steps found here for our houses, with a few modifications.  We discussed window shapes and students were free to include as many windows as they wanted.  I encouraged them to make big shapes. Students then drew a spooky tree and a moon.  I allowed them to also add tombstones or bats if they wished.

We then used our yellow oil pastels to colour in the moon and the windows and doors.  Black oil pastels were used everywhere else.

Students then painted blue and purple liquid watercolors for the backgrounds.  

Happy Hallowe'en!

Here are a few other Hallowe'en projects to try:

 Frankenstein Kids

 In a Dark Dark Wood

 Frankenstein Cardboard tube craft

  Going Batty

Spring Flowers

I am so impressed with the sponge print flowers this Kindergarten/Grade 1 class created.  We used the same technique as we did for our SUNFLOWERS and POINSETTIAS.  

So pretty! :)  

The only difference with this lesson is we used different colors of green chalk pastel 

to color in the background.

Easter Egg Clay Bunnies

This is a project I've been wanting to try with my students for awhile.  Unfortunately we are already on our 2 week spring break and won't get back until after Easter.  I barely managed to squeeze in St. Patrick's day activities.  So I did this project at home with my daughter.  

This bunny head was made using plastic Easter eggs and salt dough.  We used the top (pointy) part.  I first covered the egg with a bit of saran wrap as my eggs had little holes and I wanted to make sure that the eggs slipped out easily afterward.

First we made a nice flat pancake.

Next we draped the pancake over the egg and used our fingers to help it take the shape of the egg.  We used a plastic knife to cut away the excess on the bottom.

Then we added facial features.  We created little balls of clay that we pressed firmly onto the face using a little water to act as our glue.

Then we formed and pressed on ears.  I purposely tried to attach them together as I thought it would be more solid that way.  We also used the end of a paintbrush to poke eyes, but adding big googly eyes after would also be super cute!

We let this dry for a few days until the outside was pretty firm.  The inside was still pretty damp.  Then we removed the plastic egg and saran wrap and I placed it in the oven.  I just put it in after cooking dinner one night and let it dry as the oven cooled.

Finally we painted the bunny using acrylic paints and a black sharpie filled in the eyes.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

Piet Mondrian

I have done many different Piet Mondrian inspired art activities.  But this one is now my absolute favorite and so easy to do!

These were all done by Kindergarten and Grade One students.  

The children dipped precut pieces of thick cardboard into a dish of black paint and used the cardboard to print lines on their white paper.  They were encouraged to make vertical and horizontal lines that would form rectangular shapes on their papers.  Watch out for those kids who are so fascinated by the printmaking that they don't know when to stop! :) 

When the paint had dried they were to look for enclosed shapes and colour them in using oil pastels in the primary colours.  

Some were so interesting even without the pastel.  I wish I had taken a few photos of those.  Either way I think they are frame-worthy!

Winter Sky Mosaics

This was a fun art project my Grade 1 class did with their Grade 7 buddies.  The idea for this project came photos uploaded on Pinterest, 

This project was completed over a couple of days.

Day 1: We divided and painted a white sheet of paper various shades of blue that the students mixed themselves.

Day 2 and 3:  After gluing on a circle for the moon, we cut strips of white paper into smaller pieces and worked our way around the moon.  We then glued and worked our way out from the moon creating the mosaic - going from lighter to darker.  We cut and glued one shade of blue at a time.

Day 4: Our big buddies drew an interesting tree shape for the Grade Ones to cut out and glued them, along with the ground, onto the mosaics.