Chalk Pastel Bunnies for Easter

How adorable are these little guys?!? 

I experimented with a new bunny portrait lesson this year.  These bunnies were created by my little Grade 1 and 2 artists.

Created by 6 year old artist!

I love chalk pastels.  They are one of my favourite mediums to work with.  

But be forwarned as they are VERY messy.  

We did this lesson over 3 days as I spent the first day letting them explore the pastels on large sheets of newsprint and then practising how to make our bunny shapes.  We also practised not putting our free hand onto the markings we made on our papers...

The students started with a neck, then made 2 touching circles (like a sideways 8).  They traced over their circles repeatedly, trying to make them both the same size.  Its okay if they aren't right on the first go as you can always add to the shapes and rub away some of the mistakes.  Once the circles were pretty equal they continued tracing their circles a few more times.

Next they added a "hill" on the 8.  Again tracing until they were happy it was fairly centred on the sideways 8.

Next they added the ears.  I had said that they kind of make an M shape, and as you can see some of them took that very literally!! 

Once they were happy with their bunny form they were asked to use ONE finger to blend the chalk as if they were re-drawing the bunny - going in circle motions around the 8, back and forth on the hill, and the ears they were free to colour in the the chalk.  They were to try to drag the chalk into the shapes to fill them as they were tracing.

For the next part we switched to oil pastels.  They made a small upside down triangle in the 'dip' of the top of the sideways 8 and drew a line and upside down Y for the rest of the muzzle.  Eyes were added to the sides of the head and inner ears were coloured.

I got them to paint the backgrounds in liquid water colors to wash away any fingerprints around the bunny heads.

The final touch was to add whiskers with a black sharpie.

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!

And now we wait...

I am so disappointed!  

We made these wonderful clay daffodils with another class for spring.  They were supposed to go into our school display case for April and then we were going to wrap them with a tea light candle inside for a Mother's Day gift.  

 

However, something is terribly wrong with our school's kiln.  During the first firing the kiln made so much noise that the Grade 7 class, where the kiln is located, had to relocate to another room!!!

So now we have to wait for our next in-school professional day to do the second firing, so as not to disturb the class again.  Luckily it is at the end of this month.  So, although they won't get the chance to be displayed, they'll at least be ready to go for Mother's Day.

Here is a bird's eye view:

 

Can you figure out what we used to help shape them?  We used a snowflake cookie cutter for the bottom and a small pinch pot for the top.

They are glazed and ready to go. Stay tuned for the finished product!

Easter Bunny

Here is a cute and simple little art activity my Grade 1/2 class did for Easter.  

We did a directed drawing of these whimsical bunny rabbits on paper trimmed to 7 X 12.  Then we used oil pastels for colour and outlining.  The final step was to paint around the rabbits with water color paints.

Here is the step by step, similar to my Reindeer Portraits step by step:

 Students put their non-drawing hand at the bottom of the paper and draw around their hand (not tracing their hand) to make the head shape.  They put a dot in each of the top corners.  This will help them make their ears nice and long.





 

 Using the dots as guides, student connect the dot to the top of the head making the ears. Next they draw a dot in the center of the face.

From that dot they will make 2 circular shapes beneath it.  Encourage big shapes.  They do not need to be even or symmetrical.

The final step is to add a little bump for the nose, 2 teeth, whiskers that extend outside of the head and the inner ears.









Here are a few more examples from my students:

Happy Easter!

I happen to come across this photo while scrolling through pictures on my phone.  I actually made this pine cone craft 2 years ago with my grade one class.  They were fairly easy.  We first painted the pine cones either white or yellow.  When dry they were stuffed with cotton.  Then using paper scraps the students made eyes, beaks and feet.

Easter Egg Carton Chicks

Here is a simple and fun Easter craft that I got from FamilyFun.go.com. 

Here is the link with instructions:

http://familyfun.go.com/easter/easter-crafts/all-easter-crafts/fancy-feathered-friends-675266/

The kids were thrilled with the results and couldn't wait to take them home.  They looked even cuter when we added their painted easter eggs!