Fantastic Frogs

This was a one day Kindergarten project. We talked about using simple shapes to make things. I did this project step by step with them. I drew a large oval in the middle of the page, they drew a large oval, I drew the eyes, they drew the eyes-so on and so on...they came out great! I asked them to color them in with at least 3 different color greens. Then they traced the lines they drew in black. The final step was a green wash for the lily pad. I was really surprised and happy at the results. Check them out.....

Faith Ringgold and Tar Beach

This was a first grade lesson...
I began by reading the book Tar Beach. Then I discussed the work of Faith Ringgold and her story quilts.

For this lesson the students are given a 4 x 6 pc of paper (various colors) then they are asked to use scraps of paper to create things/place they would like to own. They then use the scraps to make themselves flying. All of their pictures are put together to create a story quilt! A picture is worth a thousand words....

African Mask Necklaces

During the month of February I created a few lessons to celebrate Black History Month. These lessons can be done year round. Two lesson I created were connected to the artist Faith Ringgold and her beautiful story quilts. I will post about them later this week, I have to take pictures of the finish product.

The other lesson I wanted to share was African Mask Necklaces. I started the lesson with prints of masks from Africa and other areas and cultures. I posted 6 prints on the black board and covered up the titles with post it's. I then asked the students to start a new page in their art journal and number 1-6. I asked them to create names for the masks. Then we shared their creative names as a class and revealed the "real title" of the mask. The kids seemed to enjoy this.

The masks created were done with 5th graders and made out of model magic. The small individual packs were cut in half and shared between two students. The students were shown a sample that I made. I gave a quick demo on coiling and rolling small balls to make details. Students were asked to make a hole at the top so we could put a string through. Note- we had to re poke many of these holes -partly my fault I did not check them as they were done to see if the hole was big enough. Students used a plastic sowing needle to make the hole.

The masks were left to dry. During the next class students painted the masks. We used sparkle water colors by Prang (love those things!) to paint the entire mask. Then we used metallic tempera paint for details and some black sharpe when that paint was dry. This was a two week lesson (each a 45 minute class). The students put a string in them and were able to wear them by the end of class- the paint dried very quickly.