Kindergarten Tigers

I picked a fine time to start a blog...just before the holidays! Sorry I have had a slow start.

I thought I would share a project with you all that I thought was a great success with my kinder students. I usually draw tigers with the kids each year, but this time I decided to, in the words of that famous tv chef, ...kick it up a notch. Patty from Deep Space Sparkle advocates allowing kids to mix tempera paints directly on the paper rather than getting out water- this approach worked really well for the kindergarten students. The littles are usually more interested in watching the water turn color than actually applying paint to the paper anyway, so I loved her suggestion.

We painted the backgrounds with chubby brushes- two for each child (one for blue and white, and one for greens and yellow.) I only passed out plates with sky colors first and we divided the paper in half with a blue line, painting the area above as sky and the area below as tall grass. I have found that it works very well to have younger students double load the brush- we created some beautiful yellow-greens that way. The tigers were painted on a separate paper. We drew a tiger first, painted the orange, then the black. I had the kids outline the tigers and I actually cut them out, although you could have the kids do this step themselves. Finishing touches were painting the eyes, and adding some tropical flowers. I think the next time I do this we may sponge paint in some flowers. Have fun!

November 3, 2009 Kids in Motion

Every year I teach 5th graders a bit about figure drawing. I usually start out by teaching kids the basics about gesture drawing with charcoal. We then move on to "circle and tube" drawing. I love Mona Brooks classic, Drawing with Children, for this project. Her illustrations are very helpful for students - allowing them to envision the human head as an egg form, the joints as circles and the long bones as tubes. I use this method to teach drawing the figure in several positions. Sometimes we also try out blind contour line drawing and contour line drawing. I use a variety of art materials for these drawings, and allow students to be models. They get to STAND ON THE TABLE! They love this!

Anyway, as a culmination of their figure drawing experience last year we did this project.

I started with small copies of a circle and tube figure that the kids cut out and cut apart at the joints. The kids then rearranged their figure. Some students made their figure dancing, kicking a soccer ball, doing jumping jacks, or cheering for the big game. I had them use the copy paper figure to make a sturdier, card stock figure stencil by tracing around their taped together original. The kids traced this, overlapping of course, onto a long piece of watercolor paper. Then comes the color wheel/ color mixing lesson. I pass out primaries, the kids choose a six color section of the color wheel and go to town. Some go above and beyond using all twelve colors on an accessory- in this case a basketball :) Last but not least, we splatter paint. I arrange boxes with lots of tempera paint colors to choose from and we use mop brushes made from small strips of felt, masking tape, and a Popsicle sticks to splatter with -obviously a one time use brush. What I like most about this project is that every student is successful.

Hi!

I'm starting this blog because I've been having an inspired time reading blogs written by creative parents, teachers, and artists. I have gleaned so much from these other writers and publishers over the last year that I'm hoping to add some interesting ideas of my own into the mix. I am an art teacher working with over 1,000 kids in rural Indiana. We make art, learn about artists, display our artwork, and get really messy every day...oh, and I wear a neon apron...right now its lime :)