Reflecting Swans Drawing Fourth Grade

Love this drawing lesson I found on an Art blog. Great lesson in symmetry because I had the students turn their papers vertically in order to draw the reflection as much like the swan as possible.

We drew lightly in white construction paper crayon and filled in only when we had the shapes as close to mirror image as possible.



Adding the water, plants and background was the final touch to these beautiful pictures.

 

Along with a patterned frame.

 

Giant Acorn Paintings Kindergarten Lesson Plan

What did I do before Pinterest and other art blogs when I needed a new project idea?! Love this acorn painting project I found for Kinders. 

First we looked at acorns under the doc camera and talked about value. We noticed how the shiny acorns had a light spot on one side.

I demonstrated how to draw the cap on top and then the rest of the acorn underneath.  Students colored the top with yellow construction paper crayon and then we painted 3 different colors on our acorns, going from lightest to darkest value.  They did a great job!

   
 
 
                   

Van Gogh Pumpkins 4th grade

it has been  quite awhile since my last post! So excited that this blog has received 9000 page views since I started it a few years ago. It isn't as technically advanced as most other art blogs but it is easy to look through and does the job.

I have been teaching over 20 years at the elementary level and even though I LOVE all things van Gogh, I just couldn't get excited about sunflowers again this year.  I found a new idea on Pinterest and decided to try a PUMPKIN starry night!

My 4th graders first did their group reading about van Gogh and then set to work drawing realistic looking pumpkins on orange paper.  The rule was they had to draw three completely different looking pumpkins by observing pumpkins on their table.
                                                                   

 

Next we used oil pastels to add values to our pumpkins and color the stems.

 

Fourth graders carefully cut the pumpkins out and chose a day or night background.

 

Grass or dirt was added with pastels in a painted way, letting the marks show like van Gogh did!

 

And of course, for the final touch, a swirling sky of many hues. Gorgeous!

 

 

 

 

 

Japanese Scrolls (Ink Blowing) 4th grade

This project is available on many art room blogs.  It is both my least favorite art technique to date, and my favorite most gorgeous project ever! My room was absolutely covered in ink even though we used art mats, paint shirts and tried to be careful.  Ink blowing is definitely more difficult than it sounds.

The background was colored with chalk and rubbed in with a towel for the first step.  I gave them long paper, 9" x 24" was the size. I put a line of india ink in the middle of their paper.
Blowing the ink with the straw was fun, but it was hard to make the ink lines go where we wanted them to go!

 

After the ink dried we looked at Japanese symbols and drew a few of our favorites in the bottom corner of our paper.  We also looked at cherry blossoms to see how they were different colors on the tree. We also learned how much the Japanese people like cherry blossoms and that there are weather reports to tell everyone how far the blossoms have spread across Japan.  So interesting!

 

Artists were given white and red tempera to mix their own pinks. We also were happy to discover that any "mistake"  ink blotches could be covered with a bunch of cherry blossoms close together. A Q-tip made perfect little petals for the blossoms.

 

Finished scrolls received many compliments and some moms posted photos of their scrolls on social media when the scroll was given as a Mother's Day gift.