The Great Roald Dahl

My apologies I'm later with this post than I had planned, as I had a very busy week!

Anyway here's some art ideas based on the great works of Roald Dahl. Roald Dahl Day is celebrated on September 13th and I've rounded up some fabulous ideas for you. 

There is nothing more enjoyable than delving into a good book and even as an adult, Roald Dahl never fails to amuse. The best way to celebrate the day is of course to share your favourite Dahl story with your class. 

1. The Twits

Portraits

I love the descriptions of Mr Twit and it is the perfect passage to inspire some portraits of the ugly man! 

Using chalk, pastels, pencils or paint children can have great fun creating hairy portraits.

Beard Collage

Another ideas is to read the description of Mr Twits beard and to create a collage of all the lovely things nestled in his beard!!! 

2. The BFG

“We is in Dream Country,' the BFG said. 'This is where all dreams is beginning.” 
― Roald Dahl, The BFG

Dream Jars

The BFG has jars full of dreams. How about painting or drawing a dream in a jar of your own and displaying them in rows. 

You could also recycle plastic tubs/jars, decorate them using pvc glue, coloured tissue and gems. A description of the dream can be written and stored inside. 

3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

“He turned and reached behind him for the chocolate bar, then he turned back again and handed it to Charlie. Charlie grabbed it and quickly tore off the wrapper and took an enormous bite. Then he took another…and another…and oh, the joy of being able to cram large pieces of something sweet and solid into one's mouth! The sheer blissful joy of being able to fill one's mouth with rich solid food!
'You look like you wanted that one, sonny,' the shopkeeper said pleasantly. 

Charlie nodded, his mouth bulging with chocolate.” 
― Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Sweet Creations

Have your class design a wrapper for a new Wonka bar.

Use play doh/clay and beads to create some of Wonka's fabulous delicacies. 

4. James and the giant peach

Seagulls

The seagulls that fly the giant peach would make a lovely class project. These can be made with kitchen towel roll and painted. Once dry these would look great hanging together. 

Each child could make a peach by papier-mâchéing a ballon and painting it or a how about using a beach ball and doing it as a collaborative project. (Tip - cover the ball in Vaseline before you papier-mâché, this will make it easier to remove when you deflat the ball.)

5. The Enormous Crocodile 

"I’m going to fill my hungry empty tummy with something yummy yummy yummy yummy..."

― Roald Dahl, The Enormous Crocodile  

Crocodile Weaving

There are some lovely ideas for crocodile weaving examples on Pinterest ( https://www.pinterest.com/IrishPrimaryArt/roald-dahl/ )

Or how about making your own Roly Poly bird. This bird, famous for its colourful tail feathers, first appeared in The Twits.

Roly Poly Birds

Each child can paint the body, legs, wings, and head. Then use colourful feathers or scraps of material to create the bird's colourful tail. 

Class Collage

Or each child can create a tail feather. Each child can draw a large feather on card and cut it out. Then using glue and fabric/ribbon/gift wrap/tissue they can decorate their feather. These can be displayed on a Roly Poly bird cut out of blue paper. 

Here's another idea for making Roly Poly birds.

6. Esio Trot

Still Life

Bring in some flowers for your class to practice drawing or painting. 

Blob Flowers

Try painting some blob flowers in a riot of colours! Mix paint and water so it is of a runny consistency. Drop blobs of paint on to the page and hold the page so the blobs run down the page. Once dry use oil pastels or chalk to add grass, leaves,and stems.

Sponge print a tortoise. 

Paint the head and shell of the tortoise in shades of green. Sponge print the design on the shell with brown/green paint. 

7. Fantastic Mr. Fox

“I understand what you're saying, and your comments are valuable, but I'm gonna ignore your advice.” 
― Roald Dahl, Fantastic Mr. Fox

Learn how to draw a fox. 

There are lots of step by step tutorials on YouTube and Pinterest. Here's some my senior infants drew. 

Check out my Pinterest board for more inspiration 😊 

https://www.pinterest.com/IrishPrimaryArt/roald-dahl/

International Dot Day

International Dot Day September 2015


'The Dot' is a heart warming story about trying something even when you think you can't do it. It is about teachers seeing potential and encouraging students to give it a go. 

So on September 15th try some dot art with your class and celebrate this great book. If you don't have a copy of the book then watch this video. http://youtu.be/t5mGeR4AQdM

The educators handbook has lots of great ideas and printables to help you plan some activities for the day. Available here 

http://www.fablevisionlearning.com/fablevision-dot-day-handbook

The coffee filter dots are a lovely ideas for younger classes. Decorate coffee filters with markers and spray with water to get a lovely tie dye look. When dry mount on coloured paper to display. 

Alternatively cut circles from kitchen towel and fold as often as you can. Mix food colouring and a little water in containers (one each of yellow, red, and blue). Dip the edges of the folded circle into the coloured water. Unfold carefully and allow to dry. 

Here are some other ideas for International Dot Day:

1. Scratch Art 

Paint over thick layer of wax crayons. Once dry scratch your design. 

2. More scratch art

This is so easy. Fold a page in half, on the inside draw a circle and colour in with a heavy layer of wax crayon. Fold it closed and draw your design on the outside, over the circle. Open up to reveal two dots!! 

3. Negative printing

Cut a circle or a number of circles and blue tac them to your page. Sponge print paint your page/print using found objects/stamps. Carefully remove the circles to reveal your dots. 

4. Printing with circles

Recycle bottle caps, cardboard tubes, thread spools, or whatever you can find to use as stamps. Have fun experimenting 😊

5. Collaborative Circle Painting 

One of my favourite art activities. Join pages together to form a long strip, so children can work in rows on either side. Each child needs a paint brush and one container of paint (just one colour). Each child paints a circle/dot, they can then move places or swap colours with another child. Making sure to use their manners and ask nicely. They can layer designs, circles and dots. 

6. Painting around a hole

Cut a circle from a sheet of paper and see what you can create. 

7. Pointillism 

Look at the works of Seurat and create a picture using cotton sticks.

8. Aboriginal Art

Look at examples of Aboriginal art and have a go creating your own. 

Take a look at my Pinterest board for more inspiration. https://www.pinterest.com/IrishPrimaryArt/celebrations/

Art Dates

Here are some art related dates for your diary.

Keep an eye here as I hope to post some art lesson ideas for you in advance (I'll try anyway!)

Mirror, mirror on the wall....

I spotted a lovely display of self portraits on Pinterest the other day and it reminded me of the song from Alive O!

http://plbrown.blogspot.ie/2011/01/self-portraits-by-awesome-3rd-graders.html

I look in the mirror

And what do I see?

Two eyes, and a nose and a mouth

And that’s me!

So I put together some printables for you to use to display your self portraits. A page with the first verse of the song (I don't remember the rest), and a mirror. The mirror can be enlarged or left as A4 and the children can paint on it or can cut their painting and mount it on the mirror.

I love to see how kids represent themselves. It is a great time of year to talk about how we are all special and unique. This lesson is also a great opportunity for kids to look at themselves in a mirror and for others to say positive things about them, "I like your big blue eyes", etc. 

However you display your self-portraits, have fun!

Early Childhood Art - Collage and Construction - Review

Prim Ed very nicely  sent me their art resource books at the start of the summer. I was caught up with moving house (Nice start to the holidays!) and am only getting to post my first review now.

When my box of books arrived I had a quick glance at them all. This one jumped out at me as the pages are full of coloured photos of the children creating their art.

I will review each book under the same headings, just to be fair ;)

Layout

Contents

Dust Rating

Early Childhood Art – Collage and Construction

Amelia Ruscoe

Layout

This book has rich colours, an abundance of photographs, and is easy to follow. Each activity is explained over two pages. The information is organised under headings such as, Resources, Key Questions, and Preparation.

The last page of the book is an art storeroom stock list. This is great to have when organising your supplies, or have it copied and stuck inside your art press with the items you have highlighted.

Contents

There are 53 art activities in the book, split into 4 sections, Collage, Construction, Textiles, and Modelling. I think this book would be a great resource for anyone teaching infants, first or second class. 

Often when you get a book of art projects I find I only use one or two ideas in class. I want to try out all of these!  My favourites include String collage,  paper rollercoaster and glue drop collage.

I particularly like the photos of the children working as well as the finished artwork. The foucus in on the process, using different materials, and appreciating the outcomes.

Dust Rating

I couldn’t decide what to call this category....! Basically I am asking myself would I use this book or will it sit on the shelf gathering dust?

So one being thick with dust and five being dust free, I will award this book 5/5! 

Easy to dip into, lots of easy ideas and covers a great range of skills.

I think it would be a great addition to any teacher’s library.