Collaborative Art for Senior Classes

I recieved a message asking for some ideas for collaborative art with 5th class. Here are a few ideas that can work with senior classes.

1. Collaborative drawing

Have the kids write a theme on a piece of  paper and put in a box. Each group takes a piece of paper and creates a drawing on the theme. Large roll of paper and space for all the group to work on the same page is needed. Space, summer, food, animals, farm, take away, sweets, could all work as themes.

2. Shade and tint group painting 

Tint add white

Shade add black

Each group paints a picture using only 3 colours. A pure colour, white and black, to create tints and shades of the colour. Giving a topic can help, so maybe a song, movie or book title. The other groups can try to guess what the picture depicts. 

3. Circle Paintings 

http://irishprimaryart.blogspot.ie/2016/04/fields-of-flowers.html?m=1

4. Dice Art

Create three die, one with 6 different lines on each side, one with different colours and one with different shapes. In small groups the kids take turn to roll two die (the colour dice must be rolled each time) and draw the corresponding line/shape. A large sheet of paper for the group to work on is needed. Oil pastels, chalk, paints or pencils can be used. 

5. Dice Games

Lots of these games are on Pinterest like the Roll a Harring below. Perfect for a collaborative project. 

6. Body Art

If you have paper large enough you can have the kids lie down and draw around each other. The shapes should over lap. Then using paint they can fill in the over lapping shapes and then the other shapes using lots of different shades and tints. 

Or choose one child from each group to be traced around in an interesting pose. Them the group can complete the psinting in the style of Keith Harring. 

7. Colour Wherl Collage

A nice way to revise the colour wheel and create a display for your class. Each group takes a colour and glues pieces of paper in their chosen colour to their section. When complete the sections are glued together to create the colour wheel or flower! 

Hattie Peck! Art Egg-spiration!

As yesterday March 3rd was World Book Day I bought a new book. Not that I need a reason to buy a new book but anyway.... Hattie Peck came to live with us. 

To be honest I didn't read it until I got home (I don't usually do this!) as I was in Aldi getting my shopping. The cover caught my eye and I thought even if the story wasn't great the illustrations made it worthy for the bookshelf. 

I was pleasantly surprised when I got home. It is a lively and heart warming story about a loving hen desperate to be a mummy. Hattie has so much love to give but no egg to share it with, so she sets off to find herself some eggs! The ending is very sweet and presents a great opportunity for further investigation into creatures that lay eggs!

My senior infants class painted hens, chicks and eggs a few years ago and I think this story would work really well with that lesson. The children could paint their own Hattie (in any colour) surrounded by her eggs of all colours and sizes. 

I used a mix of cream and yellow paper but I think the brighter yellow paper looks better. When we created our painting we started by using pencils to draw the outline of a hen, 3/4 eggs and 3/4 chicks. We then painted them in white/lemon/cream. Once dry we used black oil pastels to trace over the outlines and add details such as eyes etc. Some hens were given red beaks and tail feathers. 

I would love to see your versions of Hattie with her eggs if you give this lesson a go. 

It is perfect for Easter and they really brightened up our corridor. 😊

To infinity and beyond!!

World Space Week 4th - 10th October 

The theme this year is 'Discovery'. 

What might you discover on another plant? Aliens perhaps?!

These blow paint aliens are fun and fast.

1. Mix a little paint with water. 

2. Drop a teaspoon of the mixture on the page. 

3. Turn the page to create legs/arms. 

4. Gently blow the paint to make spikes etc. 

You can use straws to blow the paint around if you prefer. 

5. Add eyes (sticker eyes were used here) and a mouth once dry.

Or how about creating your own planets?!

Planet Printing

You need : Black paint and some found objects to print circles. 

When paint is dry fill in the circles with crayons or oil pastels. 

Mix a little paint with water and paint over the entire page. The crayons/oil pastels resist the paint. Add some silver or gold paint for a little sparkle 😊