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! 

Ice-cream, you scream!

Sunny days and ice-cream go hand in hand, don't they?  These two art ideas will brighten up your classroom even if the weather isn't cooperating. 

Ice-cream paintings

Inspired by the poem 'Eighteen Flavours' by Shel Silverstien the class used paints and glue glitter to paint ice creams of all shapes and sizes. The kids enjoyed getting creative with colours (flavours) and toppings. 

A haon, a dó, a trí,

Aon, dó, trí, ceathair, cúig, sé,
Císte deas i gcomhair an tae,
Uachtar reoite, banana buí,
Lollipop is oráistí.

Cáca milis, fí, fá, fum,
Uachtar reoite yum, yum, yum,
Úlla deasa, hip, hip, hop,
Ach b`fhearr liom féin mo lollipop.

Relief print bunting

This bunting looks great hanging around the class. It can be completed for any theme and is lovely for the start of the year to display the kids initials, or alphabet in younger classes. 

The bunting can be cut from an A4/A3 page, then using another piece of paper the desired shape is cut out, this is stuck on the bunting temporarily using blue tac. Children then print over the shape and cover the bunting completely in paint. In the picture above a sponge was used but bubble wrap or textured printing blocks could be used. Once the paint has dried the shape can be removed and the negative space can be decorated using marks, crayons, or colouring pencils. 

Fields of Flowers

I have been so busy lately and have neglected the blog! My apologies to anyone who has missed me!

I finally got to use a lesson from Hervé Tullet's 'Art Workshops for Children'. Not only did I throughly enjoy it but I am so happy with the results too. Bright and beautiful flowers to adorn the class walls. 

I set up a row of tables across the class (no seats needed) and covered them in newspaper. I placed A3 white paper in a line down the table but I didn't tape the pages together as I needed to place the sheets on racks to dry.

Each child was given a paintbrush and pot of paint (any colour except green). Once I had explained the idea and rules (to keep us safe as there is lots of moving around) we got started. 

The teacher leads the lesson by calling out instructions and guiding the children.

Here are some of the instructions I gave -

1. Paint a dot

2. Paint a bigger dot

3. Paint a circle

4. Paint a dot in a circle

5. Paint dots around a dot

6. Paint a circle in a circle

After each instruction I asked the children to change places. Remember you can repeat instructions as often as you see fit. Keep an eye on the work in progress, if you think a page is full remove it. If you see white space that needs to be filled point it out. 

Once all pages were nicely covered in flowers I collected the pots, cleaned the brushes to be used again, and gave out pots of green paint. Now the kids set to work adding stems and leaves to our flowers.

As before if a page is done remove it. Less is more :)

This lesson was lively and fun. I can't wait to try another one from the book! 

I only photographed one page, but isn't it lovely! 

Give it a try :) 

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. 😊

Book Review - Art Workshops for Children, Hervé Tullet

I am a book addict! I love picture books but I do enjoy a grown up book as often as I can. Recently I have started to build my collection of non fiction books. It was while browsing my favourite book site for new publications that I came across 'Art Workshops for Children'. I couldn't resist, the cover was bright and beautiful, I was sold!

Energetic! This book bursts with energy! I spend a rainy Sunday reading it and by the time I had finished my day felt bright and sunny. The passion of the author is perfectly captured on every page. His belief is that art isn't about making 'nice pictures' rather it is about creating freely. 

Tullet describes the facilitator of the workshop as a conductor leading the participants through the workshop. Creating an environment where the children are free to be creative. The dialogue he uses and the rhythm he establishes creates an atmosphere of creative energy. Take a look on YouTube to see how active the workshops are. 

This is process art. There aren't instructions on what exactly to draw or paint, rather a script for you to use to guide the children. You won't find step by step pictures of how it should look, as pk,

each time your class will create something different. The book includes 11 workshops with ideas for variations of each one. 

Each workshop includes :

1. A list of materials and practical tips. 

2. A full script with easy to follow instructions.

3. Photos of workshops in progress and illustrated examples of results.

4. Clever games to free your artists of their inhibitions.

Suitable for small or large groups, you can easily adapt these to suit the space available to you. Or when the weather improves (I live in hope!) try having your art lesson outside! 

Our visual art curriculum is centered on the process of art and not the product, but I sometimes feel under pressure to display pretty pictures! This book equips you with all the ideas you need for art classes that are fun and process focused. 

I really think that these ideas will give children the confidence to make art and not worry about doing it the right way or think that they can't. 

I have reviewed other art resource books and while they contain good ideas I feel that the lessons veer towards creating a product, this book does not! An inspiring art book to add to your collection, I know mine will get used again and again. 

Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year! 

I really enjoy celebrating the Chinese New Year with my class every year. Art wise I have printed cherry blossoms with the end of a bottle before and we draw the animal relevant to the year. I buy fortune cookies, read 'Dim Sum for Everyone' and we watch a short video on the story of Nian.  

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=guwPTBmuiN8&feature=youtu.be

This is a lovely story and my class had great fun making dim sum out of playdoh afterwards. 

Below are some ideas I thought were nice. I have included links to the relevant sites under each picture. 

Chinese Lanterns

http://lizmckay.blogspot.ie/2013/01/chinese-new-year-lanterns.html?m=1

Ming Vases

http://beckermiddleart.blogspot.ie/2013/02/chinese-ming-vases.html?m=1

Willow Pattern Plates

This is a perfect lesson on tints and shades. 

Seomra Ranga have a script based on "The Story of the Willow Pattern Plate"

http://www.seomraranga.com/dev/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/WILLOW-PATTERN-PLATE.doc

http://useyourcolouredpencils.blogspot.ie/2010/04/chinese-willow-pattern-plates.html?m=1 

Folded Paper Lantern

These could be decorated with monkeys as 2016 is the year of the Fire Monkey.

http://pin.it/-RZmQ0h

Wool Dragon 

Unfortunately the link is only to the uploaded picture. It looks like once the wool is glued to the page a dragon in drawn following the curve of the line with oil pastels or chalk. I really like the triangular head and tail. Chinese dragons are a sign of power, strength and good luck. 

http://pin.it/ic_yjVP

Monkey

I think this simple monkey painted in black paint and mounted on red paper is very striking. Children can paint their monkey in any pose. 

The link is to an Etsy page but the art work is great for inspiration. 

http://pin.it/OZF5vy5

Happy Chinese New Year

Spring Art - Senior Classes

Spring art ideas for senior classes

Strands : Drawing, Paint & Colour, Fabric & Fibre 

Still life - Vincent Van Gogh 'Irises' or a painting of your choice. Look at and discuss the painting. Bring in a a bunch of spring flowers and arrange in a vase (on folds of a table cloth to add interest)

Look at how the light and shadows fall etc.

Allow children to choose drawing materials and to experiment. 

Collaborative Drawing (4/5 per group)

Use old wall paper, gift wrap, roll of paper, or stick sheets of paper together. Give each group a topic ( first signs of spring, spring animals, spring flowers, spring weather, birds/trees during spring, etc) and allow them draw based on their topic (oil pastels, makers, pencils, chalk) 

Grid Painting 

Choose a famous spring themed painting. Divide it into sections, give each child a section (grid reference and mark top & bottom of the page on which they will draw) to create their own version in their own style using paints, oil pastels, chalk etc. Once completed put the sections together to form the image. 

Click on the link for instructions on grid painting.

http://teachkidsart.blogspot.ie/2010_02_01_archive.html?m=1

Painting 

Look at the work of Canadian artist Maud Lewis (Folk Art).

Create painting of a spring scene in a similar style to Maud. 

Paper Collage

Matisse paper cutting, look at  'Snowflower' for inspiration. Brain storm things to do with spring. Cut paper shapes and glue on card to create spring inspired image. 

Whatever the Weather - 5th & 6th

I was asked for ideas for 5th & 6th on the theme of weather. Some of the weather ideas I posted last week could be used with more senior classes but here are a few more suitable for 5th & 6th.

1. Looking & Responding 

Don't forget that you can include this in a lesson or have a stand alone lesson on it. A search in Google images will bring up a plethora of famous artworks on your topic. 

The topic here is weather and here are the paintings I found. 

The Liffey Swim by Jack B. Yeats. (Top)

Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son, by Claude Monet. (Bottom Left)

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat. (Bottom, Middle)

The Umbrellas (French: Les Parapluies) by Pierre- Auguste Renoir. (Bottom Right)

Responding can simply be a discussion about the painting, it can be a written piece such as a poem, or it can be creating a piece inspired by the artwork. 

This is a wax resist that appears to be inspired by ' The Umbrellas' by Renoir. 

2. Diorama 

I love dioramas! I used make these as a child with my Aunt. I used to make a hole in each side of the box and put a straw through. Then cut out people or animals and stick them to the straw to create a miniature theatre. Dioramas work for nearly any topic and allow for lots of creativity.  

They are a nice project to work on over a number of weeks and can be linked with other subject areas. 

How about creating a diorama to show the water cycle? 

3. Mixed media

A mixed media city scape in greys and blacks with some coloured rain. Newspaper, painted paper, magazines, coloured paper and card is used to create the buildings in shades of grey. 

The cloud is made by painting card with a thick layer of grey paint. A fork was used to make wavy lines to create texture. A sheet of white paper was laid on top to create a print. Once dry a cloud shape was cut out.  

4. One Point Perspective 

Deep Space Sparkle has a great lesson on one point perspective. This is suited to 5th or 6th class. Children can be given a selection of weather situations to be depicted in their picture. 

www.deepspacesparkle.com

5. Expand an image

Print out images from the web, use photographs or cut images from magazines which show a variety of weather types. Each child chooses one image and glues it to a white page. They then expand the images using paint, oil pastels, colouring pencils, etc. 

www.artprojectsforkids.org

6. Illustrate a poem

Illustrate a poem or a passage based on your chosen theme. I think this magazine collage on a cereal box perfectly represents a sunny day. 

7. Turkish Sun Catcher

From Prim Ed's Awesome Art & Craft (Book 3). This resource book has lots of nice ideas suitable for older classes. 

These sun catchers are made from plastic bottles. Coloured tissue is glued inside and designs are drawn on the outside in black permanent marker. 

A few more ideas that could work with your topic of weather are,

- Lighthouse Construction (make circuit for science integration)

- Brid house /feeder ( science/ geography)

- weather vane (science/geography)

I hope I have given you some inspiration😊 

Whatever the weather!!

On Thursday it rained, hailed and snowed here! It can be hard to keep up with our very changeable Irish weather. Not to mention the devastating damage left by the recent flooding.

Being Irish weather is always a topic of conversation and so I've gathered some nice art ideas on the topic. 

I love a good crayon resist and the rainy rainbow is very striking (top left) https://www.pinterest.com/pin/A5PCmwAQgIIHSz3sbi4AAAA/

Blow painting rain in black and blue is a nice lesson for infants. Just remind them to blow the paint and not suck it! (Top right) https://www.pinterest.com/pin/A43CmwAQgIIHSz3sbi4AAAA/

Lightning strikes over a black paper town. Painting the sky is a nice introduction to tint. Start by painting a strip of black and add a little white as you work down the page. Add lightening in white paint or chalk. (Bottom left) https://www.pinterest.com/pin/A3jCmwAQgIIHSz3sbi4AAAA/

Mixed media storm, I think this could be easily adapted to show a flooded scene. Lots of paper scraps, tin foil and glue! (Bottom right) https://www.pinterest.com/pin/A67CmwAQgIIHSz3sbi4AAAA/

These are more suitable for younger classes. 

These crayon resists are so sweet. Umbrellas, wellies and puddles. Water colours were used here but you can use a mix of water and blue paint. Try sprinkling salt on your wet paint and see what happens!! (Left) https://www.pinterest.com/pin/A4TCmwAQgIIHSz3sbi4AAAA/

I love the stormy cloud and these would look great cut out and displayed together. Paint grey clouds and add raindrops and lightening when the paint dries. (Top right)

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/A2XCmwAQgIIHSz3sbi4AAAA/

The rainy window is a nice introduction to printing. Mix a little water with blue paint or use blue food colouring. Use an acetate or the back of a baking tray, lightly cover in paint. Place a white page on top, press lightly and remove. Cut into 4 equal sections and mount on black paper so it looks like a window. Or glue strips of black paper onto the rainy page to look like a window frame. (Bottom right) https://www.pinterest.com/pin/A33CmwAQgIIHSz3sbi4AAAA/

Have a good weekend :)

New Year - New Art

I hope everyone has had a lovely break and is ready for a new year. :)

I've really enjoyed the holidays and am spending the last day of them snuggled on the sofa with my little one. As of tomorrow it will be back to planning lots of art lessons, but for now I've had a browse on Pinterest and pulled together a few ideas for New Year art. 

One of my favourite ideas is the scratch art night scene. Firstly cover one page in yellow crayon and a second page in lots of colours. It is important to lay the crayon on thickly. Paint both pages with black paint. 

Once dry use a lollipop stick to scratch building outlines and windows on the page with yellow crayon.

On the second page use a lollipop stick to scratch fireworks. Cut around the fireworks and stick above the buildings.

Tah Dah!

Alternatively draw fireworks using crayon on an A4/A3 page. Cover with a wash (paint watered down) of dark blue or black. Once dry cut out building in black paper and glue along the bottom of the page. Cut out windows in yellow paper and glue these onto the buildings so it appears that some lights are still on (who's up watching the fireworks?). 

Check out my Pinterest page @IrishPrimaryArt for links and more inspiration. 

Happy New Year :) 

 

Vampire Spiders!

I have been asked for Hallowe'en art ideas for infants. So here is an easy yet effective idea for the paint and colour strand.

I have to say it is lovely when kids come home with handprint or footprint crafts. There are lots of ideas on Pinterest, just have a browse. One of my favourites is 'Trick or treat, smell my feet!'

I love the nail varnish on these feet! Unfortunately the link to the original site for this is a dead link but it's pinned on my Halloween Pinterest board. 

Something that allows for more creativity than handprints or footprints is painting! 

This idea uses coloured card and black paint. Sounds easy, well it is!

Vampire Spiders

It's Halloween after all!

1. Using black paint, paint two circles on coloured paper. Use a mix of colours for your paper, they will look lovely when they are on display. 

2. Add 8 legs.

3. Once the paint is dry glue on a nose (I like the kids to pick the shape and cut out the nose themselves)

4. Cut two circles from white paper, draw pupils and stick onto your spider. Add two triangle fangs! 

Tah Dah! A vampire spider!!

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 😊