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Tuesday, 23 February 2016

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. 

Sunday, 21 February 2016

Frogs!


Frogs!

I came across these frogs that first class painted a few years ago. After painting the frogs, the kids cut them out and glued them to black paper. The kids then decorated them with oil pastels and added crowns made from coloured card. 










We read 'The Princess and the Frog' as inspiration for this lesson but there are lots of picture books that work just as well. 

Here are a few of my favourite frog themed picture books.







Sunday, 14 February 2016

Spring Birds


There are various adaptations of this idea on Pinterest but this is how my Senior Infant class created their bird houses complete with occupants.

I gave out a variety of coloured cards and the kids cut out squares and rectangles to create their bird house. They then glued on a black circle for an opening. Using oil pastels they decorated their bird house in any way they wanted. Each house is uniquely decorated and I love that.

To create the bird the kids painted two overlapping circles. Once dry these were cut out. Wings, breaks, and tails were added using scraps of coloured paper. Lots of our birds are trying the 'flying thing'.


 
I love seeing buds appear on the trees and spring flowers brightening the garden. 

Have a lovely midterm break :) 

Sunday, 7 February 2016

Valentine's Day Art Ideas

It doesn't rain, it pours! Well that is certainly the case here. The sun is trying to break through between the heavy downpours but that means I can watch the rugby and blog snuggled up on the sofa :) 

I bought a Valentine's card for my little boy today and it got me thinking about cards to make in school. So this post will cover cards, junior art and senior art. 

Here goes!

1. Valentine Cards

Love you to pieces 



Wax Resist Valentine's Card 




Maaa! Or Maaaaam! 

I remember my Mammy telling us not to shout Maaaaaaam at her when we were young. I think I'll have to make her a card like this for Valentine's Day :) 



Threaded Hearts

http://pin.it/q7mNFli

2. Junior Art

I give you my heart <3

Fingerprint Heart

Textured Hearts

Mondrian Hearts


3. Senior Art

XOXO




4. Looking and Responding 
Here's is a quick round up of some artists and their art that deals with the theme of love. 

Norman Rockwell 


Gustav Klimt - The Kiss

You probably have a copy of this in your school. I know I have one from Ikea. Although hugely reproduced there is something about this painting that captivates me. It is nice to paint with metallic paints for a change too.


Jim Dine - Sculpture & Paintings

As you can see hearts are the subject of Jim Dine's work. Perfect for this time of year!



Picasso - Paintings from the Rose Period

Following his blue period Picasso began to paint clowns, harlequins and carnival performers using warm colours. This change in palette creates a cheerful atmosphere, a change from the despair and loneliness depicted during the blue period. 

Have children paint a picture using tint and shades of red. A perfect project for Valentine's Day. 


Taj Mahal

A beautiful monument and a wonder of the world. The love story of why the Taj Mahal was built is worth sharing with your class. 

If you teach younger classes they might enjoy 'skinamarinky dinky dink dink'  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7vPzg7VLUsY

I hope I've given you some art inspiration. Wishing you all a happy Valentine's Day :)





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.  



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




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




Folded Paper Lantern

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





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. 




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. 


Happy Chinese New Year

Pancake Tuesday

It's a busy week celebration wise. Monday February 8th is the start of the Chinese New Year, Tuesday February 9th is Shrove Tuesday and the Sunday 14th is Valentine's Day. 

Phew! How to fit it all in?!?! 

This is my second post today focusing on Pancake Tuesday. 

Pancake Tuesday (Shrove Tuesday) precedes Ash Wednesday, which marks the start of Lent. It is celebrated by eating pancakes before the period of fasting begins. I have great fun bringing pancakes into my class. I usually do an art related lesson too for Pancake Tuesday but I keep it simple. The kids draw their favourite pancake toppings or disgusting pancake toppings. I like to link this to literacy by doing some procedural writing or creative writing. 

I love to read 'Mr Wolf's Pancakes' on Pancake Tuesday. The ending is unexpected to say the least ;) After reading the story sometimes we design aprons for Mr Wolf or print pancake toppings using fruit and vegetables. 

Below is a link to an apron template but I just draw a very basic outline in black marker for the younger classes. 

Experiment printing with lots of different fruit and vegetables. Some of my favourite are lemons, celery, peppers, lettuce and mushrooms. 




Enjoy your pancakes! I'm looking forward to slathering mine in chocolate and bananas! Yum! 


Saturday, 6 February 2016

Spring Flowers


There's a grand stretch in the evenings this week and we are starting to see the signs of Spring. We looked at pictures of spring flowers and I brought in some real flowers for the class to examine. 

Then using oil pastels the children drew daffodils, tulip and snowdrops. We then used a green wash to finish our pictures.

This lesson was lovely and relaxing. The girls really enjoyed looking at the flowers. This lesson focuses on the process rather than product and allows the children to be creative.