One Point Perspective (3rd Grade)

My son draws constantly. However, lately I noticed that many of his buildings are skewed. Sometimes you can see the back of the building or the top of it in a view that wouldn't allow you to see those sides. So, I decided they weren't too young to learn one-point perspective drawing.

We discussed the horizon line and the perspective point and what those meant. I held up a box and asked kids from different areas of the room which sides of the box they could see. They predicted what cubes would look like when drawn above and below the horizon line and to the right and left of the perspective point.

The following week, I came in to add to their knowledge by showing them how to draw other shapes and letters with one-point perspective. Some of them drew towns, roads, houses, gas stations, shooting stars, and their names.

Art Auction Project 2015 "Pixelated Patterns"

Every other year, the PTSA holds an auction to raise money for the school. As part of it, each class produces an art project to sell in the auction. This particular year, the budget was $100 per project. We spent just under $100.

In 3rd grade, learning about Native Americans is part of the curriculum. So, for the Auction project, I thought it would be fun to teach the kids how to do Native beading on a loom. We designed and made an adult size leather beaded belt.

My mom taught me to bead on a loom when I was around 8 years old, and it's been since then that I did it. I did not have a loom, so, I looked online for how to build a loom and did so for the project. The other art docent and I showed the children many examples of Native American patterns and colors. Then we gave each child a sheet with an 11 x 11 grid on it. They were to design their portion of the belt, then each child got a turn to bead his or her design onto the loom.

Each child took between 30 minutes to 2 hours to bead their design. The other art docent and I took turns coming into the school for an hour or so per day until it was all done. Then she bought a piece of leather in the shape of a belt called a "belt blank" from Tandy Leather. I went there and bought some tools and special thread for sewing the bead work to the leather. I watched a YouTube video to learn how to do a saddle stitch in leather, and finished it off by adding a buckle that we purchased.

Here are some pictures. During the project we took a photo of each child to post on the class website. So, I'm sparing you the entire 50 pictures from the project! (The piece sold for $400 at the auction).

3rd Grade - First 2 Art Projects (Art meets Science & Art meets Math)

The first project we did harmonized with a Geology section the kids were having in Science. We made crayon shavings into different types of rock. First we pressed the shavings together to make sedimentary rock, then we put shavings into tin foil boats and heated them and pressed them to make metamorphic rock. We didn't have time to get to the 3rd type of rock (igneous) where we would've melted the crayon completely and swirled it together and let it cool.

The prep station at home for the crayon rock project.

The 2nd art project we did for 3rd grade was one that required measuring. That was the most challenging part for the kids. First we discussed how different lines make you feel.We discussed lines in art with them and how vertical lines convey strength and horizontal lines convey peacefulness and calmness. I drew lines on the white board and had them express what the lines made them think of and feel. Then I drew diagonal and curvy lines and got their expressions again. We talked about how diagonal and curving lines convey movement. So then they were to color diagonal stripes on a paper, then they were to cut that picture into half inch wide strips using a ruler. Then they needed to glue them to the black paper in an array. The final was to show them that their straight lines appeared to curve and move.

Step by step instructions: They start with a blank white sheet and they color diagonal stripes across it rather quickly. Then we turn them over and measure 1/2" tick marks down both vertical edges. Then they use their rulers to connect the marks, making horizontal lines across the backs from top to bottom. Then they number all the pieces and then cut them out. Then they glue the middle piece (#12) horizontally across the black paper. Then they count backwards gluing each piece from 11 through 1 with one end overlapping the previous piece and the other end a finger width out. Then they go back to piece 13 and work their way up in the opposite direction.

This is the example project I brought in.

Chihuly Art Project (end of 2nd grade)

The kids complained that they didn't get to paint all year. So I looked up some painting projects and found one in which kids painted clear plastic plates and cups and called them Chihuly's. However, they looked like plastic plates or cups with paint on them. But it DID give me an idea!

I went to the dollar store and bought loads of clear plastic plates and cups. Then I brought them to my kitchen. I held them up one by one with tongs over the heat of my stove and watched them melt. After doing a few, I was able to predict how they would melt and could turn them at the right moments to produce more interesting shapes. I piled them all in a garbage bag and toted them to school.

First, I showed the kids a great YouTube video I had found of Dale Chihuly in his studio explaining how he creates his amazing pieces. Then I answered a lot of their questions. Afterward, I asked the kids what they thought the art project was going to be. Some guessed we were going to blow glass, no. Some guessed that we were going to paint glass, no. I asked them what we might use that kind of looks like glass, but isn't as fragile. Finally, someone guessed plastic! So, I pulled out the melted plastic pieces and got oohs and ahhs. I showed them a few examples that I had done with Dorian (4 years old). We discussed how the side that had not been painted looked better than the painted side, it was smooth and shiny. So they each picked two melted pieces of plastic and examined how they wanted them to sit. Then they painted the back side of whatever side they wanted to look at. The project turned out beautifully!

When the projects were all together, it was really amazing. The day the kids got to take them home, I was standing outside the school waiting for Tristan. I saw a kid from his class run up to his mom holding his art piece with a proud look on his face, he said, "Mom, look what I made!" She wrinkled her nose and said, "What is that?!" It made me laugh to myself and wish that I had sent them all home with the following pictures. Enjoy!

Picasso Portraits (2nd Grade)

For this project, I taught the kids about Pablo Picasso and cubism in general. In so doing, I explained the them that the art was an exercise in viewing something from multiple perspectives at once. We talked about how this can be valuable in life, not just in art, because there are always multiple ways to look at the same things. This can help them solve lots of different kinds of problems, because you can learn to look at things in different ways or from a different angle than you're used to.

The children were asked to draw a face, then cut it into pieces and glue it back down on the paper in a different way. The kids started asking if they had to draw their own faces or if they could draw whatever they wanted. I told them they could draw any type of face. We had vampires, dogs, people, ninja turtles, mickey mouse, etc. Many of the children had a really hard time forcing themselves to cut up their drawings. I thought that was interesting. One girl was even trying to hide her scissors! Another girl finally gave in to cutting up her drawing, but then glued it back together exactly as it had been originally. I suppose she missed the point! :)

I forgot to take a picture of them hanging in the hall, but here's Tristan's:

 

There was a gallery auction project between the last project and this one, however, it was led by the other Art Docent.

Warm / Cool Hands (2nd Grade)

For the 2nd project of 2nd grade, we did warm and cool colors. To teach the kids about warm and cool colors I did some web research to understand the science behind it. As it turns out, there isn't much science behind it. Science tells us that white is hotter than blue and blue is hotter than yellow and yellow is hotter than red. That can be seen with flames and star colors. In art, we teach the reverse, and as far as what I can find, it has much more to do with how we "feel" when we see certain colors. Here on Earth, when it is "warm" outside, we usually see the sun (yellow). When it is "cold" out, there are few leaves on the trees and we see sky (blue / gray). We can also think of examples of  "feeling" warm sitting by the fire (orange, red, yellow) which is warm, or "feeling" cool sitting outside with ice that appears blue/green or gray.

With this project, we discussed warm and cool colors. Afterward, the kids drew concentric circles on a paper, then traced around their hands on top of that. They were supposed to choose warm colors for either the hand or the background and cool colors for the other. We used markers on marker paper. Most of them understood the instructions...

Warm/ Cool Hands hanging in the hall at school

Georgia O'Keeffe Leaf (Fall 2013)

For the first project of 2nd grade, I taught the kids a bit about the artist Georgia O'Keeffe. Afterward, they examined samples of leaves I brought in and we discussed color, texture, and patterns of the leaves. Then, on white paper, the kids were supposed to draw a huge leaf, that was bigger than the paper. Then they went over the pencil lines with black oil pastels. Then they colored between the veins of the leaves in any color they wanted. They were then given tissues to rub the color so that it would pick up the black from the veins around the edges. Then we mounted their work on black paper background.

I only ended up taking a picture of Tristan's.