Stamped/Painted Patterns

I gave the K's each a small piece of cardboard which they dipped in black paint, and we talked about finding the side with the bumps (the corrugation).  They were to fill their entire paper with patterns. (The previous day, we had drawn patterns both on the smartboard and on their papers, in order to check for understanding).  After stamping their patterns, and letting them dry, they used tempera cakes to fill in the spaces.  We did talk about color as a pattern, but they were so excited to paint, that they didn't all remember, or have the control to do that.  I think the results were great. And, the kiddos got some really rich colors out of the cakes.

Radial Designs

This started out as a sub lesson, because I was out for a couple of sessions, and I didn't want the kiddos using needles without me. I had them work on a circular design as a fun way to re-enforce the idea of radial symmetry that was introduced with weaving.  They traced a place, and could make any designs they chose, as long as they started in the center, and grew out. They traced with sharpie and colored with marker.  I enjoyed the results. I have uploaded all of them to Artsonia if you'd like to see more. They turned out to be addictive, and we carried them on much past the sub plans.

This Lesson keeps getting better...

Ever have one of those projects that you love to teach, but you keep re-vamping it every time?  For me, it is the Kindergarten Texture Plaques.  When I first began teaching 15 yrs ago (yikes) it was a lesson I taught to the Kindergarten as a way of exploring texture, and introducing clay and texture tools.  It was a big blob of clay, and we strung yarn through them, and wore them home.  Fun.  Then, I found a couple awesome packs of alphabet cookie cutters.  We began to cut out their first initial, out of the best section of their textured clay.  Even better.  This year, the lesson fell around Valentines day, so I first had them cut out a heart from their textured clay, and then we rolled coils and made their first letter to attach to the heart (including those language/writing skills).  I just so happened to have a huge donation of rainbow shoelaces (random) which we strung onto the hearts, and those finished with more time were allowed to use my beads to create a pattern on both sides.  The kids are delighted, and so excited to wear them home.  We used tempera cakes to paint them, and I had them put a coat of Acrylic Polymer Medium over the top to add a little shine.

Mosaics, by the 1st graders

The 1st graders loved the idea of the mosaics, but some were more successful than others. With short attention spans looming, I allowed the students to use markers to fill in the blank spots after 2 art classes of gluing. We also used markers to make a "picture frame" around the edge of the plate. While I did encourage patterns, some were stubborn, and rebelled against this idea, preferring just to block in the frame with colors.