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.

Art for Dinner

The 2nd graders and I are using food for inspiration this 9 weeks.  It is part of their common core, and the 2nd grade classroom teachers were a bit hesitant about this theme.  I was not. I have some really great art projects stored up regarding food- cause this art teacher loves a good snack.  For this project, I had each student write a "Menu" which included their favorite food items.  I then gave them each a paper plate, and we drew the food (practicing scale and proportion, along with reviewing "bird's eye view").  They colored the food with crayon, and used water colors to jazz up their plates.  During another session, we used corrugated cardboard pieces to stamp black lines and create a pattern which would later serve as their place mat.  On assembly day, we added silverware (which was wrapped in foil) cups, and napkins. They loved the variety of materials, and I loved the opportunity to review concepts from the year, along with  seeing the personality in their plates.  We tackled this project while waiting for our coil bowls to get fired- next week we'll glaze them.