Kandinsky Art Lesson

Image via Wikipedia

Wassily Kandinsky 1866-1944

Materials: lids, cd's, etc. for circles & tag board geometric shapes for tracing.

I usually have kids use black crayons for tracing, which provides a black resist line when using watercolor paints. (Black crayons are easier on the budget too in a 25+ classroom.) But this time, with fewer kids, we used sharpie markers. Some painted with watercolors, while others used tempera.



Trace lines and shapes.

Then paint.

Special thanks to Mrs. Smith's summer art students: Joshua, Riley, Haddie, Drew, Julia, Jennifer, Bijou, Sienna, Devin, Paige, Michelle, Lizzy

Wayne Thiebaud

Wayne Thiebaud, USA 1920-

What an amazing career that's still going! Did I count 4 or 5 "Honorary Doctorates" in his Bio? Needless to say, no child needs to be talked into creating art inspired by this man.

(Thank you arcticpenguin for photo permission.)




A fabulous "Thiebaud Class Project" done by Laurie G. and students in her son's class.

Colorful Sweets

Easy Fun Cupcakes (These kind have no calories too!)

First get familiar with the 3 parts of the cupcake. Practice drawing all 3 parts on scratch paper.

Then make a background table by gluing contrasting color construction paper on bottom half of background paper.

Cut out cupcake pieces. Here we used wrapping paper for the wrappers on the cupcakes.

The collage cupcakes were quick, so we had time to paint some too.

(Thanks to Mrs. Smith's summer artists; Joshua, Kahler and Paige.)

Appreciation Walks

One of the best parts of my job is being in other teachers' classrooms and seeing firsthand terrific ideas for classroom management, lessons, and other fabulous tricks that teachers have up their sleeve.

When students finish their art, there is a plethora of choices a teacher has in deciding what will happen next. What should the students do? One of my favorite ideas is to have kids do an "Appreciation Walk".

Kids walk around the room once, quietly admiring the other students artwork and appreciating the hard work their fellow artists have put forth. During the appreciation walk, kids are told to keep their hands folded or in their pockets so they don't accidentally touch someones art or bump another student who's still working.

ATC's with Colored Glue

Image by Moonwaves via Flickr

ATC's are "Artist Trading Cards" and they are perfect for students to make if they finish their art project before the rest of the class. There are no rules for ATC's except for their size. A true ATC is 2 1/2" x 3 1/2", just like baseball cards.




These ATC's were made with colored glue. Tempera paint was added to the glue to give it color.

Wet ATC's
Dry ATC's
After they've dried. The glossy color fades and the glue tends to run together, but their touchable appeal is fun. (These will be flattened under a big book after one more day of drying!)

Art Pastels

Something that gives a lot of bang-for-the-buck...A classpack of Oil Pastels. I've used one classpack with a whole school of 400 children for multiple art lessons, and it keeps on lasting!

I get mine here at Discount School Supply. The price now is $41.98 for the class pack.

Picasso Quote

Pablo Picasso, Child with a Dove, 1901

There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, thanks to their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun. Pablo Picasso (Spain 1881-1973)

Picasso and Guitars

Pablo Picasso (Spain 1881-1973)
Picasso had a thing for guitars, as some of his "guitar art" below illustrates.

Kids have a thing for guitars too!

Here's a lesson where the students draw a guitar, draw intersecting lines, then color the spaces. Simple lesson, but always fun and colorful.

Special thanks to Mr. Lang, via Mr. Tedone, for sharing this lesson idea.

Start with a dot in the center of the page, to help students position their drawing.

Draw one horizontal oval below the dot. Draw lightly because these ovals will be erased later.

Draw a second oval below the first. Make it wider than the first one.

Draw the body of the guitar, using the ovals to guide your shape.

Erase both ovals.

Draw circle for hole in the guitar.

Draw neck of guitar.

Draw head on top of neck.

Draw some lines across the page. The fewer the lines, the less time needed to color the picture. More lines, means more time needed to color. Note - Drawing the guitar and 3 intersecting lines, then coloring it will take approx. 50 minutes.

Color or paint each shape in the picture.

Kermit King Elementary Artists

Kermit King Elementary Artists