Warm lions

http://youtu.be/N8yuyekP_So ..........this song on YouTube was used to introduce warm colors to kg kiddos. We talked about hot things like fire, the sun, and hot lava to help them remember which colors are warm.

Following our intro, kg painted a whole 12 x 18 inch piece of paper with warm color tempera paints. They used Popsicle sticks to scratch designs into the paper.

On day 2 we read this book:

It's a perfect tie in, as it focuses on drawing lions and other animals. It's also about being nice to each other (a good lesson for littles).

After the book, kids set out to collage the lion faces, using the painted paper from the previous class, yarn, and construction paper. Results were adorbs!

Fourth grade under water portraits

http://youtu.be/rmT7gEgwexc ......... This is the link for the quick vid intro we used, which focuses on gesture drawing. Following our video, students practiced drawing each other in different poses and set to work drawing their underwater self portraits.

Some kiddos chose to swim In the ocean. Some were surfing, others diving......I loved seeing the different ideas and details they came up with.

To finish these off, students colored all details with oil pastels, and painted the water with watercolor paints to give a more realistic look.

We worked on blending colors and watercolor techniques.

End of the year fun!

The year is quickly coming to a close. What to do, what to do? Make a mural, of course! 

We had a splashing good time making ocean murals while watching Lilo and Stitch!

Who doesn't love a little end of the year teamwork?!

If the dinosaurs came back with KG

Kinders have been working on dinosaurs in the city, based on the book, "If the Dinosaurs Came Back". On day one we read the book and drew our dinos and cities. 

Day 2 was cutting and gluing............

And day three was the best: KG had so much fun coloring and stomping around making dino foot"prints"!

It took a bit longer than anticipated, but we covered several skills and had a ton of fun!

Showing facial expressions through caricatures...... This is AWESOME, if I do say so myself.

Ok, I am super-stoked about these caricature drawings by fifth graders.  We haven't actually started them yet, but here is our plan:
First, we will be taking a look at some caricatures of real famous folks, such as these:

Obama

Taylor Swift

 Nick Jonas

Next, we set to drawing.  I've got loads of cool handouts for the kids to check out, on how to draw cartoon facial features.
We will also be tying this in to a science lesson on velocity, as this is a prime activity for MOVEMENT and the facial expressions we show when we move.
But here's the real kicker:  When kids have finished, they can set their caricature in motion, using the app "Chatter Pix Kids" to animate the mouths of their artwork.  I downloaded it for FREE on my IPad, and it. is. amazing....check mine out below:

I seriously had so much fun with this, I might do it to every portrait I make from here til the end of time.  Stay tuned for student work - I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!

This is the line that never ends!!!!!!

This is the line that never ends!!! Yes, it goes on and on, my friends!  Our focus for today is emphasis in art.  How can we show it, and, for goodness sake, WHAT DOES IT MEAN???  To kick it off, we watched this little diddy:

Final product had all kiddos, big and small, simply amazed :)

Fave part for most kids was that the black and white pen part was done with india ink and calligraphy pens.  Naturally we all pretended to have old English accents from the 1700's. 

Twinkle Trails Episode 20 - The Texture Desert (Musical version)

TEXTURE-BOTS by 2nd grade!

Wowza, were these fun!  We checked out an excellent texture song to pump us up before creating these fab texture robots, and then it was nothin' but creative juices flowin' everywhere!  Here's the song, to brighten your day :)

Ahhhhh yes, I love it!

And, behold the lovely creations:

Value Birds - 4th Grade

Fourth graders are studying value in art.  We began by choosing a color and adding white to make tints, or black to make shades.  From there, the kids found some bird references to draw from, marking where they would like their light and dark "feathers" to go.  NEXT came collage!

Results were B-E-A-UTIFUL!!!  What a lovely spring display :)

Clay Pinch and Pull Dragons

Kinders have been exploring with clay...

I read them "Waking Dragons", showed them what to do, and we got to work.  Of course they were not immune to magic of clay, and everyone had a great time.  

After dragons were done they got to create whatever they wanted.  It was cool to see their creations, and classroom management was not much of an issue as they were so hypnotized by what they were doing.  Here are some examples...

I had a bunch of extra Pringles containers,  so we let them dry over those,  fired,  and painted with tempera cakes the next week.  Any small container or even paper towel tube would work to create the slump/arch in the clay sortinduring dry time. 

  

Clay bobble heads

Fifth graders have started clay bobble heads.  We began with two 1/2 lb. balls of clay.  Students created the head with a "pinch pot" type-o-shape, and the body with a "cone" type-o-shape.  From there, they added many splendiforous details to create uniqueness!!!  Here are some of their wonderfully wobbly creations:

I know what you're thinking - TOTALLY ADORABLE!!!!!!!!!!

And yes...I definitely played with these while the kids were away.  Who could resist?!