Print Making (3-5)

This a fast and messy project, but the kids love it.

You Will Need the Following:

• Tag board
• Tempra
• Brushes
• Cotton Swabs, or dull pencil
• Drawing paper

Have the students spread a thick layer of paint on oaktag. Then, using a cotton swab, paintbrush handle, pencil, etc, have them etch a design in the wet paint.

Then have the students place a piece of regular paper over the oaktag and rub gently on the back of the paper. When they lift the paper up, the print will have transferred onto the paper.

It is very important that the students work quickly. They must etch while the paint is wet. So, it may be best to have them design work on a piece of scrap paper first.

The great thing about this project is that the oaktag can be painted over a second time, and an entirely new design can be etched into the paint to create another print.

Silhouettes (3-5)

You Will Need the Following:

• Drawing Paper
• Water color
• Paint brushes
• Black construction paper

This project will take about two 40 minute periods.

Explain what a silhouette is and that it is created when an object is lit from behind. The viewer does not see any details in a silhouette. Because of the lack of details, artists will use silhouettes when they want to draw attention to other parts of a piece of art. Or in contrast, silhouettes can be used to create drama in a piece.

Have the students fill a piece of white paper with water color. Stress that they are drawing a background only. They should not be painting any actual objects.

The second step is to have the students cut out small, medium and large objects. Explain that artist use size and placement in objects to create distance. If an object is close to the viewer it will be placed on the bottom of the page and will be rather large. If an object is meant to appear far away, it will be placed on the top of the page and will be smaller.

Encourage the students to do objects from nature, landforms, or architectural elements. And point out to them that the more complex their forms are, the more interesting their piece will be.

Class Quilt- (K-1)

This is a great group project for younger students. It really shows them what they can accomplish and create when everyone contributes.

You Will Need the Following:

• Construction paper- several colors
• Yarn
• Hole punch

Pass out a square of construction paper to each child. Have them cut and shapes from other construction paper and glue on. Once all the shapes have been glued on, punch holes into the squares and "sew" the squares together with yarn. Be sure to have the children put their names on the front of the "quilt"

3-D Pop-Up Book-Mapping Skills (4-5)

Some of my students are studying maps this month. So I thought it would be fun if they did a 3-D scene that they would then have to map.

You Will Need the Following:

• Drawing paper
• Construction paper
• Markers
• Pencils
• Glue
• Scissors

Step 1

First I traced my ruler around the edges of the paper. You need to do this so that you have guidelines to glue the other windows of the book.

I then drew a background scene that will be at the back of the book.

Step 2

This is the first window. I traced the ruler around this paper as well. Then gently folded it to cut out the middle. I used the paper from the middle to make the trees and then I colored them.

Step 3

I glue the trees onto the first window and then place it over the background picture to see how it will look. Note: I did have to end up trimming the tree on the left since it was sticking out of the frame.

Step 4

I followed the same steps as above to make the second layer of images.

Step 5

Fold square pieces of paper accordian-style. These will be the pieces that hold your book together.

Step 6

Glue the back of the background scene to the first fold in the accordian paper.

Step 7

Fold the accordian paper over and then glue the middle piece, and then finally the front piece to the corresponding accordian fold.

It will look like this from the side:

Here is the final product:

Step 8

Then to tie in mapping skills I will have them draw a map of the 3-d scene they just made.