Kindergarten's Leopards

Have you seen Miroco Machicko's paintings (above left)? I love them for their childlike quality and energy.  She does amazing things with patterns and color, and I find myself frequently turning to her art for inspiration.  I also like what Kelly Tracht did with her bright fauvist leopard spots. I showed both of these as inspiration for my kinders while reading them a short fable about a leopard.  Let me tell you- this was a difficult drawing lesson and I will not do it again for this age group, poor guys. I think it's the four legs plus tail that make it really complicated.  They had fun at least, especially when they were stamping their spots with their Q-tips, but I think it would have been more successful for an older age group. 

Kindergarten: The Snowman by Raymond Briggs

In preparation for the holiday, kindergarten students watched and drew The Snowman. I rarely use stencils, especially to make circles, but I thought this lesson would overall be more successful if they traced for their circle. After a few basic instructions for the snowman, students colored him or her in with colored pencils and the background with soft pastel. The snow was made by dipping a q-tip in white paint. I think they came out super cute!

Kindergarten's Ladybugs

For my after-school kindergarten class, students learned about symmetry and painted ladybugs. I first read to them a fun hide-and-seek book called Yoo-Hoo, Ladybug. The grass texture was created by applying saran wrap on wet watercolor. They painted a separate watercolor paper in reds and oranges and after it dried, cut out an oval and glued it to their grass. Then they painted the ladybug's spots being careful to replicate them on the opposite wing, and head and antennae. 

Kindergarten: Oil Resist Jellyfish

All of the grades are learning about lines with different projects.  As one of the last lessons for this unit, jellyfish tentacles were an appropriate inspiration I thought. Students pretended their arms were tentacles and we wiggled our arms in slow syrupy motions before we started drawing. They had done two previous lessons on Line so they were getting pretty good at drawing wavy and loopy lines. The jellyfish was drawn with oil pastels and painted over with liquid watercolor. They mixed in a little black  so that the water would begin dark and gradually get lighter towards the top.

Kindergarten's Interpretation of Monet's Water Lily Pond

 These were done with my enrichment students after school. I love how they turned out and wish I had more to show, but it's a suuuuuuuper small class. I first showed them references of Monet and Renoir and we discussed their style of painting: how they dabbed their brushes to show all the different colors of light dancing on the surface, the many different greens and yellows Monet used instead of just one, and I also showed them a picture of the actual pond that inspired his painting. Then students taped a bridge in the middle of their paper with masking tape and painted below, above, and between the bridge with pre-mixed tempera. I told them to think of pond and lily colors for everything below the bridge and tree colors for everything between and above the bridge. Once it was dry, students peeled off the tape and colored it in with colored pencil.

Kindergarten: Monsters and Lines

I came across this book while shopping for other books on Amazon and I knew it would be perfect for teaching my kinders about different kinds of lines. Plus, who can resist adorable monsters?

While we read the book, I had students draw a wiggly line, a curly line, a wavy line, a zigzag line, and a whole buncha others with their fingers in the air to prepare them for drawing them on paper. After the book, they sketched a large "skinny rainbow" or "upside down U" on a color paper of their choice. Then I guided them in drawing the nose, which was a combo of straight and curly lines, eyes, and arms. Once the monster was drawn, they practiced their lines on a sheet of paper.

For the second class, students drew their lines on the monster with Elmer's glue and then sprinkled, er dumped, glitter all over their monster. It was super fun tilting the paper down and seeing their monster bejeweled in sparkly lines. They also remind me of Cosby sweaters, but I didn't say that because they would have noooo idea what I was talking about.

Kindergarten- Fall Trees

Kindergarteners are starting off the year learning about color.  After reading them a fun book called Color Dance, students learned about primary colors and warm and cool colors (secondary colors will come later, starting off simple for now!). For the first part of the lesson, students painted circular clouds  of warm Fall colored leaves for their tree. Once that was dry, I dropped a tiny blob of ink at the bottom of their paper and they blew the ink through a straw for the trunk and spread it out into branches. It helps to tilt the paper down so the ink can flow better, and we don't want purple faced kinders! For the second class, students used cool colors to paint the sky. 

This is a favorite lesson of mine because students have so much fun mixing colors, especially seeing the water turn into a delicious "pink lemonade" or purple "Gatorade". It's a magical process. Plus, they get to blow ink through a straw and that is always a hit. 

Kindergarten- Fox Scratch Art

I love how these foxes turned out, especially the last one with the huge eyes!

Kindergarten- Sushi Plate

These delicious looking sushi plates were made from Model Magic. By the end of the class I was craving for spicy tuna and salmon rolls!

Kindergarten- Poppies and Hearts

Poppies made from tempera paint and charcoal.

Jim Dine inspired hearts using tempera and charcoal.

Kindergarten- Empire State Building

I borrowed a fantastic lesson from Deep Space Sparkle based on contemporary illustrator Marz Jr. 's graphic drawings of famous people and landmarks including the Empire State Building. Students loved drawing the skyscrapers in perspective and filling in their buildings with windows.

Kindergarten- Hear Me Roar

Super easy and satisfying lesson! Students drew a simple line drawing of a lion's face and made the mane by painting in outward strokes. 

Kindergarten- Cats in Pastel

 With just a rectangle, triangles, circles, and a heart, students drew charming fluffy cats each with their own unique personality.