Serving Art Educators
and Students Since 1994
Five Art Lessons
These five lessons are from the early days of IAD. They were submitted before digital cameras and scanners were available to teachers. Because of this, some samples have been digitally created and may not be the best representation of the actual art work.
Colorful Hand-prints
Submitted by: Judith Walsh, Elementary Art Teacher at Mt. Zion Elementary in Suffolk, VA
Grades: Age Three - 1st grade
Materials:
2 primary color paints (Tempera Paint
Procedure:
Put two primary colors on a styrofoam plate - such as red and yellow. Next, have student put their hand in the red paint, then make a hand print. Next, have student put their other hand in the yellow paint and make a hand print. Then, have students rub their hands together with the paint still on them and see what color they have made. Then they will make a hand print with the orange paint on their hands they have just made. Showing them that red and yellow make orange!
Leaves of Gold
Submitted by: Kim Tumblin, Day Care Teacher at KinderCare
Learning Center #895 in Carmel, Indiana.
Grades: Pre-Kindergarten
Materials:
Gold Spray Paint, Black Construction Paper
Procedure:
Take a nature walk before this project or have children bring leaves from home. Take children outside and have each of them place the leaves as they would like on the paper. Next, assist them in spraying over the leaves. The over-spray will create a leaf outline. After the paint dries, the children can color in the leaf with crayons or colored pencils.
Warning: It is not wise to use spray paint with small children. Instead, try using toothbrushes and spatter screens (window screen on a wood frame).
Feather/Pipe Cleaner Sculpture
Submitted by: Toni A., Preschool Teacher in Houston, Texas.
Grades: Three to five year olds
Materials:
Small paper plates, Play-Doh
Procedure:
At our school, we make playdough for our classes rather than buying it. After about a month, the playdough has begun to outgrow its usefulness. Instead of throwing it away, here's something I do. My children always love this project, because it encourages creativity and discovery.
Give each child with a small paper plate containing a ball of playdough about the size of a golf ball. Have the children flatten the ball out just a bit.
Provide the children with a variety of colored feathers, pipe cleaners, pony beads, cereal, etc.
Show the children how to wrap the pipe cleaners around pencils or their fingers to make spirals.
Show the children how they can thread the Beads onto the pipe cleaners.
Show the children how, when they stick the feathers and pipe cleaners into the playdough, they are held in place.
Now, step back and watch them create some of the most interesting sculptures!!
Marble Painting
Submitted by: Jonathan Greenberg.
Grades: 3-6 year olds
Materials:
Shoe box, marbles, Tempera Paint
Procedure:
Dip marbles in tempera paint and then put them in the bottom of a shoe box. If you wish, you can put white paper in the bottom of the box first. The children then agitate the boxes and the marbles roll paint streaks around in the bottom of the box. If the children are too wild with the boxes put the lids on the boxes first before you let them shake the boxes.
Elementary Extension by Caryn King, Vermont:
I have a unit that begins with creating colorful paper by using a marble or two rolling around paint in a beverage cardboard tray (tray is lined with Construction Paper
Painting with Baby Oil
Submitted by: Jean England, Preschool teacher at the Warren Early Childhood Center in Indianapolis Indiana.
Grades: 2 - 4 year olds
Procedure:
When baby oil is painted on construction paper, it makes the paper fibers partially transparent. This allows for light to get through it. Use light colored construction paper and paint a design with a Q-tip dipped in baby oil on your paper. Anywhere that has the baby oil becomes transparent when held to the light or hung in a window.
If you are working with young children, have them draw their picture first and then trace over it using a q-tip and baby oil. Young children have a hard time not painting the entire paper.
When finished, tape the pictures to the windows so that light illuminates their pictures. If you add food coloring to the baby oil, it gives off a colored tint.
Materials:
