Popcorn Flowers

This is an annual art project by Mrs. B at my main school (no, it's not me).  But I thought I'd pass it on as it always turns out so nice and the kids have a great time.


Thanks Mrs. B for letting me post this one!

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- large sheets of paper
- liquid tempera paint
- powdered tempera paint
- popped popcorn
- glue
- scissors

PROCEDURE:

On your large sheet of paper trace around a plate or lid in the middle of the paper.

Paint in a stem and a few leaves.









Pour some liquid tempera onto a plate. Using one hand dip into the paint.

 

Stamp on the petals around the circle you traced.

You should be able to get 5 or 6 handprints on.

Let the painting dry.  Pop some popcorn.

Add about a tablespoon or so of dry tempera paint to the popcorn.

















Put the lid on or hold a plate over top the container and give it a good shake.  At school we have 4 large ice cream tubs with lids that we use every year.

When the painting has dried fill traced circle with glue and add popcorn until filled.  Let the glue dry and then post on your bulletin board!

A popcorn garden. 

That's it.  See you next time.

In the Style of van Gogh: Remembrance Day Painting and Giveaway Results

This is "Field of Poppies" by Vincent van Gogh 1890.

As a Remembrance Day art project I wanted Grade 3 to try and recreate this composition.

This was the sample I used for the class.

Those of you who attended my ECEC workshop on "From Primitive to Post Modern" will recall my comments on teaching Impressionism to kids.

The difficulty with painted art projects is that the kids get so intent on those dabs of paint that often you lose the composition...it's gets away from them.  You can try this method to help keep it together.







MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- disk tempera paint (blue, green, yellow)
- powdered tempera paint (blue, green, yellow, white, red)
- containers to mix up paint in
- water
- paintbrushes, art boards
- wc paper or heavy sketch paper, even white cardstock will suffice
- reference photos
- pencil


PROCEDURE:

Take your wc paper and tape off onto your art board.  My initial sample was quite large when I realized it was probably better for the kids to only focus on a smaller sized project. (8 x 10)

Show the kids reference photos, discuss Impressionism in terms of art history, the idea of a fleeting moment or that visual rush of movement. (i.e. spinning round in a field).  Discuss the way van Gogh used brushstrokes and heavy paint texture to achieve that movement.
I had the kids draw a horizon line and then asked them to draw another line in the ground section to create 2 meadows.

Then using the disk tempura I asked them to paint a wash in each section.  Blue for the sky and green and yellow for the meadow.







Let dry.

Mix up your powdered tempera. You want it quite thick and using small brushes get the kids to add those dabs of paint on top of the now dry wash.  I asked the kids to vary their brushstrokes so that the kind the used for the sky, say sideways, was different from the brushstrokes to represent the grass.

I also asked them to clump their brushstrokes.  I was trying to prevent them from creating just a pattern of dots.  This needed to be reinforced as they would get into this repeating action of just dabbing.  That holding back so there was some negative space on the paper proved difficult for some of them.

The poppies were added last.  I also asked them to place a few green dabs in a line in the sky to represent those far off trees.  Let the paint dry.

Finally we added trunks to our trees using a fine sharpie.  Mount on black paper for final presentation.    That's it.  I'm hoping to have more pictures of the final student results for you later today.

On to the giveaway, I had a total of 56 entries for the "Crazy for Cake Pops" by Molly Bakes. 

After a random draw the winner was my 23rd email entry which turned out to be Rhonda who emailed me yesterday and said:

"Love your posts! Would love to win book and begin making cake pops with my daughter! Thanks, Rhonda"

Thanks everyone for entering!  Due the holiday on Friday I probably won't be back till next week with more projects I featured at the conference and of course new holiday projects as Christmas is creeping up fast.  See you then.

Migrating Ducks Art Project and Giveaway Results

I know you are anxious for the giveaway results and I have kept you waiting almost all day.......but I've been working on this Duck project.

So first we'll do the ducks and then giveaway at the end

So maybe you remember that set of ceramic ducks on the wall of your Grandma's house, I sure do!

Why not make it an art project...perfect for Fall.  The ducks haven't left yet but it's only a matter of time.

This is a set on painted cardboard which you could also make out of paper......

...and for the little guys you can make this handprint duck.


So let's get started.









First up the set of three:

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- templates, optional as you can always make your own but if you want mine
- Large duck Template#1  so this one is so big I have to give it to you in 2 parts
- Large duck Template #2
- Medium duck Template #3
- Small duck Template #4
- thin cardboard (cereal box)
- pencil, scissors
- gesso
- paint, I used acrylic
- Mod podge to seal
- wire/tape for hanging

PROCEDURE:

Using your templates trace out your 3 ducks on to your cardboard.

Cut out.

I gave mine a coat of Gesso.

Let dry.

Now start painting.  I used acrylics so I want to put in my base coat colors first and then add my fine details and shading.

When you are finished painted add a coat or two of ModPodge.  This will give the cardboard extra weight and protect it for years to come.

Add a hanger on the back.


Now you can easily make these out of  posterboard instead and get the kids to use pastel or colored pencil.


Next up Handprint Ducks:

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- white wc paper
- blue tempera disk paint
- template, you can use mine,  Handprint Duck Template #5
- colored paper
- brown liquid tempera paint
- googly eye, optional
- glue
- scissors
- pastels or colored pencils

PROCEDURE:

Tape down your wc paper on to your art board.

Paint in your blue background with tempera disk paint.




Let dry.

Using the template or designing your own cut out the body parts for your duck.

Glue onto your background in the center, make sure you have room for your handprints.


For the eye you can glue on a googly one or make one out of black paper and a hole punch.

Take some brown tempera paint and place on a plate.  Shake a little to make the paint flatten a bit so you have a large surface to place your hand in to.

Dip hand in to paint and then make print on the paper.

We had our thumbs closest to the body which means you have to get both hands messy. (Oh what fun!!)

Wash up!

After paint is dried come in with some pastel or colored pencil to add a few details.  As you can see we did it before the handprints but found we had to come back in again to add some to the wings so do it after.



That's it.
Some great looking DUCKS!


Incidently I got carried making templates so here are a few other ducks you could use:

Template #6 a
Template #6 b
Template #7

On to the Giveaway for this wonderful book: "Learn World Calligraphy".


I had 49 comments and 27 emails for a total of 76 entries.

Using Random.Org to choose our winner we get:

Here are your random numbers:

46

Timestamp: 2011-09-30 22:21:59 UTC

That works out to be by time entered:

Tara who emailed me on Sept 28th at 11:26 am and said:

"Hello Gail,

I follow your posts religiously and would love to receive this awesome resource."

Thanks everyone for entering and we will see you soon.....in the meantime make some ducks!

How to Make a Color Wheel Gecko

The color wheel is a fundamental concept that is introduced in Grade 1 and then further discussed in later grades. So I am always interested in developing projects to help teach Color Theory.

Now Color Theory can get quite complex but we'll start with the basics.

For this project the kids make a color wheel that becomes the basis for a fun interactive painting. 

With a turn of the wheel........

......and the gecko changes color.



So let's get started and once you know the technique you can adapt this project in numerous ways.

















MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- tempera or watercolor paint
-  2 sheets of watercolor paper
- fine sharpie
- template, (use mine or better yet come up with your own)
- scissors, pencil, eraser
- paper fastener
- glue, tape
- transparency (optional)

Take one sheet of watercolor paper and trace out the largest circle you can.  I used a plate.


Cut it out and save your scraps.

In order to spin the wheel the circle will have to stick out a little on one side.  To figure out where to place your gecko you can lay the circle on top of your other piece of watercolor paper.  Make a few pencil marks on the paper underneath so you know where that wheel will be.

 Mark in pencil the center of that wheel on both the cut circle and where it would lay on that other paper. Now hold the paper up to a bright window and make this center mark on the back as well.
 This helps out a lot later.

If you are using the template or a pattern that you have made yourself, lay this on the marked out circle on the paper.  It's hard to see in this photo so I'm leaving the wheel in place to show you.


You want the gecko to be inside that circle and you also don't want to cover up the that center pencil mark. You'll have to fiddle with your image to get it in the right place.

Trace out that pattern or just free draw in your image.

Now you want to create your window so you need to cut away that image.
Instead of fussing with exacto blades or tears from trying to make these difficult cuts I just get the kids to cut their paper in half thru the drawing.

They then can easily cut out both sides of the drawing.

We then turn the 2 sides over to the back, fit together and tape into place.  Much easier and safer.

Now let's start painting.  Get the kids to paint in the primary colors leaving white space between them.

Then start mixing the primaries together.  It's best to mix these together on a separate palette or plate and then add onto your color wheel.

Add a little water on the edges of each color so they mix a little rather than having such definite stripes.

Let dry.

Now paint in your top sheet. 

If you are pressed for time with this project you can also just use black paper, draw in some background lines with white pencil crayon and then you can skip this painting step. 

Outline your painting if you want with sharpie or black pencil crayon.  You can also outline the cut out section (older kids).

Now I like to hide the paper fastener.  In order to do this you need a scrap piece of wc paper. (remember those scraps from cutting out our wheel).

Cut a circle, square, what ever will fit.  You'll understand in a minute.  Punch a hole through it with an awl, scissors, or knitting needle and put the fastener in hole.

Now glue or tape this onto the back of your cutout sheet. (Prongs sticking up at you)
  You want it to be approximately where that center mark is that you marked out.  You don't want any of the scrap paper showing thru the window so sometimes you have to cut it to fit.

Now you could just stop at this point but if you want details on your gecko take a transparency sheet.

Lay it on the back, you'll have to poke a hole to let the fastener get thru.

Now you don't have to use a full sheet, I know transparencies can be quite expensive.  You just want to cover up that cutout.

Tape into place.

Put Color wheel face down on fastener and fold back prongs, a little loose for easy turning.


Now you can add details in sharpie right on to the transparency.

Here is a smaller one I made that does not have the transparency.

It also was cut out leaving the head and the feet on the front sheet.  This is a good option with young kids where they only have to cut out the body shape.

I added googly eyes.

You can also make these in your journals and I hope to show you those next time with more color theory.

Keep cool!