Andy Warhol Cats, 4th Grade

Again...totally not a cat person. But, we have to respect the great Andy Warhol for his lovely cat drawings of Sam. We looked at "Red Sam" and used him as an inspiration. I let the kids use chalk to color him in, and they had to name their cats, this student didn't get that far, yet.

It is quite realistic, and I love the "ready to pounce" cat stance...too cute.

Spheres In Space, 3rd Grade

Yet another one I did with help from my favorite website for teachers. This one the kids loved, and really teaches them about light source and how to draw a "realistic" looking sphere.

Contour Leaf Design, 2nd Grade

Cats, 1st Grade

I have to say, I really hate cats as pets (sorry to anyone who really does like them). But, when I came across a cute cat project, again on Artprojectforkids.org, I couldn't pass it up. I did change it a bit, but the basic drawing of the cat came from her. I cannot resist early in the year doing step-by-step drawings with the kids because it really teaches them to follow along and to use their eyes to help them draw. They learn about size and proportion, and as I do more like this with them I can start to loosen the reigns later in the year. We used chalk to finish them up, the kids got super messy and LOVED it, and I think they are super cute. Just purrrrrfect. (Did I really just say that? Ohhh I am so elementary)

Crowded Elevators, 3rd Grade

Every month my friend from college, who is also an elementary art teacher like to get together at our favorite place, Panera. We discuss lots of things, but mainly new art lessons. Being young in this, we need ideas all the time, so this project is a product of our monthly get-togethers. She did this project with her students, and so I decided to try it. I was thrilled with the results. The goal was to get the kids to understand how to draw people in front of one another and overlapping bodies. We made their "crowds of 5" in elevators. They could do their families, a bunch of girls shopping, skateboarders (as you will see), doctors in a hospital elevator...the options are endless. I am really happy about the way they turned out. I made a bulletin board recently of them, and the teachers cannot believe how well the kids did.

Foreground, MIddleground and Background Tree's, 2nd Grade

How on earth were these created in one day you may ask? A miracle. A plain old miracle. I have to thank one my favorite blogs for this idea: ArtProjectsForKids. She has great ideas, this one may be from another source, too. However, a lot of my ideas stem from hers. So, here is the most recent project.

These teach the kids (2nd graders) about foreground, middleground and background, and the use of oil pastels and blending. I love them, and they are currently hanging in the hallway!

Scary Houses (a start), 2nd Grade

I'm not at all into witches, goblins, monsters, blood, gore or ghosts....but I do think that "scary" houses are cool at Halloween time. I don't call them haunted, because, well, I don't believe in ghosts. But, scary...scary is fine at this time of year. It's also a good opportunity to teach them about houses, and how to draw certain things (windows, doors, etc). They had a fun time drawing crooked, broken, creeky, and old scary houses.


Another example, of where I yet again...let the finished results slip past my doorway without snagging a picture or two.

Symmetrical Jewels, 3rd Grade

I love, love, love, LOVE these. We talked about symmetry, horizontal and vertical lines, outlining, and how to use oil pastels. I can't wait to hang these in the hall tomorrow.

Bug Drawings, 4th Grade

Seriously. Look at this. These are 4th graders and without exaggerating...MOST of them draw this good. I am pleasantly surprised at the level of artwork coming out of these children. It gets me excited about all potential art projects we can do this year.

We are drawing insects from observation (looking at detailed pictures of them), we do not trace, we just use our eyes to help us draw. I am loving the results. This is just the first step to a really long project, our bug jars.

Sea Turtles, 2nd Grade

I love my job because I get to see the cutest little creations come to life. Sea turtles are back, and better than ever. Here are the kids starting to color them.

They will be completed once they finish their crayon, crinkle up their paper, and then watercolor the backgrounds. I like to add some glitter for a fun ocean affect.

Outdoor Monet Murals, 5th Grade

It was the end of the year, and I had just taught the 5th graders about Monet. We ran out of time to do the painting project that was really my hope...so I got the genius idea to go outside with chalk, pair up the kids, and give them 45 minutes to re-create a Monet masterpiece on a big sidewalk square. It was one of my favorite memories from the year. They didn't care that the forecast was rain...it was the experience, it was getting out there, getting dirty and chalky, and having fun.

Insect Printmaking, 4th Grade

I really had no idea how big of a hit printmaking would be. It takes a lot of work on the teachers part, as far as prep and clean up goes-but when hearing comments like, "This is the best day of art ever!"...it makes it all worth it.

Rocker Chicks, 1st Grade

These were made out of Crayola Air Dry clay, "painted' with marker, and feathers added for detail. This was a one-day project and one of my favorites by far. I think their little mohawks make them look like little rocker chickies. Love them!

Froggie Love, 1st Grade

Uhhh, to die for! So, so cute. Great for the springtime. I think the way to achieve the bold look is to re-outline with a black marker on top of the paint once it dries. That's the trick to making their artwork look flawless and fabulous.

Wayne Thiebaud's Yummy Treats, 2nd Grade

I taught the students about Wayne Thiebaud and we looked at all his yummy treats as we call them in 2nd grade. We learned from him, and his style, and then created pictures of our own. My favorite is this one, of the gumball machine. This project uses oil pastel and watercolor. It's so bright and cheery, and they look great in the hallway.

Clay Pendants, 5th Grade

With this project, we discussed pendants and the use of them on jewelry for years. The students were to create a pendant that they felt exemplified themselves. They were created into necklaces, keychains, whatever. The best is the "DUH" you see there at the bottom, created by one of my deaf students. That was his word, the one word you could definitely understand when it came out of his mouth. Funny guy...

Asian Landscapes, 4th Grade

There are no words for how COOL they turned out...with the mountainous scenes, and the chinese wording...and that fire red sun. Gorgeous! Talented children, I tell ya!

They used chalk pastel, and a stencil/template technique where the pastel was rubbed onto the paper.

Watercolor Lighthouses, 3rd Grade

An in progress picture...the end results were nice, but somehow I never snagged a picture...must have been a rough day. :-)

Positive/Negative with a Theme, 4th Grade

This project was very hard for some of the kids, but I loved the final result, they turned out so vivid and sharp. We "tricked" the viewer into thinking we used something fancy like a x-acto knife, but nope...we just hid the cut-in line when we glued them. (Some hid them better then others, of course!)

Spring Meadows

They started with a long piece of paper (8 x 24), and first drew grass along the bottom with one shade of green, and then went over it with another shade of green. They drew 8 stems with leaves. Then, they used scraps of tissue paper to create beautiful floral creations to top off their plants. I showed them multiple ways of creating flowers, but they always surprise me with their own creations, which a lot of times are better then mine :-)

Optical Illusion Art, 5th Grade

This should help you get started....more coloring directions are in the comments:

Toucans, 4th Grade

Using oil pastels, the students created some lovely toucans.I taught them all about toucans, blending oil pastels, and how shade on our leaves. Oh, and we added watercolor as our background.

Bulletin Board Displays

Here are some of the few bulletin boards filled with artwork from the students. The first one is of Corduroy, the bear. This was made by the full-day kindergarteners. They did great for their age and attention span. The second is also by kindergarten, and they created adorable watercolor frogs. The last is our snowy landscapes by third grade, using q-tips and oil pastels, and white paint of course.

Clay Dinosaurs, 2nd Grade

Students in 2nd grade in our school learn about dinosaurs. They know everything from a-z about them. So, I decided to do a little cross-curricular activity, and we made them out of Crayola Air Dry clay...I love that stuff. When they dried (24 hours later) the students painted them with with watercolor. We added googly eyes for fun, because, who doesn't love googly eyes, I mean, really? :-) I loved the results, and so did they.