Upside Down Art

How many times do you have to say, get off the floor to your early elementary kids.  Why not use that behavior to your advantage.  The last time my 2nd grade came in I told them they were going to look at some art.  They were to get a pencil and paper and stand by their desk.  Then I told them to look under the table to find their art.  They looked at me as if I had lost my mind.  They did and discovered art on the bottom of their table.

We are starting to study Aboriginal Design.  The students found a work of art under each table.  Once they wrote a bit of what they saw, they moved to the next table.  The scooted around to all of them.

I placed all aboriginal art work under 6 of my tables.  On the 7th table, I placed a Egyptian Mask.  When we came back together that was the first thing I asked.  "One of these artworks was not like the others.  What one was it and why?"  That led us into why the others were alike. I didn't have to bring up the dots, or patterns.  The kids did it on their own.

This was a fun activity that I will use again, but not to much.  Maybe next time I do something under the chairs or in the bathroom… Hiding art was a lot of fun.