Fun Frogs

A great lesson for beginning Artist.

I was inspired by a post I saw on Instagram by Alison Gerke (@ghouseart) showing some very sweet frogs by her Kindergarten. That sparked this lesson for me...

Day 1: Students practiced drawing frogs. First on whiteboards and then on their watercolor paper. It's important to have a high quality paper for this lesson... Watercolor paper or Mixed Medium paper works best. I have a FREE step-by-step resource page on my TPT page.

Day 2: Students first colored their background with crayons.  This included the sky, water, and lily pad. We talked about craftsmanship quite a bit. Students were instructed to do a peer assessment getting 3 people to say 'no white-spots' before considering themselves finished.

Student then used two 'juicy' markers to add two colors of spots all over the frog. The more dots the better!! We briefly talked about color theory and the color wheel using colors that are 'neighbors' to each other. 

Then students used water to blend the spots together with a brush. This is always magic for the students. 

And then the final results... 

Earth Day Mosaic

My distance learning kindergarten students rocked Earth Day Mosaic projects!!

Last year when we went into lock down students where in the middle of doing an Earth Day project. I was unable to get the projects back to the kids from last year so instead of throwing out the really cool looking paper, I used the die-cut to make the circles, I had some plates from a project I did years ago, some paper mosaic shapes as left overs from a previous project as well... it was a great combination to send home as a perfect little pack for these kindergarten students. 

Here is the videos that I had the kiddos watch. I was really impressed with what they turned in. 

Contemporary Clovers

I will be absent for the next couple of days so I thought this was a great time to offer a fun lesson focused on the contemporary Artist EttaVee. The top video I will be sharing with my older students, 3-5 and the younger kids will be working on the Seesaw digital version in the second video. 

 

Ew, David : Plastic Canvas Sweater Magnet

My sister pulled out a little box of magnets the last time I visited. She showed me a great aunt on her husbands side gave her little magnets sewed on plastic canvas for each holiday. She explained that when she received them she didn't appreciate it the same way she does now... that she is older... and wiser. I thought I would send her a pick-me-up and started making some magnets to add to her collection featuring some of our favorite shows. For starts... $chitts Creek!  Check out the video for full instructions. Drawings below are my attempt at a pattern. Maybe you can make one for someone special this year for Christmas. 

Cut a black plastic canvas to 27 spaces by 34 spaces.

Trim down the plastic to create the shape of the sweater. Starting from each side helps to stay even. For example, cut the shoulder triangle on the right, then on the left. Then move into the center cut for the top of the sweater. 

This is an image of what the plastic will look like.

Start with the white yarn creating the words. If the first line on the left is number one... count to the seventh to start the 'D' for David. Likewise, if the bottom is number 1, count up to the number 9 to find the base of all the letters of David. These letters were created in a cross stitch motion.

Filling in the black in this chevron pattern helps the texture appear more like a sweater. 

Finish the black with a whip stitch around the edge of the of the sweater shape will create a finished look. 

Use white, place lines to separate the sleeves and add the classic 'David' lighting bolts to the top of the sweater. 

 

One Session Google Draw Lesson

Need a quick little lesson before a holiday. Here ya go. This will require a iPad or Chromebook and access to Google Draw. 

Students will learn...

• How to create an object using simple shapes.
• How to use Google Draw tools like; Shapes, Polylines, and Curve Lines.
• How to share the drawing.