Self-Portraits that Look into the Future

Are you looking for a way to make self-portraits with your fifth graders? Well, here is a great lessons you can do! You will also be able to teach contrast along with portraiture. And how about using watercolors, too. And, oh yeah... you will also have the kids thinking about their future. All in one. Not bad for one lesson.

We start off using a tracer for the head shape. The kids always have the option to change the chin shape, or widen the head shape. It's up to them to make that choice. After I give them an overview of the proportion of the facial features. I use an Educreations video that I've created for this.

When we start of drawing the sun glasses, I let the kids look up/research different styles on their Chromebooks. They can use a real style they've researched or make up a style of their own. Or a combination of both.

We then work on the nose and the lips. After those are put in, we draw in the ears for those students who will show them on their portrait. After the face is completed, we draw the neck and shoulders. I encourage them to keep their shirt style some what plain. That will give contrast to the detailed design inside the sun glasses.

 

We then spend a whole class period going over hair styles. The kids get a handout that I've created with different styles. You can see the handout here.  They can choose one of the styles on this handout and this handout or create their own.

After the portrait is drawn, the pencil is traced over with a black Sharpie. The sun glasses are colored in solid black.

Next, comes the watercolor background. The students get to pick one, two or three analogous colors to blend together for the background. The kids used a color wheel to guide their color choices. They are to  only paint the background. Which creates the contrast between the black and white portrait and the colorful background.

Lastly, give each student a chance to really personalize their self-portraits even more. What is that place they really want to visit. in the future?  A scene of that place is then drawn inside the sunglasses with colored pencils. 

Give this lesson a try! You'll be happy with the results. And you'll get to learn a little bit of what your students are looking forward to in the future.

If you try this lesson, let me know how it turns out in the comments section below.

Molas- Folk Art from Panama

Are you  looking for  a multicultural  art project?  This lesson might be one that your students enjoy!!!

Molas are a hand made textile folk art tradition of the Kuna women of Panama.  They are a symbol of pride of  the Panamanian culture. They  can be  used as  place mats, pillowcases,   bedspread  or on a  blouse. They're made out of intricate sewn  layers  of multi colored fabrics. But the Molas we make are made out of multiple layers  of  cut colored paper.

The students start of by choosing one of many animal tracers that I provide for them. I provide the tracers because I do this lesson with 1st grader. They do have the option to create their own animal and some times students do create their own animal.

After the animal is cut out, the next step is to make a layer  of color around it. The layer has to be a different color than the animal.  They  trace a ' wide margin' around the animal in pencil. I stress that they do not have to trace around any tight spaces; those such as between legs and wings or inside open mouths. After the pencil margin is traced, they can then cut the layer out. It is then glued behind the animal image.

Since this lesson is done with 1st graders, I only require one layer behind the animal. If you want to do this lesson with an older grade, you may require more than one layer of color behind the animal.

The next step is to make the colorful background of repeated squares/rectangles. To make it less overwhelming for the 1st graders, I cut out colorful strips of paper. They then get to pick the colors they want. From the strips they cut out the small squares and rectangles. It's easier for them to cut and less time consuming.

An additional layer of smaller shapes are then cut to add onto the background squares and rectangles. They are given a wide option for these additional shapes.
This is a very colorful folk art lesson the kids really enjoy. It also gives them a lot of options as to what colors, shapes and animals that they can use. I hope you try it out!
If you try this lesson, I would love to hear how it comes out! You can let me know in the comments below.

Pre K Rainbow Sculptures!

Who doesn't love a rainbow!
I'm soooo glad you stopped by for this!!
Do you want to try making a sculpture with your Pre K art class? This is a really cute idea and I wanted to share it with you. It's all about rainbows! And if you teach Pre K...you know they love everything about rainbows.
Take a look! 

The lesson involves Model Magic (or Sculpty), pipe cleaners and cotton balls.
Start off having the students roll/make two balls with the clay. The clay will become the base for the rainbow. The bases give the stability for the rainbow as the pipe cleaners are inserted.
After the children have rolled out the two clay balls/bases, let the children pick out their rainbow colored pipe cleaners. I let them pick out four colors, you could let them pick more.
The pipe cleaners are them inserted in between the two clay balls. The clay balls art then slowly pushed closer together. As you are adjusting the positions, the pipe cleaners start to arch into the rainbow shape. After you achieve the rainbow arch, flatten the two clay balls to add stability to the rainbow.

Wait a day for the clay bases to dry. When the clay is dry, the children can then clue cotton balls around the clay base. This will turn the clay bases into the clouds holding the rainbow! Glitter can then be added to the clouds to really make them sparkle!
They really look great to have on display as you can see above.

Hope you like these! The Pre K certainly did!!!

Try it and let me know how it worked out in the comments below.