Puffy Snowmen!

Brrr... all this cold, snowy weather has been turning our thoughts to one of our favorite outdoor activities, building snowmen! This week our younger students created their own snowmen in the art room using puffy paint we mixed up ourselves. We used equal amounts of white school glue and dollar store shaving cream, then added paper eyes, noses, scarves and hats. A little silver glitter makes the snow sparkle in the sun. Take a look at the super results! Clicking on any image brings you to the gallery for more creations.

Kindergarten Winter Trees

Give a kindergarten child a few strips of paper of differing lengths, and watch how quickly they figure out how to line them up to form a tree shape. You can almost see the thinking process as they work out the process in their minds. Add a glue stick, some crayons and white tempera paint, and before you know it some beautiful Christmas trees come alive in a snowy winter landscape. Click the image below to visit the winter tree gallery.

You're a Funny One, Mr. Grinch

Everyone loves the Grinch, and our 2/3 class had lots of fun creating their own Grinches a few weeks before the holiday break. We don't do a lot of guided drawing in the art room because I prefer imagination to drive art. I do think though, that developing confidence in drawing ability is important, because that confidence lets our artists get down on paper what they are seeing in their minds. This little guided drawing exercise I found on Art Projects for Kids allowed students to get the basics of the Grinch and his sly eyes and impish grin. I love how each child took those basic instructions and gave their Grinch his his own unique personality. Click on any image to see more Grinches.

Craft Stick Snowflakes

The snow is still flying outside and it's still inspiring our artwork! Our 4/5 class reviewed snowflake design and the concept of symmetry. We learned that most snowflakes have six sides, then made some really cool snowflakes by gluing together craft sticks. They were painted and sprinkled with glitter before the paint dried. The beautiful results are shown below.

 

New Year Accordion Book

To note the coming of the new year and the passing of the old, grade six students reflected on their accomplishments of 2012 and created these accordian books in celebration.

Chalk Snowflake Drawings

Winter and snowfall always inspires lots of interesting art projects. After discussing snowflake structure and the concept of symmetry, our 2/3 class used chalk pastels to create these fabulous drawings on black paper. Click on any image to get to the image gallery.

  

Christmas fun

I hope everyone had a wonderful, joyful Christmas. In the few weeks before the holiday, most of our grades worked on projects with a Christmas theme. Here are a few from our younger students. Kindergarten and first graders created reindeer cards. They cut and folded reindeer, glued them to construction paper then had some fun painting on snow with Q-tips.

 

When their cards were completed, students created Christmas tree ornaments from chenille stems.

For their own project our second and third graders stacked strips of colored paper to create classic Christmas tree shapes to which ornaments were added. Fun! 

Click on any image to get to the picture gallery and more trees.

          

I Love Winter Mittens

Our first graders had fun making these mittens by gluing tissue paper squares onto paper, using lots of different colors. When done gluing, we sprayed the mittens lightly with water. Like magic the colors blended with each other around the edges!

The next week, students cut out and glued their mittens onto drawing paper. What a huge leap this age makes with their cutting skills from kindergarten, no difficulty cutting at all. We then talked about the things we liked about wintertime; snow of course, hot cocoa, being home with our families, sledding and skating and Santa Claus! 

After we spelled out the words on the board the kids filled their backgrounds with the things they liked most about winter. The project was lots of fun to create and we got a chance to reflect on our thoughts about the season while practicing our best handwriting!

Click on any image to go to the picture gallery.

      

Wreath and Snowflakes

Our school held its annual Christmas bazaar and we made some artwork to hang for the event. Pre K and Kindergarten classes made handprints which were cut out and attached to cardboard to form a wreath. They cut red construction paper berries and decorated paper strips for ribbons and a bow. Turned out great!

Our older students had fun creating giant cut paper snowflakes. When they first saw the sample I heard lots of "I'll never be able to do that!" When they realized they are simple to make they had a blast and didn't want to stop. Many students went home and made more to decorate their own homes.

Winter Projects

Shades of Green Trees

We've already started winter-based projects and I'll be posting more soon. This one was done by our 2/3 class to practice mixing shades of color. It was done over two lessons.

We reviewed blue + yellow = green, how there are many shades of green and how to mix them in a tray with watercolors. Students drew 3 or more simple shapes for trees and outlined them in black crayon. Keeping the tree shapes simple kept them focused on the color mixing rather than the tree drawing. They mixed up at least three different greens for the trees and added blue skies. I think they did a great job with the colors. If they were done early they could add cut snowflakes to their paintings. Click on any image below to get to the picture gallery.