200 Followers!

 

Hoorah! 200 Followers!! A big thank you to all of you who are still following, reading and commenting on this blog from all over the world - it makes me feel very loved :) Thanks also to those now following via email subscription, Facebook, Networked Blogs, Google and Pinterest!

I am celebrating by posting 10 of my favourite art projects. Click on the pictures above to see the full posts.

Coloured pencils - Use Them! (It's a good place to start anyway).

Personal Mandalas

Ciara, Jake, Brianna, Kobee.

Owen, Alex, Daniel, Leah.

My grade 6 and 7 class have been creating these personal mandalas, using their first name as the base for their design. Students draw their name on a small section of circle like a piece of pie. This piece is then traced repeatedly onto a circle  I first saw this idea here at Artsonia and also more recently here at Teach Kids Art. You can also view my previous mandala lesson here which uses the same technique.

Green Tree Frogs

Image via www.factzoo.com

The idea for this came from a Science book at my school called 'Focus on Art in Science' by Dellene Strong. The Green Tree Frog is actually this cute little guy who lives in tropical rainforests. (In trees I imagine).

My grade 1s and I went for a bit of a nature walk for this activity, making sure to collect 9 leaves each of the appropriate shape and size. (Before going outside we looked at the sort of shapes we would need and how many of each).

Once we got back to the classroom we glued the leaves onto coloured card to form the shape of a frog. (I had to draw this on the board for them to copy the formation).

We then used a small piece of stiff card dipped in orange paint to stamp on the fingers and toes. Once dry, I laminated each piece of work in an attempt to keep the leaves preserved (laminated things are really hard to photograph...). We added some googly eyes to complete our green frogs made of trees!

Contour Line Self Portraits

I previously posted the contour drawings my grade 6 and 7 students made of their hands. Carrying on from that lesson, the students then made contour line self portrait drawings from  individual photographs I took of them. They then took on the difficult task of drawing with wire. I'm sure many of you will agree that the lovely thing about teaching self portraiture to children is seeing the portraits emerge with the amazing likeness and character of the artist. Perhaps you have to know the students to truly appreciate these artworks? However, they are still beautiful artworks in their own right.

Absolutely love the braces in this drawing!

Dali Elephants

 
This lesson was inspired by Spanish Surrealist Salvador Dali's (1904-1989) 1948 painting 'The Elephants' (pictured left) and these great lessons from Artolazzi and SmART Class.

My grade 5 and 6 students used chalk pastels to colour their drawings. This is the first project to be completed in a Dali unit we are working on this term.