Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Kindergarten Art Quilt -- Squares of Primary and Secondary Colors

Creating an Art Quilt with Hand-Mixed Colored Squares

Last week the children got messy mixing primary colors (red, yellow and blue) and discovered what secondary colors they created. This fun class project left us with sheets and sheets of beautifully painted paper. This weekend I cut these up into squares of varying sizes so that the kids could make art quilts this week.


The children began by filling their paper with a checkerboard of the largest squares. They were asked to really notice how the colors looked together and to choose combinations that they liked.

Once the paper was filled, they layered a second smaller square on top -- again with an emphasis on personal color preference. Finally the children were asked to add a third very small square on top.

Here are the results! Please try to ignore the glue-- I took these pictures in class on Tuesday and the art was not yet dry!








As you can see there were a wide variety of color preferences in general -- as well as quite a variety of what the children liked in terms of color combinations. It is amazing to see how strong and unique color preference can be, even at such a young age.

At the end of class, we had a little class "quiz" where all the children reviewed together what the primary and secondary colors are. They knew it well!

As a side note, we did discuss (and you may have heard) that in art class there are no "boy" or "girl" colors. I feel that it is important in art class for the children to feel totally free and safe to explore their creativity. Worrying about being judged is a hindrance to freedom of expression. So with gentle reminders (if needed), we work towards commenting on each others (and our own) work with sensitivity and kindness.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

The Great Color Mixing Experiment

Getting Messy and Learning About COLOR!

Today the children had a chance to get messy and learn about the relationships between colors. We began our class by guessing what would happen when we mixed one primary color (red, blue or yellow) with another. MMS work has given these kids a leg up. There were some excellent guesses!


After that we put our theories to the test. In pairs of two or three, the children had a chance to mix the primary colors together on large sheets of paper to create the secondary colors (orange, green and purple). These pages, full of bright color, will be used in next class to create a color quilt!

Red and blue make purple!


 
Blue and yellow make green!


Red and yellow makes orange!







After a big clean up (look at all those messy hands!)we returned  to our seats where everyone had a chance to do a quick color mixing worksheet that will be added to their sketchbooks as a reminder of what we learned today. 
  
Conversation starters for you:
What  colors did your color team mix?
What is a primary color? (Clue: Primary comes "first". What are the original colors?)
What is a secondary color? (Clue: Secondary means "comes second". What colors did you make?)
How did you like getting messy in art class?
 
Even the mess made a beautiful piece of art!


These "hand-mixed" colored papers will be used for next weeks ART QUILT!
The kids did wonderfully today! I hope that they returned home without too many painted knees and elbows. Luckily it is all washable. See you next week for our Art Quilt!

Friday, September 18, 2015

Lines, Color and Construction

First class of the year was great!

Before beginning the fun on our first day of art class, we discussed what the guidelines and expectations for behavior are in art.

1. Have Fun!
2. Listen (to teacher instruction AND classmates comments/questions)
3. Respect (for classmates/teacher, art materials and classroom space)
4. Talk Quietly (during work time)

And for our ART lesson today: we explored lines: vertical, horizontal and diagonal. After a quick warm up sheet, the children had a chance to work on original pieces.

  1.  Children began by gluing vertical lines of construction paper to their pieces. 
  2. This was followed by the addition of horizontal lines with construction paper.
  3. Some children added diagonal lines as well.
  4. Lastly children were given the option of stamping patterns onto their pieces using paint and common household objects (bottle caps, empty tp rolls and plastic easter eggs) and adding texture with oil pastels.
A lovingly constructed piece. Delicate patterns here are beautiful.

A subtle piece with excellent grasp of vertical lines.

Love the limited color palette and clean lines!

Layering on this piece was Maya's inspiration. Beautiful!

Lucy's work : confident and bold, adding all types of lines and pattern.

Gorgeous color palette and lovely use of layered pattern!



Beautiful: full of both energy and control.

Beautiful color choices -- and lots of energy in this lovely piece.

I like to give the kids freedom within the limits of the assignment. What results is such varied and interesting work. Freedom of color choice and how to interpret instruction gives the kids a chance to express themselves on the paper. I hope they had fun!

First class was a great success!


Welcome to the Kindergarten Art at MMS!

Welcome to parents, relatives and friends of the 2016 Kindergarten class at MMS!

This blog is designed to give you an opportunity to experience what your children are exploring and creating in art class this year. Post will include a review of what we learn about in each class, the process the children used to create their artwork and photos of the resulting art work. Take a look at what your child and his or her friends have been making!

I hope that this format will give you an easy way to see and share what your children have been working on. I hope it will also give you a doorway into a discussion about what is happening in art class.

Please feel free to follow this blog and share it with others!