Fall Trees in Warms and Cool Colors

We began this rainy Tuesday morning talking about warm and cool colors and how we could use them to create fall trees.

The kids brainstormed together which colors were warm/hot and which were cool/cold. We used this information to organize the colors we used to draw our trees.

Beginning on a black piece of construction paper, the kids used brown oil pastels (a warm color) to draw and color the trunks and limbs of their trees. They followed along with my example, but did so loosely. As a tree grows to its own shape in nature, we allowed our trees to grow on the page in the way that felt right to each of us.

Then they colored the ground and sky in various cool greens and blues of their choosing.

Maybe you noticed that our trees have no leaves. After finishing these basic tree drawings, the kids drew leaves on white watercolor paper. They used warm colors (reds, oranges and yellows) to draw the leaves and then painted them with watercolors! Next week we will cut the leaves out and glue them to the trees! We will also create personalized frames for last weeks lion project and hang them in our MMS "gallery"!