Autumn Leaf Print

Today we worked on some autumn leaf prints!

Using fallen maple leaves as our printing plates, we painted the back sides of the leaves with yellow, orange or red paint. We then pressed the leaves onto black construction paper. When the leaves were pulled up they left a print!

It was a messy project. All the kids did wear smocks. Luckily, I do have a few spare child sized aprons for the kids who have not yet brought in a t-shirt from home. That being said, if you have not yet sent in an adult size t-shirt for your child, please do so! They work SO much better at keeping the kids clean. 

Each child did 2 sets of prints. They did a practice piece first and then a final piece. I have arranged them below for you to see. The pieces on the left were the first attempt, on the right were the second attempts. Big improvements can be seen with the practice. The kids also had the fun of combining the colors to create their own patterns on the leaves as they moved on to their second pieces.

 Next week we will color the backgrounds of these pieces. And finish up last weeks project on autumn trees.

You may have heard from your child that we work in sketchbooks for the final few minutes of art class when we have a chance. We had about 10 minutes for sketchbooks today and it was an absolute pleasure to watch the kids work. Sketchbooks are meant as safe spaces for the kids to explore their creative ideas. They did wonderful and varied work today and seemed to be quite inspired by witnessing what their fellow classmates were creating. Here are a few gems from the sketchbooks.

If you have a chance, stop by school and check out the kids lion pieces. They are framed and hanging in the halls outside of the Bearville and Poohville classrooms!

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"!

Looking Like Lions

Today we did a multi-step, multi-media project drawing and painting lions faces!

We began with a quick warm up worksheet. This worksheet featured all the simple shapes that we would need to combine to create our lions: circles, ovals, upside-down triangles, and the shape of "w". After repeating the shapes on the worksheet we moved on to our lion drawing.

The kids followed along step by step as I demonstrated how to create a lion face from simple shapes. After that the kids traced their lions with permanent marker. (Side note: they were all well aware that using permanent marker required extra caution and care. They were amazingly responsible and careful with them. No mishaps! Nice work, kids!)

After that, a quick lesson in the basics of painting with watercolor including using lots of water and gentle mixing to "wake the paints up", always rinsing between colors and using the top of the paint set for any color mixing. Here are a few process pictures.

After the follow along drawing lesson, I felt it was important to give the kids artistic freedom during the painting section of the project. We discussed that our lions need not be realistic. the kids were free to paint them in any colors they chose. I did encourage them to fill the page with color, but even this was left up to the individual artist in the end. Beautiful work today. Hope you enjoy it.

See you next week!

Welcome to MMS Kindergarten Art Class 2018-9!

Hello! And welcome to the first kindergarten art class!

Today we had fun with our first project (yay!) and reviewed rules and expectations for art class.

Here is what we discussed for art class rules:
1) Have fun!
2) Listen and follow instruction
3) Respect your classmates and the art materials
4) Be kind (you may talk quietly while you work!)

Then we jumped right in to a fun lesson on line. Using strips of construction paper and glue, the kids explored vertical and horizontal line. Then they had fun adding their own personal touches with white paint. As you will see below, given pretty limited materials the pieces came out quite differently. This is wonderful and interesting! Some children were interested in exploring patterns with the color strips. Others were inspired to fill the page with color. Some created symmetrical pieces and some did not. Many were inspired simply by the look and feel of the paint. There were as many approaches to the work as there are children in the class!

We talked about how in art there is no "right" or "wrong". When you are the artist, you get to make the decisions!

I also introduced the kids to the idea of their sketchbooks. Today they designed their covers and did a few free drawings to break them in. The sketchbooks will be used throughout the year as a space for explorations and drawing lessons.

Please remember! If you have not yet sent in a smock for your child, please do so as soon as possible. Any adult size t-shirt that can fit over your child's everyday clothes is perfect. The kids love to get messy with materials -- but there is no reason that they need to bring the mess back to thier classrooms or home!

Mother's Day (the final touches) and Abstract Sketches

This week we began class by putting the final (sparkly) touches on our Mother's Day masterpieces. These beauties (sneak peeks pictured below) will be hanging for you special Mother's day tea next Friday! Please be sure to take them home with you!

While I was assisting the kids one by one with the addition of their sparkles, the rest of the class pursued a mini lesson in abstract art. We used handmade paper rulers to add 3-5 straight lines across the page in any way we pleased. Then we added 1-2 curved lines and a few circles. The kids were then free to add any details they pleased. Then they were to color all the shapes in with markers. (Unfortunately the markers are running out of ink!) Many kids found that although they began the piece without any intention, as they worked recognizable shapes, objects and scenes began to appear. What do YOU see?

 Orange for my mom, pink for my Nana.

 A dance floor with people dancing.

 A picnic

 A penguin

 A monster "X"

 A snake on the North Pole

A portal in outer space