Mother’s Day “Pancake Recipe”

This is a compilation of what my 1st and 2nd grade students wrote today, when I asked them how they would make pancakes. The only thing is, they have no idea how cute their writing is!

1. Students glued a photo of pancakes to their paper (download here), and drew a fancy border around the outside.

2. The PANCAKE title was to be written in block letters. I drew a sample on the board for them to follow. The letters and border are colored in with pencil, preferably using colors already in the photo.

3. Following prompts such as “Mix _____ cups of ______. Add _________. Bake / cook for _____ minutes at __________ degrees”, students fill in their own answers. Or better yet, add some other steps. Be prepared to giggle at their responses!

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Metal Tooling Mother’s Day Card

Gold metal tooling is great material for making textured art. Add Sharpie markers and you have a very expensive looking Mother’s Day card.

1. Each student gets a 3" x 5" piece of gold tooling, and place it on a few layers of newspaper. They draw firmly with a dull pencil to engrave the image.

2. Sharpie markers are used to color it in.

3. The final art may be mounted on a 6" x 9" folded card using double-sided tape. I recommend a quality card stock because this card is a keeper.

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Tissue Paper Flowers for Mother’s Day

Need a pretty but inexpensive project for Mother’s Day? All you need is an old baby food jar, tissue paper, white glue and a couple of green pipe cleaners.

1. Tear blue tissue paper into small little strips. Make a 50/50 mix of white glue and water, brush on the outside of a baby food jar, and apply overlapping strips of tissue paper. Continue until the jar is covered. Brush a final layer of mixture over all to smooth the surface before it dries. Let dry.

2. My inspiration for the flowers comes from “Tissue Paper Flowers” by the editors of Klutz. Proportion of the flowers to the jar is important, so I’ve made a pattern that you can download HERE. You make a small green folded “nubs” on one ends of the pipecleaners, slide on two yellow circles, and two white star flowers. Use a small amount of clay or playdough inside the jar to support the stems.

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How to Draw a Peacock

Learning to draw radial symmetry is a CA Visual Arts standard, and is precisely what is called for in drawing this colorful peacock. I’m in love with this kinder’s drawing, in which she chose to use flowers to cap the feathers, instead of ovals.

1. Starting with a horizontal watercolor paper, students draw half a circle at the bottom.

2. A head with neck is added, and a beak and eye.

3. Oval feathers with lines are drawn at 9, 12, and 3 o’clock.

4. More feathers are added at 10, 11, 1 and 2 o’clock.

5. One more feather is added between each already drawn. A black permanent marker is used to trace all the pencil lines.

6. Crayon lines are added to the feathers. When complete, watercolor paint is used to color the peacock body and the background.

Thanks to Katharine, a kinder, who made this amazing peacock. I can’t get over her flower-topped feathers... nothing short of brilliant if you ask me.

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Mother’s Day Art Project

I’ve used this card for kinders for several years and I'm still surprised at how nice they look, especially when colored with bright patterns.
1. Start with large white construction paper (12" x 18") and cut it in half to make panels of 6" x 18". Fold the panels into thirds to make a card that measures 6" x 6". Arrange folds so that the card makes a “Z”. Cut lots of posterboard “M” and “O” block letters for the students to trace. To save time, I left the “O” without the center cut out, and asked the students to just draw their own.

2. The students are to center the letters in each panel, trace with a pencil, and then with a black marker. The students colored in a different pattern in each letter, and then different colors for the background.

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Russian Cathedral Drawing

St. Basil’s is a famous cathedral in Russia, which was originally designed as a cluster of chapels. It’s unique architecture manages to look both old and new at the same time.

1. For this lesson, I led the students in setting up their basic building shapes, but then gave them THIS color photo for a guide. Starting with letter size paper, they drew a large rectangle in the middle. An “onion” shape was added on top.

2. A somewhat shorter rectangle is attached to the left and right. A curved top with ball is added.

3. Now the fun part – lots of curves and angles and swirls are added to decorate the entire building.

4. When the drawing is complete, all the lines are traced with a black Sharpie marker and the shapes are colored in with crayon.

Thanks so much to Keana A., a 1st grader who let me share her drawing. Can you tell she comes from an artistic family?

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Magazine Color Collage

Collage is a French word which means “glue.” The term was coined by Braque and Picasso in the beginning of the 20th century, when collage became a distinctive part of modern art.

1. I've found this to be a really good project for kinders and 1st graders. They enjoy the hunt for images, and benefit from some simple guidelines. Each student needs a couple of magazines, white paper, scissors and glue stick. They are to choose one color, and then collect as many different objects or swatches in that color as possible.
3. All of the images are glued onto the white paper, with the goal of overlapping and filling it up. This is really simple, but the fact that each picture will have a theme really unifies the images and can create some stunning artwork. Plus, everyone is getting lots of scissors cutting practice, without really thinking about it!
CA Visual Art Standard: Creative Expression, Kindergarten
2.3 Make a collage with cut or torn paper shapes/forms.

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Fruity People Collage

One CA Visual Art Standard centers around how to create feelings with one’s own artwork. This book “How Are You Peeling?” is full of some very creative photographs of fruit and vegetables, all made to reflect a wide variety of emotions. Reading it first helps to make connections that certain shapes can look a lot like faces, when using one’s imagination.

1. I’ve collected some photographs of fruit and vegetables, the low resolution type that are free for comp making. You can download the 2-page file HERE. Print as many copies as needed on inkjet paper.

2. I recommend that the students start by choosing a large shape to make the head, then the body, legs, arms, and finally details on top.

3. After all the body parts are collected and laid out, they are glued down with a glue stick.

CA Arts Standard: Creative Expression. 

2.5 Use lines in drawings and paintings to express feelings.

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Recycled Magazine Bowls

In honor of Earth Day, I’m having a Recycle Art Week at my school. These bowls are fun to make and truly about reusing that which just ends up in the trash.

1. Every student needs a 1" wide x 12" cardboard stick, scotch tape (preferably in a dispenser) and a magazine. To begin, students are to tear out magazine pages, taking care to choose those with the most color. The students then place the stick at a corner of a page and wrap the paper around it as shown in the diagram. Careful folding and creasing helps. When the page is completely wrapped around the stick, pull the stick out from one side. Tape the rolled paper corner down so it doesn't unwrap.

2. The first strip needs to be rolled up tightly, much like a tape measure is rolled. When finished, tape the end to itself so it doesn't come apart.

3. To continue, each new strip is attached with tape where the last one ended and wrapped to the growing roll until it is the size that is desired. When complete, hold the flat roll and shape it into a bowl. Apply a generous coat of Mod Podge on one side and let dry. Repeat for the remaining side.

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CD Case Diorama

Here’s one more recycle project – using a CD case, cardboard boxes, and dried beans.

1. Collect clean cardboard packages, such as those used for cereal, crackers, pencils and markers. Open them up and cut out simple vehicle shapes, along with mountains, trees and sun.

2. Glue a small amount of dried beans to the inside of a clear CD case with white glue.

3. I prefer double-stick tape to attach the cardboard to the CD as it keeps the shapes lying flat.

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Recycled Mini Books

This is good for Earth Day or anytime you wish to make a recycling project. I’ve started to save cereal and pasta boxes all year round so that I have a good stash whenever I need one.
1. For a kindergarten class, I took clean cardboard boxes (like cereal or pasta) opened them up to lie flat, and cut them on the fold to a 3.5" wide x 5" tall rectangle using a paper cutter. Cut on an edge that already folds flat so that the “book” opens to a 7" x 5" size.
2. Take any old leftover paper blank paper, fold it and cut to the same dimension as the cardboard.
3. Place the blank paper inside the cardboard and staple at least twice on the outside of the spine so that the sharp points of the staples are hidden on the inside.
4. NOW, you can give these to kids and have them do any number of activities, including making "nonsense" collage drawings as shown. Older student such as 3rd to 5th could staple the books together. And if you are able to get one of those extended staplers, you can make books that are much larger.

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Flower Watercolor Painting

Almost every elementary student can draw a flower, but are they aware of the many different shapes and sizes that exist? For this project, I found a lovely simple flower drawing to copy, originating from Geninne’s Art Blog.

1. I started by drawing a large collection of flowers on my board, based on the artwork from Geninne shown HERE. Students first drew the grass line in pencil and added at least three large flowers spaced evenly across the page. Thet then filled in the spaces with smaller flowers.

2. The students traced their artwork with a black permanent marker.

3. The flowers and grass were painted in with a variety of liquid watercolor paints. Dick Blick Watercolor paints are still my favorite.

4.  The sky was painted blue leaving a white halo around all of the flowers. The halo keeps the colors from running together while brightening up the painting as well.

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How to Draw a Hen and Chicks

I’m always looking for simple drawing ideas that are then easy to shade. This one works and makes a pretty picture too.

1. On a 9" x 12" piece of paper, the students draw a large circle for the hen body and then a small one for it’s head as shown.
2. The head is connected to the body with a neck, and a tail and legs are added.
3. Details are drawn on the hen head and a wing is drawn on the body. Two or more half-circles are added (wherever there is room) to make the chicks.
4. Heads and legs are added to the chicks.
5. All lines are traced with a black Sharpie and colored in with pastels. My favorite are the Portfolio® 24-pack oil pastels. Older students may add shadows by shading with a bit of gray.

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Paper Mache Earth

The base for this paper mache globe is a beach ball. It gave the necessary round shape and was pretty sturdy to work with as well.

Session 1: I had my students place long strips of newspaper (about 10" x 3") covered in mache across a 14" beach ball. Large bowls were placed under the balls to keep them from rolling around. Some students covered the entire beach ball all in one layer, some got about 3/4 done. When drying, I had some issues with the beach balls deflating a bit, making them look lopsided. Not good. But I found that if I placed them in the sun for a few hours, the heat reinflated them. (The science lesson is a bonus.)
Session 2: Just like the first, with an emphasis on placing newspaper strips in the opposite direction to add strength.
Sessions 3: Students mached blank newsprint over the entire globe to cover all the type.
Session 4: I drew some very simple continent shapes on the board, and had the students paint in green the “land” on their globe. When complete, they filled in the rest with blue. My kids were so young I didn't bring up the issue of the north and south poles being white, but older students would probably like to do so. When the paint was dry, I sprayed the globes heavily with a spray varnish to add a little shine. All in all, a lot of fun and parents liked them as much as the kids.
Need a recipe for paper mache? Click here for the link to mine.

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How to Draw a Truck

Every time I do a geometric drawing lesson like this, I am reminded that some students who yawn at the idea of drawing organic shapes, will work for hours on rectangular trucks or houses. It could be the sign of a future designer, which requires a more methodical set of drawing skills.

1. Working with letter size paper, I gave my kinders a Dixie cup to trace two wheels in the lower center of the paper. They drew the middle section of truck around them as shown in the diagram. 

2. The front and back of the truck are added.

3. The cab and window of the truck are drawn. A wavy or straight line is added for the road.

4. A profile of a driver is drawn, along with the back cab support.

5. Details or the truck and background complete the drawing. Students used a thin black marker to trace their drawing, and crayons to color it in.
Note: This lesson comes from Usborne’s “What Shall I Draw?” book, which has a lot of great drawing ideas.

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Rainbow Painting

This project offers students a chance to practice either wet-on-wet or dry brush watercolor painting. I used both for my sample.
1. I had the students paint without the aid of a pencil outline. They began by painting the grass across the bottom of the sheet.
2. Students who preferred the wet-on-wet rainbow painted the red arc, then orange, yellow, green, blue and purple all just barely overlapping to let colors bleed a bit.

3. Students who opted for the dry brush rainbow painted every other arc, starting with red, a space, then yellow, a space, then blue. When dry, they filled in the spaces with orange and green and added the purple. This spacing allows the colors to dry a bit to avoid bleeding.

4. They finished the sky with a very watery blue.

Note: My favorite paint of the moment are Dick Blick Liquid Watercolors. The colors just are too vibrant for me to pass up.

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Lettering 101

This is one of the lettering styles that is included in Cyndi Hansen’s “Letter Better” book, and I tried it just last week in a class. It has just three simple steps that even kinders can easily remember.

1. Stick letters are written in pencil.

2. The lines are traced with a black marker, and all end points are “capped” with black circles.

3. The letters are outlined, preferable with thinner marker, and filled in with colored pencils. Who needs a computer when you can make your own hip and colorful font?

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April Fool’s Eye Glasses

These glasses are pretty much guaranteed to create lots of giggles. Just be sure that children don't try to do much more than pose in them.
1. Follow this link (eyeglass template) to download a template I've posted for the glass frames. Print out copies on the heaviest paper stock available. Give each student a set and have them cut out all 3 pieces, including the inside of the frames. Tape sides to the front. The students decorate the frame with colored pencils or markers.
2. I found some stock photo images of eyes, and made lots of color copies for the students to pick from. Another option is to have realistic drawings of different eye shapes, and let the students choose and color their favorite. Or they could draw their own. Either way, the eyes and skin need to be colored, and then cut out and glued behind the eyeglass openings.

UPDATE: Thanks to my discovery of Scribd.com, I have posted a pdf of the eye photos I used HERE. If you don’t have a color printer, laser prints that are hand colored might work well too.

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How to Draw a Bunny

This breakdown of a bunny drawing is based on Sachiko Umoto’s illustrations in her book “Let’s Draw Cute Animals”. I just added a grid background, which works wonders for setting up the correct scale. About a dozen kinder and 1st graders drew this today, and the bunnies were all adorable!

1. A letter size paper is folded in half vertically, then in half horizontally two times to look like the pink dashed lines. The squarish round face is drawn in the middle as shown, and the eyes, nose and mouth are added.

2. Two ears are added, extending almost to the corners.

3. Curved shoulder lines come down from the head and continue to the feet. Note where the curve for the back legs is placed.

4. Two front legs are added, slightly to the left as shown so that the tail may peek out of the right side. When complete, the drawing is traced with a black marker and colored as desired ... even rainbow colors, if they are your favorite.

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Pastel Spring Eggs

One arts standard for elementary students is to learn to tint colors. My kids seemed to really enjoyed seeing how many colors they could make by just mixing yellow, red, orange and white together.

SESSION ONE: I made an egg template which is downloadable HERE and gave one to each student along with white, yellow, red and orange tempera paint on a plate, a brush and a cup of water. They were instructed to see how many different colors they could make – all were to have some amounts of white in them. The eggs and background were painted.

SESSION TWO: Students were allowed to draw designs on their eggs with oil pastels, but they were to keep the same color palate as before. In other words, they were limited to the paint colors as before – red, yellow and orange. This repetition of colors makes the painting more harmonious to the eye when complete.

CA Visual Arts Standard: 2.2 Mix and apply tempera paints to create tints, shades, and neutral colors.

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