Mexican amate

You need:

1. 
   brown paper bag


2. tempera paint in fluoresecent colours and white


3. brushes


4. jar with water


5. black marker


6. coloured paper for background


7. glue or stapler

Amate is a way of making paper, done for centuries by Mexican Indians. Amate paper is made by cooking the inner bark of various trees. At the beginning of the 20th century the Nahua Indians of Mexico started making amatepaintings as a form of folk art, especially in order to exchange and sell them to tourists.

Show some pictures of Mexican amate paintings. Discuss the striking features: birds, flowers, bright colours and black outlines. A frame around the drawing with a pattern in bright colours too.

Tear the edges off the paper: use thumb and fingers on both hands and tear very slowly. Use a pencil to draw some (two or three) birds and flowers, add a patterned frame and paint everything with fluorescent tempera. When it's dry, outline everything with a black marker. Don't forget the name of the artist!


Paste or staple the artworks on coloured construction paper.

Pompom easter bunny

You need:

1. cardboard


2. scraps of construction paper


3. wobbling eyes


4. yarn


5. scissors and glue

These easter bunny is made of several colours yarn. Search for an online lesson on 'how to make a pompom'. Cut ears and feet out of brown construction paper, paste them on the pompom. Paste also two wobbling eyes.

Henhouse

Made by students from kindergarten

You need:

1. box


2. brown tempera paint


3. brush


4. paper plate


5. white paper 


6. red paper


7. black marker


8. straw

Paint the outside of the box with brown tempera paint. Fold the plate. Outline your hand and cut it twice out of a white sheet. Paste the hands on both sides of the chicken. Cut a comb and a beak out of red paper and paste them. Paste some feathers for the tail. 

Put the box on its side. Put some straw in the box and put the chicken in it. Stack the boxes of several students for a big hen house!

Henhouse

You need:

1. coloured cardboard for the henhouse


2. white cardboard for the chicken


3. yellow cardboard for the eggs


4. red cardboard for the wing


5. fabric from onion or potato bag


6. hay


7. scissors or cutter+mat


8. glue (possibly a glue gun)


9. markers


10. pattern henhouse


11. pattern chicken


12. carbon paper

Print the pattern of the henhouse. Use carbon paper to copy the henhouse on the cardboard. Cut the house twice. Place the onion bag fabric between the two houses and paste the houses together with the fabric in between. Cut away the fabric parts that hang out the house. Print the pattern of the chicken or ask children to draw one.

Use carbon paper to copy the chicken on white cardboard and cut it out. Colour the comb, beak and eye with a marker. Copy the wing with carbon paper on red cardboard or draw a wing. Cut it out and paste it on the chicken. If you use a glue gun, drop some glue on the wing to harden. After this paste the wing on the dollop of glue to create some space between wing and body. Cut out some eggs of the yellow cardboard. Paste the hen in his house, and paste hay on the bottom. Put the eggs in the hay and paste them.

Funky chicken

You need:

1. yellow cardboard


2. yarn


3. scrapbook paper


4. two wobbly eyes

Draw a chicken on cardboard and cut it out. Cut two double legs and glue them together with a piece of yarn between. Prick two holes in the body for the legs. Tie them down to the back. Cut two wings and a comb from the paper and paste them on the chicken. Draw eyes (or choose to paste two wobbly eyes), beak and mouth. Attach a piece of yarn to the head and hang the chicken.

Stamped polar bears

 

Made by students of grade 1

You need:

1. blue construction paper


2. pencil


3. tempera paint white and black


4. marshmellows


5. brush


6. glitter


7. glue

Show how to draw a polar bear out of simple shapes: circle, half of a circle (ears) and a part of a triangle for the body. Talk about the grey shadow under the head. How do you make gray? Tell students they have to stamp with marshmellows or brushes. Do not paint!

Students draw the head of a polar bear on blue paper. Use white to stamp head and body. Use grey to stamp the shadow. Paint eyes and nose with a small brush. Decorate the artwork with glitter.

Northern lights

You need:

1. black construction paper A4 size


2. chalk pastel


3. white wallpaper with texture


4. scissors


5. glue


6. fine black marker

I found this lesson via Flickr on Pinterest, but don't know to whom I have to give credit...

Show some northern light movies on Youtube. What can you tell about the colours? What movements do you see?



Draw a horizon line a little below the middle of a black sheet. Use different colours chalk pastels to colour the sea. Do not use too much chalk, so that it can be smudged.

Cut a strip of mountains out of black paper. Paste it on the horizon line. Use white chalk pastel to make snow on the mountains. Draw the northern light above the mountains. Smudge colours.

Draw a polar bear on an ice floe on the back of a piece of white wallpaper. Cut out. Draw details with a fine black marker. Paste the polar bear on the sea.

Finally paste the artwork on a bright coloured sheet.

By students of grade 5

Blob creatures

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size


2. tempera paint


3. scissors


4. glue


5. black marker


6. black paper for background

Start by folding the white sheet of paper in half and open it up again. Then drop blobs of tempera paint in three different colours somewhere around the middle of your paper. Don't put the paint to close to the edges. Fold the sheet and press by firmly moving hands around. This movement will move the paint around more than just folding.

Open the paper and dry flat.

Look carefully at this creature. Outline the creature with a black marker. Look for typical shapes, like arms, eyes, ears etc. and trace them with a marker. The drawing should be totally symmetrical.



Cut the creature, leaving half cm white around the black lines. Paste it on a coloured background.

Made by students of grade 4

Three owls of clay

Artworks are made by students of grade 5

You need:

1. clay


2. two beer coasters stapled together


3. clay plate


4. clay knife

In this lesson students will sculpt three massive forms together and then decorate them.

View pictures of owls and talk about the basic shapes: an oval for the body, round eye shapes, conical beak and plumes (note, these are not ears, because they are on the side of the head).

Students make three egg shapes in different sizes. The pointed end is the bottom of the owl. Modell these shapes together. Work out the shapes by attaching wings, beaks, plumes, eyes etc. The wings are made from flattened clay balls. To attach the wings, roughen the bonding side and press the wing firmly on the body.

Do the same with beak and plume using a conical shape. Make eyes by pressing the finger in the head. Apply texture to the wings, the body and around the eyes using a clay knife or little sticks.

Place the work on two stapled beer coasters. Let it dry for a few weeks before baking.

Same animal, different colours

Made by a student of grade 1

You need:

1. two white drawing sheets A4 size


2. oil pastels


3. liquid water colour


4. brush


5. jar with water

A lesson about cool and warm colours.

Draw an animal on a white drawing sheet. Be sure it's not too small. Ask the teacher to make a copy of this drawing. Colour the first animal with oil pastels in warm colours, the second one in cool colours. Paint the background with liquid water colour, using warm and cool colours as well.

Paste both drawings below or next to each other on a large white sheet. 

The most beautiful peacock

By students of grade 1

You need:

1. white drawing paper


2. coloured cardboard


3. colour pencils


4. scissors


5. split pins

Cut a peacock out of coloured cardboard.

After learning the word 'peacock'  -  in Dutch we call that bird a 'pauw', it's a word that is learned in grade 1 -  every students makes his own feather. Give students a stripe of white drawing paper. Students cut it in the form of a feather and decorate it with colour pencils. Attach the feathers to the peacock with split pins. Of course the new learned word 'peacock' and 'egg' is not missing! 

Printed birds

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size


2. two potatoes, middle and small size


3. knife


4. sauzer


5. tempera paint


6. piece of corrugated box cardboard  


7. paper towel


8. fine black marker


9. brush


10. watercolour paint

In 'The Usborne Complete Book of Art Ideas' I found this great lesson.

Place a paper towel on a saucer and spray a stripe of brown paint on it. Use the side of a piece of corrugated cardboard of about 7 cm to stamp branches.

Cut the medium potato in half and cut this half again. Stamp the bodies of the birds using red tempera.

Cut the half potato in two pieces. Use the quarter to stamp the tails.

Cut the small potato in half and stamp the faces of the birds.

Clean this half potato with a tissue and cut it in two. Stamp the wings.

Paint beaks, eyes and legs. Leave the work to dry. Paint the background with watercolour paint. Outline the birds with a fine black marker.

To make spring art work, you can add leaves by stamping them, cutting them out of green paper, using real dried leaves or .....use Paint shop pro, like I did!

Fantastic felines in the style of Laurel Burch

You need:

1. pink or purple constrution paper A3 size


2. oilpastels


3. tempera paint


4. brushes


5. gold and silver markers


6. glitter


7. glue

Laurel Burch (1945 –  2007) was an American artist, designer and businesswoman. As a 20-year-old single mother she found metal in junkyards to hammer into jewelry to support her two children, and went on to launch her business, now called Laurel Burch Artworks, in the late 1960s with the help of a small staff that worked out of her house. She began making paintings and was commissioned by restaurants, businesses and private collectors. Burch designed, among other things, beads, jewelry, paintings, T-shirts, scarves, coffee mugs and tote bags, but 90% of her designs derived from her original paintings.



Especially Burch's cats are recognizable. Few some of her paintings on the website of Laurel Burch and discuss the salient features: bright colours, bold pattersn, eyes and nose are drawn out of one line. use of silver and gold.

 

Students draw a cat on purple or pink paper in the style of Laurel Burch. Colour the cat using different materials like tempera, oilpastels, gold and silver markers. Outline the cat with silver or gold. Draw a frame around the artwork. Use glitter to accentuate lines.

All artworks are made by students of grade 5

 

Chicken of towel fabric

In the Netherlands we have washcloths where you can put your hand in. I've never seen them in the USA, so for this lesson you'll have to sew them first! They look like this.

You need:

1. towel fabric


2. cotton wool balls


3. cotton thread


4. piece of cardboard


5. glue


6. wobbling eyes


7. small piece of felt


8. scissors


9. hay

Fill the two corners of the washcloth with cotton wool balls. Tie a cotton thread around the edges so the cotton does not fall out. Cut a cardboard strip with a length of 2 times the width of the washcloth and 6 cm high.

Fold this strip round and paste or staple the ends together. The circle should be slightly smaller than the opening of the washcloth.

Push the circle in the bottom of the washcloth. Push the two filled corners - the heads of the chickens -down so they are just above the rim. Paste wobbling eyes on the head and a beak of felt. Fill the space around the heads with hay or Easter eggs.

Handprinted chicken

You need:

1. yellow paper 15 by 15 cm


2. green paper 16 by 16 cm


3. brushes


4. stapler

Paint the hand and press onto the paper. Be sure the thumb faces up or forward, not down. Complete the chicken  with legs, an eye, a comb and a beak.  Paint grass and another little chicken if you want to.  

Charming chicken

Made by a student of grade 5

You need:

1. blue and yellow construction paper A4 size


2. oil pastels


3. glue

Draw a chicken on blue construction paper, using the tutorial on How to draw a chicken. Make it a charming chicken by colouring it in bright colours. Mix colours to create smooth transitions. Draw a horizon line and colour the ground. Draw somethin on the horizon line, Teken een horizonlijn en kleur de grond. Teken iets op de horizonlijn, for example a fence or a farm. 

Tear the edges of the blue sheet away and paste the chicken on a yellow undersheet. Draw eggs around it.

Made by students of grade 6

Chicken on a stick

You need:

1. cardboard box


2. tempera paint


3. brush


4. coloured paper


5. wooden skewer


6. scissors


7. glue

Draw a chicken on cardboard. Cut it. Paint the chicken and colour the beak. Cut two wings out of cardboard and cover them with coloured paper. Paste the wings with double sided tape on the chicken to make them look 3D. Cut a comb and wattle out of coloured paper and paste them on the chicken. Use a marker to draw an eye.

Cut three pieces cardboard of 8 by 5 cm and stick them together. Paste coloured paper around it. Insert a skewer into the stand and plug the other end in the chicken.

Fairy tale comic

Hansel and Gretel

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A5 size


2. pencil


3. markers or colour pencils


4. fine black marker

The goal for this lesson is to convert a famous fairy tale into a comic. Students may draw only four pictures, so they should think very carefully about the most important scenes in the story. The story should be obvious from just those four pictures!



Divide the sheet into four sections. Draw four scenes and use speech bubbles if you want to. Colour the drawings with markers or colour pencils. Outline them with a fine black marker. You can choose to colour the drawings completely, but also a black and white strip with a single accent colour is nice.

All artworks are made by students of grade 6

Puss in boots?

You need:

1. drawing sheet A4 size


2. pencil


3. ruler


4. indian ink


5. brush


6. saucer


7. dip pen

Master Cat or The Booted Cat commonly known as Puss in Boots, is a French literary fairy tale about a cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand of a princess in marriage for his penniless and low-born master. The tale was published in 1697 by Charles Perrault as part of his collection Mother Goose's Tales.



How would it be if the animal you like most, wears boots? What kind of boots would he wear - rain boots, cowboy boots, thigh boots, high-heeled boots?

Draw a frame at 1 cm from the edges with a pencil. Sketch the contours of an animal in boots with pencil. Make sure the boots stand out well. Trace the pencil lines with a dip pen and indian ink. Draw details and a simple background.

The colouring has to be done with indian ink too. Put a few drops of ink on a plate and dilute it with water. More water will give a ligth grey, a little water will give dark grey. Finally, fill the page edge with a pattern or a shade of gray.

Both artworks are made by students of grade 6

Rainbow fish

Made by students of grade 3

You need:

1. drawing sheet A5 size
2. ruler
3. pencil
4. colour markers

The students put the sheet in the width and draw from top to bottom pencil lines 1 cm apart. Good to practice measure skills!

Draw a fish and a sea bottom line. Colour the fish with markers keeping the same sequence of colors. We chose the order of the colours as they were in the box.
Fins, background and bottom should be coloured in the same order, but of course the colours here are staggered to those of the fish.