Gnomes

You need:

1. some sturdy branches


2. saw


3. scraps of wool


4. felt


5. scissors


6. markers

Saw before the lesson starts for all students from a piece of the branche in different lengths, between 5 and 10 cm. Saw one side bevel and the other right.

The bevel side is the head of the gnome. Cut threads from the wool for the hair De schuine kant is het hoofd van de kabouter. Cut strands of wool for hair and beards, and paste them on the branch. Cut a triangle out of felt and shape into a pointed hat. Paste the hat on the head. Draw a face with markers.

Scenes from a fairy tale

Hansel and Gretel, made by students of grade 6

You need:

1. piece of linoleum of 15 by 15 cm


2. drawing sheets A4 size


3. lino knives


4. block printing ink


5. flat piece of glass


6. linoleum roller


7. lino press


8. white paper A2 size


9. scissors


10. glue

I got the idea for this lesson from Artlessons from Belgium. This is a group assignment for four students.

Every group of students chooses a fairytale that has to be represented in images. They discuss the most important parts and each students cuts one scene out of linoleum. After printing the scenes, they paste them in the right order to create a fairytale cartoon. Use letter stamps to print the name of the story above.



I chose to let all students print their part of the fairytale four times. The best print is for yourself. Each student gets one print of the other three group members, so every student has his own cartoon.

The princess on the pea

The emperor's new clothes

 

The Emperor's underwear, by students of grade 3

You need:

1. drawing sheet A4 size


2. colour pencils

The Emperor's New Clothes is a fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen, first published in 1837 in Andersen's Fairy Tales Told for Children.



The story is about an emperor, who cares for nothing but his appearance and attire, hires two tailors who promise him the finest suit of clothes from a fabric invisible to anyone who is unfit for his position or 'just hopelessly stupid'. The emperor cannot see the cloth himself, but pretends that he can for fear of appearing unfit for his position. When the swindlers report that the suit is finished, they mime dressing him. Then the emperor marches in procession before his people. A child in the crowd calls out that the emperor is wearing nothing at all and the cry is taken up by others. The emperor cringes, suspecting the assertion is true, but holds himself up proudly and continues the procession.



Read the fairytale. Tell students they have to draw the emperor. The emporor , who is recognizable by his crown, is almost nude. The only cloth he wears is beautiful underwear. Colour the drawing with colour pencils.  

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

Mirror mirror on the wall...

Mirror mirror on the wall ... made by a student of grade 4

You need:

1. piece of wood


2. mirror


3. bathroom tiles (ask a DIY market)


4. hammer


5. newspapers


6. silicone glue


7. painters tape


8. grout


9. plastic bags


10. cotton cloth


11. sponge


12. security glasses of old sunglasses

The fairy tale Snow White by the Brothers Grimm is the basis for this lesson mosaics.

Snow White tells the story about a wicked stepmother who is jealous of the beauty of the daughter of her husband. The stepmother tells a hunter to kill Snow White, but he feels sorry for her and let her escape. Snow White ends up with the seven dwarfs in the forest.

The stepmother finds out through her magical mirror that Snow White is still alive, and poisons her with an apple. The sad dwarfs  put her in a glass coffin assuming she's dead.

Time passes and a prince traveling through the land sees Snow White. He is enchanted by her beauty and falls in love with her. He begs the dwarfs to let him have the coffin. The prince's servants carry the coffin away. While doing so, they stumble on some bushes and the movement causes the piece of poisoned apple to dislodge from Snow White's throat, awakening her. The prince then declares his love and a wedding is planned.



In this lesson students are going to make the magic mirror of the fairy tale of Snow White. They learn the several steps to create their own mosaic.



Step 1

Determine the place for the mirror and paste it on the piece of wood. Draw a design on the shelf of leave it empty to create a free design later on.



Step 2

Breaking the tiles

Go outside. Choose the tiles you like and put them on a newspaper. Put on glasses to protect your eyes. Hit the tiles with a hammer gently into pieces. Choose the pieces you like and put them in a plastic bag. Put pieces you don't need in a container (they can still be used by other children).

Clear the table for the following student. 



Step 3

Go back in the classroom with your plastic bag. Paste the pieces of the tiles on the shelf, using silicon glue.  Plak de stukjes tegel met siliconenlijm op de plank. Leave 3 to 5 mm space between the different pieces. If the pieces have different heights, then use more or less glue. Remove excess glue and leave the work to dry for 48 hours.

Pasting the pieces

Step 4

Go outside if this is possible. Make grout according to the instructions on the package; it should be as thick as yogurt. Use a disposable container. Put newspapers on the table. Mask the mirror with painters tape. Apply grout with a sponge. Rinse the sponge regularly in a bucket of water and then wring out well. When ready, leave the work to dry for half an hour and remove excess grout away.

Sponging the grout

Step 5

Polish the stones and the mirror the next day with a cotton cloth.

Rapunzel

Made by a student of grade 1

You need:

1. drawing sheet A4 size


2. fine black marker, waterproof


3. watercolour paint


4. brushes


5. jar with water


6. wool


7. cutter


8. cutting mat


9. scissors


10. magazine


11. glue

Rapunzel is a German fairy tale in the collection assembled by the Brothers Grimm, and first published in 1812. The Grimm Brothers' story is an adaptation of the fairy tale Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont, originally published in 1698.

In the tale, an enchantress separates Rapunzel from her parents and puts her away in a room at the top of a tower in a remote part of a forest. The tower has no door or stairs and only a window. The enchantress would climb Rapunzel's long braid of golden hair to visit her. The enchatress would call out to Rapunzel saying: "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair, so that I may climb the golden stair". One day a prince hears Rapunzel's beautiful singing voice and wants to meet her. He secretly observes how the enchantress is able to visit Rapunzel in the tower. The prince climbs in the tower, meets Rapunzel and they fall in love. The wicked enchantress attempts to separate them, but eventually they reunite, and live happily ever after.

After telling the fairy tale, students start to make Rapunzel's braid of wool threads. Then they draw a tower with a top hatch, using a waterproof fine black marker. Colour it with waterpaint colour. Cut the sides of the hatch (teacher has to do this!!) and fold them. Cut a picture of a woman of girl out of a magazine and paste it on a piece of paper. Paste the braid on the head. Paste the piece of paper behind the hatch, looking carefully to get the woman's head in the middle of it and hanging the braid through the hatch.

Made by students of grade 1

The princess and the pea

You need:

1. coloured construction paper
2. fabrics
3. a pea
4. glue
5. scissors
6. scraps of construction paper, including gold and silver
7. markers and/or colour pencils

Read the fairy tale 'The princess and the pea' of Hans Christian Andersen. Discuus after this what a princess bed would look like.
The students make the bed of the princess in this story. The bed has to be made of stripes of paper. At the bottom of the bed is a real pea, of course. Cut strips of fabrics for the matrasses (use special scissors for fabrics) and make a princess on top of this whole pile. Maybe the bed has even curtains or a little golden crown?

Made by students of grade 1

Fairy tale caste

Made by students of grade 4

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size
2. indian ink
3. dip pen
4. watercolour paint
5. brushes
6. jar with water

See some pictures of castles and talk about the several parts: battlements, high thick walls, drawbridge, towers, schietgaten, portcullis etc. Talk about the location of a castle: often a high point, so oversee the area. Show that many castles were surrounded by a moat and discuss why this was.

Students draw their castle directly with indian ink on ther sheet. Add details like shutters, torches or flags. Draw the background, the surrounding of the castle. Colour the drawing with watercolour paint. The combination of indian ink and watercolour paint will give a perfect aged feeling.

Fairytale castle

You need:

1. two soda bottles from o,5 liter


2. coloured construction paper A3 size


3. pricking needle


4. felt pricking mat


5. scissors


6. tempera paint


7. template with squares


8. stapler


9. stickers with fairy tale figures

The teacher draws battlements on top of the coloured sheets and cuts them (or leave this for the children). Draw a gate and some windows. Each child gets two sheets of coloured paper. Cut the battlements from both sheets if the teacher hasn't done this yet. Paint bricks on the castle walls with a template or stamp these bricks with a a square sponge.

Prick the gate from one of the two castle sheets. Be sure one side remans attached to the castle. Fold this gate to the outside. Prick the windows and fold them too. Paste stickers from fairytale figures in the windows and gate, or draw these fairytale figures.

Put two sodabottles on the table and staple the castle sheets around these bottles.