Silly sandwich

You need:

1. drawing sheet 12 by 30 cm


2. colour pencils

Create a super size sandwich, stacked with all your favorite things to eat! The sandwich could be as crazy or realistic as you want them to be, just stack them high!

Building a burger

I did this lesson in October 2009, and soon saw it on many blogs. It's still one of my favorite lessons.

This week we had the Dutch Week of School Breakfast, a good reason to build a lot of new burgers with students of grade 4.

How to do this? Look at this post.

Pasta and beans landscape

You need:

1. cardboard A4 size


2. glue


3. several sorts of pasta and beans


4. pencil

Students have to draw a simple landscape on their piece of cardboard. Fill the several parts with glue and put beans and pasta on them.

Artwork made by students of grade 3

Filled with fruit

Made by a student of grade 3

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size


2. oil pastels

Choose four fruits and draw many of them on the drawing sheet. The fruit should overlap. Colour them with oil pastels and outline with black.

Advertising poster

New Dutch products, by students of grade 3

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A3 size
2. watercolour paint
3. brushes
4. jar with water
5. markers
6. set of rubber stamp letters
7. stamp pad

We look at advertising posters and advertisements for food. Why are some advertisements more attractive than others? What products would you buy after seeing the the ad, and which not? How to attract attention to a new product? What kind of letters are used, and why these? What can you say about the use of colours in the advertisements?

Students invent a new food including the name of it and make an advertising poster. Materials: water paint and markers. Because making block letters may be too difficult for young children, I gave them a set of rubber stamp letters to use.

I scream for ice cream

Made by students of grade 1

You need:

1. coloured cardboard A2 size
2. brown construction paper
3. white drawing paper A4 size
4. tempera paint
5. brushes
6. saucers
7. tissue paper
8. salt
9. scissors
10. gold markers
11. fiber fill or cotton wool

In this lesson, children use each other's work.

Divide the class into six groups. Give each group of children some white sheets, a saucer, one colour tempera paint, salt, brushes, a jar with water and blotting paper in a slightly darker colour than the paint. Mix tempera on a saucer with a lot of water to get a light (ice cream) colour. Each group paint a few sheets of drawing paper with this diluted tempera. Salt can be applied to create texture and small pieces of blotting paper with water will suggest chocolate chips or fruit in the ice. Be sure there are so many sheets of each colour that every student can get half a sheet of all six colours.

Hang the sheets outside to dry.

Cut the large sheets of coloured cardboard lengthwise into three, so you get three large strips of approximately 15 by 60 cm. Give each child a coloured strip and a sheet of brown construction paper. Each student cuts a cone out the brown craft paper by folding the paper and cutting a triangle from the fold . Then the draw a wafer pattern on the cone with a gold marker.

Give each student half sheet of painted paper of all six colours. Let them draw circles on the sheets by outlining a cup. Cut the circles. Paste the ice-cream cone on the large sheet of cardboard, and paste six different circles on it. Remember that the first scoop of ice cream has to be pasted partly in the cone. Finally cream may be added, by cutting half a circle out of fiberfill or some cotton wool.

Liquorice Allsorts

Made by Malou, 11 years old

You need:

1. Liquorice Allsorts
2. grey construction paper A3 size
3. oil pastels

Liquorice allsorts consist of a variety of liquorice candies sold as a mixture. These confections are made of liquorice, sugar, coconut, aniseed jelly, fruit flavourings, and gelatine. They were first produced in Sheffield, England. Allsorts are produced by many companies around the world today, and are most popular in Britain, continental Europe, and North America.
The Dutch name for liquorice allsorts is "Engelse drop", and in Finland they are called "Englannin lakritsi/laku"; both literally translate as "English liquorice."

Make groups of two children. Buy some bags of liquorice allsorts (I used one bag for six students). Divide the liquorice so so that each group can make a different composition of them.

Give the children a sheet of grey construction paper. I chose grey, because the oil pastels alle kinderen een grijs tekenvel. Grey, because the oil pastel colours will be slightly less bright, and the white of the liquorice allsorts will be clearly visible. Ask children to make a composition of the liquorice; they may be stacked also.

On the gray sheet students draw the liquorice extra large. The liquorice must really be blown up! Don't use pencils, draw directly with the oil pastel. The whole sheet have to be filled with liquorice allsorts, with parts of them on the edges of the sheet. Colour everything and look carefully to the light: which part of the liquorice has to be dark, and which part has to be coloured lighter? Vary in dark and light colours by pressing harder or softer.

And of course you may eat the liquorice after finishing your artwork!

Made by students of 10-11 years old

Summertime sorbet

You need:

1. coloured paper A4 size for background
2. magazines
3. aluminum foil
4. colour pencils
5. cookie
6. straw
7. scissors
8. glue

Make a collage of a delicious sorbet! Cut fruit from magazines, draw and colour icecream, cut a nice glass for your sorbet and finish your artwork with a straw and a cookie!

Foodscape, in the style of Carl Warner

You need:

1. drawing paper A3 size
2. (food) magazines
3. scissors
4. glue

The English photographer Carl Warner (click on this link and amaze yoourself!') is known for his terrific photos of landscapes who are made of food.
Warner is born in Liverpool in 1963. He draws from childhood, creating imaginary worlds inspired on the artwork of Salvador Dali, Patrick Woodroofe and Roger Dean. Warner went to art academy to become an illustrator, but he realized soon that he could achieve his ideas better and faster by using photography.
First he photographed landscapes, still lifes and people. Then he entered the world of advertising. He now designs and photographs food landscapes ('foodscapes') for companies in the food industry.

The ‘Foodscapes’ are made in Warner's studio in London. Warner works together with a stylist to search for the right food and to make the exposure and composition of the stuff. He works with layers, from background to foreground. Each element is then put together in post production to achieve the final image.
“I tend to draw a very conventional landscape using classic compositional techniques as I need to fool the viewer into thinking it is a real scene at first glance, it is the realisation that the scene is in fact made of food that brings a smile that brings a smile to the viewer, and for me that’s the best part.”

Show several photo's of Warner's foodscapes on the digital board. Discuss those photo's: what do you see? What food do you recognize? Look especially to the photo with the rising sun: what food is used to suggest the sea? How come we sea salmon as the sea? What is the beach made of? And the mountains?

After this children are going to make their own foodscape in the style of Carl Warner. Thye search for food in magazines and cut it out. Encourage children to consult each other. Sometimes you don't see anything special in a photograph, while your neighbour sees an interesting part of a landscape!

Place the cut out parts on the sheet and slide it until you are satisfied and then paste all parts.

All work is made by students of 11-12 years old

Fruit and veggies in popart style

Made by students of grade 6

You need:

1. piece of cardboard 9 by 9 cm
2. drawing paper 20 by 29 cm
3. colour pencils or markers
4. fine black marker

Draw a frame of 1 cm around the drawing sheet. Draw within this frame six squares of 9 by 9 cm, with 1 cm between the squares. Draw a cartoonlike piece of fruit or vegetables on the cardboard and cut it out. Trace it in the six squares. Colour the fruit or veggies with colour pencils or markers. To make the fruit pop out of the paper, the backgrounds have to be drawn with a fine black marker in different patterns in.

Bottle of water label design

You need:

1. water bottle
2. printed label
3. markers
4. glue

During a water project on our school we designed labels for bottles of water.
Show children labels of bottles of water and discuss about function and layout. What is on the label: name, logo, barcode, content and often something about how healthy this water is.
After this students designed their own label for a bottle of water. Paste the labels on an empty bottle.

Made by children from 10-11 years old

What's for supper tonight?

Made by Lotte, 10 years old

You need:

1. drawing paper A3 size
2. colour pencils
3. tempera and brushes
4. or coloured paper and glue

Talk about food. What do you like most? What is healthy food? Why do we have to eat vegetables and fruit? What about burgers and fries? Talk about china and cutlery and how a table has to be set.

Draw the meal you like most. Draw everything from above; so a glass is just a circle. Draw your plate with food, a saucer, a glass, knive, spoon, fork and colour everything with colour pencil. Then cut out all parts.
Paint a sheet with a pattern and colours that fits to your china; your placemat. You may also use coloured paper and glue to decorate your placemat.
When your placemat is ready, paste all cut-out parts on it.

Made by children from 10-11 years old

Birthday cake

Birthday cake, made by Kindergartners

You need:

1. salt dough
2. brushes
3. paint
4. birthday candles

SALT DOUGH RECIPE:

• 2 cups of plain flour
• 1 cup of table salt
• 1 cup of water

Mix table salt and flour in a large bowl. Gradually add 1/2 cup of water and mix to desired consistency. Knead the dough on a flat surface, adding a few more drops of water as needed (but not making it too moist). If possible it is best to let the dough stand for approximately twenty minutes before beginning a project. Unused dough can be stored in the fridge, in an airtight container or cling film, for up to a week.

Instead of allowing the dough shapes to air dry, you can bake them in the oven at 100 degrees C / 200 degrees F until hard. Baking times varies depending on oven and dough thickness. Make sure the dough is completely baked. You can cover the dough with aluminum foil if it starts to darken before completely baked through.

What does a birthday cake look like? What form do we get, when we cut a round cake into pieces? Each child makes his own piece of a birthday cake out of salt dough. Make a little hole on top of the cake before baking; this is for the candle.
After baking the top and backside of the cake pieces have to be painted. Put the candles in the pieces and lay all pieces together on a pie shell.

Building sandwiches

Texture, balance and variety were elements students concentrated on as they created this collage of a big sandwich!

You need:

1. half a piece of coloured card board A3 size
2. leftovers coloured paper
3. ribbed cardboard
4. noodles in different shapes
5. seeds or tealeaves
6. crepe paper
7. glue
8. scissors
9. yarn
10. pieces of cotton

Children create a table cloth from leftovers of cotton or paper. A plate has to be cut and glued on the table. The sandwich is made of ribbed cardboard. Now building can start!

Discuss with the kids what kind of food they like on their sandwich and how to represent this with the materials they have. Examples: yellow paper with holes in it will represent cheese; red yarn can be ketchup and am enrolled piece of pink cotton represents a slice of ham.

The artwork must partly be 3-D. Don't glue everything just flat, but try to work spatial and let things overlap. Make sure kids do this by showing three dimensional glueing before kids start working.

When there is enough food on the sandwich, it has to be closed with the top of a sandwich out of ribbed cardboard.

My favourite pizza

You need:

1. paper plates
2. leftovers coloured paper
3. yarn

What kind of things you'll find on a pizza? Discuss this with the children. What is your favourite pizza? What toppings does it have? Cut and glue those toppings out of leftover paper and yarn.

Fruit

You need:

1. wallpaper paste
2. newspaper strips
3. toilet paper or paper towels
4. magazines

From paper mache you can make a nice fruit basket. Start with a wad of newspaper and paste newspaper strips around it . Use enough glue, so the work is so wet that you can make figures out of it. Make the last layer of toilet paper and make it smooth.

Tear small pieces of coloured paper from magazines in the color of your fruit and glue them around. Use different shades within one color.

After drying, the fruit can be laquered with vernish.