Sunflowers 2013

This fall, I did Sunflowers three different ways with the three different classes.

Kindergarten-1st Grade:

Another one of my absolute favorite fall projects is the two week project using elmer's glue on black paper to draw a sunflower and then the next week coming back over it with chalk pastel!

Check out the last time I did this for more detail.

2nd-3rd Grade

I had done the glue/pastel with the older kids two years ago, so I decided to do a 3-D paper sunflower with the "middle" classroom. A paper plate served as the center and yellow construction paper petals.

4th-6th Grade

Since I wanted to really show them the Van Gogh sunflower and give them a real experience, I chose acrylic as the medium for the older kids. We had a sunflower still life and they had canvas boards and acrylic.

Snowflakes from popsicle sticks

Getting ready for Christmas already! In fact this project will be decoration for our Holiday Home Tour which benefits the school. We have 6 homes decorated and the school itself. So if you like home tours buy your tickets here!

 On to the snowflakes...This is a multi-stage project and the first step was having the kids construct snowflakes from popsicle sticks..lots of them. I had them use white glue since it allows for them to adjust the design, eventhough it does not dry as fast as hot glue. The fun part has been to see how different the kids approach this concept. In the end there will be K-6th snowflakes, and all grade levels can do this.

After all the snowflakes dried, I spray painted them red. This is  step best done by adults. Smaller snowflakes, I painted white and the kids will glitter them for the Christmas Tree.

We just put them up in the high walls of the School lobby and they really add a graphic punch and some kid-art quirkiness. Love them!

Sunflowers in glue and pastel

I've been doing quite a few multi-week projects the last month, so I have been remiss in posting. Sorry.

This project was done with all the kids in October, and took two sessions, so with my even/odd schedule it took a long time!



Since I've done Van Gogh sunflowers before, I wanted to do something different and involve more technique.  The first step was to take some sunflowers in and have the kids "draw" with white glue! This is easy since I am using black paper. Once the glue dries it forms "lines" that the CHALK pastel does not stick. So basically the second week was a "fill in" project. The ones that turned out best use a lot of color and get good coverage.