Presidents Day portraits 2014

For Abraham Lincoln's and George Washington's birthday, I had the kids do portraits in an oval paper plate with elements of collage and assemblage woven in. This was just the kindergarten and 1st graders, but it's a good way to introduce collage as well as using non-traditional materials and following instructions! For the face, I had them use cutouts of the Gettysburg Address and Declaration of Independence. One week we did Abe, the next was George. I'm really happy with how these turned out!

Valentines Pop art 4 ways

See all the art photos by clicking here

With the K-3rd graders I did some "pop art" that had a Valentines Day theme. It was also a good way to have them do different techniques and media in on project that also ends up looking pretty cool. I used the heart as a theme, but they could interpret it in any many of way or color and were encouraged to go beyond red and pink! I had them do the heart four ways ith 6x6" squares of paper:

Watercolor on white paper

Oil pastel on black paper

Penicl and pen on white paper

Collage on black paper

Then I glued them into  a graphic 4 square layout.

Its amazing how creative the kids could get and how it made them think outside the box (even though were creating in a box) Amazing how setting  few rules can free you to be creative. Also, teaching them how to cut and draw hearts is an amazing lesson in symmetry, and following directions, which at this age, is no small task!

Christmas ornaments 2013

With the Holiday Home Tour (sebastopolholidayhometour.com) taking up a huge chunck of my time, its always fun to have the kids do some ornaments that we decorate school with and then they take them home.  In 2013 I did several:

Angels made from popsicle sticks and music note wings, which became an instant classic.

Wreaths that act as photo frames, made from yarn and pipe cleaners wrapped around a drapery ring.

Handprint reindeer. There are so many great holiday crafts made from handprints!

Scarecrows from spoons 2013

A scarecrow project that I did 5 years ago with the kids was a big hit. It involved getting cheap craftstore wooden spoons and embellishing them with scrap fabric, buttons, beads, strong, straw and other folksy items to make a scarecrow. Hot glue is a must, and so it makes this a fun craft. We did as a part of our Harvest party.

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.

Pasta Pilgrims 2013

For Thanksgiving 2013, an all time favorite is the pilgrim made from pasta. I did this with the K-1 class. Check out previous years' pasta projects as well.

To check out all the art photos click here.