Name Stained Glass 2012

This is a  project that I've had good luck with in the past, and the beginning of the year always seems like a good time. I did this with the K-1 class, and it involves them writing their name in block capital letters with black marker and coloring in the "in-between spaces" with different color crayon, to look like stained glass.

It is surprisingly challenging for these 5-7 year olds, but teaches them about negative space, line and patience!

Week 2: Leaf rubbing

Another Fall staple are leaves of course. In this project, I took a similar tact to my apple printing from last week. This time they were "printing" but using the leaves under the paper they really could explore texture and layering by rubbing with crayons. For 5-year-olds, I was impressed by their stamina and understanding of the concept.

Week 5: Fall leaves watercolor

We've been doing a lot of drawing and line work this Fall, but I wanted to add in some painting-this time watercolor.

For this assignment, I had the kids view various leaf shapes and try to understand their symetry and layout. Then we drew a leaf shape (it could be very realistic or more whymsical) on a piece of white watercolor paper with a light crayon. The idea of wax resist was also part of this lesson.

Next they use watercolor in various ways to get color. Blotches, stripes, wet-on-wet, and spatter were all used.

The kids did seem to really get ino the painting part!