Preschool Cactus Art

Art with preschool children can be daunting. My daughter turned three last week, and while she loves arts and crafts, I always cringe when she asks to break out the paint. She's on a real cactus kick lately (who isn't?) so I thought maybe I could brave the mess and try some watercolors. Turns out this was a low mess, low stress, high payoff project that I will definitely try again with different stencils.

The first part of this project is to make a stencil. You could easily draw and cut out a simple stencil of some cacti (or any other object!) but since I have a Cricut handy, I made a stencil of 3 quick and dirty cacti on Photshop and had my robot servant cut them out.

I used an old sheet of cardstock as my stencil paper. Something thicker would be even better but since this project is just intended to be a one off, a sheet of cardstock works fine. 

After the Cricut was done doing its thing, I lightly glued the stencil to a piece of watercolor paper. Computer paper works, but watercolor paper blends so much better, and if it's something you plan to keep long term, then why not go big.

My daughter used a sponge brush to fill in the cacti. She loved this. SO. MUCH. She dabbed green paint all over the cacti, then added in some blue. (I think a kid with more experience with watercolors could really have fun with this - rainbow blends, different colors for each cactus, etc.)

Once she had filled in the cacti, we took off the stencil!

The next, most terrifying step, is to add little faces to your pictures. Because, why not, right? So go ahead. Hand your three year old a Sharpie, right next to your light grey couch, and.. just pray.

Success!

When my girl was finished with the stencils she still wanted to paint, so we threw the cut-outs of the cacti onto a new sheet of paper and I let her have at it while I tidied up.

By this point I had already confiscated her water, so I just loaded her brush with water and didn't worry about rinsing her brush between colors. It looked excellent.

This whole project was super simple. I would rate it a 2/10 in terms of stress and cleanup (which is a WIN for me!)

If you try this project, please let me know by sharing in the comments!

Winter birch trees - grade 6

I finally did my first ever birch tree lesson! These have been all over the internet for years, but I’ve always particularly liked this lesson by Deep Space Sparkle. I loved the final product her students achieved, but I changed a bit about the process.

We skipped the tape step, and I had students just directly draw their trees onto watercolor paper using pencil (pressing very lightly!) They added in a horizon line, and some chose to add a fence behind the trees. We talked a lot about perspective during this lesson – how to make certain trees appear closer to your eye (make them longer and thicker) and how to make certain trees appear farther away. They also sketched in where they were going to put their shadow (we talked about which direction the shadow would go based on where their sun was.) Finally, some students opted to include another fence in front. 

Students who had done the tiny fence in the background used a thin sharpie to trace the fence, just to make it simpler on them, rather than painting them. The drawing process took about 40 minutes, and when they came back the next day, it took them about another 50-60 minutes to paint their drawings.

The only rule they had to keep in mind when painting was that they couldn’t leave the snow white. They had to use a mix of shades of watery blues and browns to give their snow dimension. In terms of the sky, they could do whatever inspired them. Students used watercolors to paint, except for the final touch - a bit of acrylic white to make falling snow. For the shadows, some chose blue tones, while others chose purples or greys.

I really like how these turned out. I feel like you can see each of their different styles of painting – some are more abstract, some are very precise and clear. Some use literal colors, while others used bright imaginative colors. It’s really fun to see what they came up with!

Day of the dead skulls - grade 6

This is a repeat of a project I posted about two years ago. It's one of my all time favorite projects, because it's so visually stimulating, and kids love it!

I use the same process every time I do this project - students are given a blank skull template (because drawing a skull isn't the objective here - it's actually to create a symmetrical piece of art based on a cultural celebration.) We talk about Dia de los Muertos, and look at images of skulls from various celebrations. Then, students draw designs in the skull using a pencil, paying attention to symmetry.

When they're happy with their designs, they trace their lines in Sharpie, and use watercolor paint to paint them in. Once they're done, they cut out their skull and glue it to a piece of scrapbooking paper. Lastly, they use jewels and sparkles to add finishing touches to their skulls.

Students learn a lot about balance in this project - there is really a perfect balance that needs to be achieved between black, white, and color, and its interesting to see how they pick up on this while they're working. The package of scrapbooking paper that I bought had some pieces that were grey on black instead of white on black, and you could see when students held their skull up to those sheets that it didn't give the same kind of "look" as when they used a busy, patterned, black and white paper.

Students also picked up on the need for balance in their skull - keeping a good mix of white with their painted parts (it can be tempting to paint the whole thing, but the white adds so much!)

Since holiday related projects aren't for everyone, I always have an alternative option for students - in this case, a vase, which still lends itself to the symmetry and design, without being holiday related. All students were allowed to pick if they wanted to work with a skull or a vase.

 Look at this amazing vase one of my students came up with - it's stunning!

It's so beautiful that I feel inspired to do a whole project based around it. I love when that happens!

Grade 5/6 totem poles

These are my favorite kinds of assignments - ones with loose guidelines, and tons of creative freedom. I wanted my students to explore mixing mediums, using a wash of a solid color of watercolor (in this case, brown) and then using pencil crayons to add detail, dimension and visual interest. I went with a totem pole theme, because in grade six, we are studying First Nations peoples. However, I encouraged them to stray away from typical totem poles, instead making totem poles based on things they loved - animals, TV shows, monsters, whatever inspired them. Some found reference drawings online, and others worked completely from their head. I adore them!!

Grade 1/2 portraits

These are some adorable portraits that I did with grades 1/2, to give to their mothers for mother's day. Portrait drawing is such a good activity for kids of any age. Kids in grade 1/2 reeealllly need all of the direction possible, as it's often one of the first times they've drawn a portrait of themselves. the only thing I'll change next time is to explicitly show them how to make their portraits smile!

Once they had finished their portraits, they cut them out and glued them onto scrapbook paper. Kids with extra time cut out paper hearts and decorations for their portraits.

I love how these turned out - I think they're absolutely beautiful, and really hope the moms love them!

Corny portraits - grade 3

Spring has sprung, and I am feeling inspired to start Spring-ing up my projects! I saw this drawing on ffffound.com, and used it as inspiration for a grade 3 Spring art project.

I love doing different types of self portraits, and with the success of my snowflake project (the kids loved them) i thought it would be fun to do a Spring version.

I find these absolutely adorable. I thought for a while about what medium to use for them, and I'm happy that I went with watercolors. They have a nice, soft look to them that's perfect for the season.

The only problem with this post is that I took the pictures with my phone instead of my good camera. If I have time this week, I'll swap out these photos with some good ones - the colors are much brighter in person!

I find these so adorable, probably one of the cuter projects I've ever done!