Let's Create a Folk Art Flower Crayon Batik!

I Hey, y'all! Have you ever tried doing a crayon batik with your students? It's something that I've seen art teachers do and have always wanted to try but...just didn't seem to know how to make it happen. Do I use ink or acrylic paint? Do the kids rinse it off or wipe it with a sponge? Do I dilute the paint or no?

I decided to give it a go and I will say this: there was a huge learning curve! I tried several methods and came up with what worked best for me. 

But! Even if you don't go the batik route, the flower drawing portion of this lesson still yields beautiful results. Says me. 

I created both a video for your artists AND this free download! 

And here's the video:

Now, if you don't want to go this route, you could use this flower idea sheet to create this lesson that I did with my second graders. It's always a hit and the results are so stunning:

You can find all the details for that lesson right here! In fact, you can find ALL of my favorite art lessons for spring in that link...and most come with video!

I've always wanted to do a crayon batik lesson. I learned some things along the way and I shared a lot of those tips in the video. But...here are some other things I'd recommend:

* Use thick paper Because this paper is going to be crumpled and then saturated with paint and water, it could tear easily if thin paper is used. I'm using 80 lbs. mixed media paper.

* Work small I learned this the hard way! Because students will be adding color by firmly coloring with crayon, be ready for a little coloring fatigue. A way around that is to use small paper. I used 6" and 4" squares. I wouldn't recommend anything larger!

* Use India ink, not paint I noticed that with acrylic paint, it didn't really stay in the crumbled areas once rinsed where the permanent ink did.

* Crumble the paper ONCE I tried crumbling the paper multiple times to add more cracks and you can see that in the piece that is in the golden frame. However, once I rinsed the ink off the paper, all those cracks caused weak spots in the paper and it did tear in a couple of places. Which leads me to my next suggestion:

* Rinse once and that's it! I would recommend students carry their artwork to you on a tray so as not to drip. Then, simply slide the artwork under the running water, allow the ink to rinse off quickly and then set on a paper-towel covered surface like a counter. This should be a quick process to keep the paper from becoming too saturated and fragile. 

And...by the way...the "gold frame" I used for mine is actually a paper plate from Hobby Lobby! I spotted them a while back and had to get them to frame student artwork in!

Also! Are you going to NAEA next week? If so, I'd love to see you there! I'll be hanging out with my friends at Prang in their booth number 117. I'll be there on Thursday, March 20th and Friday, March 21st from 11am - 2pm. I'll have all of my books with me to sell and sign. Prang has some super fun hands-on activities planned for you that I know you'll love!

But if you can't make it, know that you can always find my books here! I always sign my books before sending them out. 

Have a great week, y'all!

Let's Make a Sandwich Collage!

Hey, friends! I'm coming at you today with a fun lesson that's the perfect thing to introduce collage, ignite the imagination and review shapes...a Sandwich Collage!

I shared a similar lesson years ago and you can find it here. And, if you want to continue on the food theme, I have a whole unit of lessons for you! It's one of my fave themes and you can find details here. 

For this lesson, all you'll need is construction paper, glue or a glue stick, scissors and maybe markers and crayons. I created this video for you to play for your students so...have fun!

For a quick link to the supplies I am using, jump over here!

I mentioned that this lesson would be a great way to reintroduce the element of art of SHAPES to your students. When I wrote my book Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes, I wanted it to go beyond the basic shape books I had on hand. So I dug into the first and second grade curriculum on shapes and made sure to include that.

As an art teacher, I focused on geometric and organic shapes. However, in the classroom, teachers talk a lot about sides and vertices. Which...I learned from my students! To support the classroom teachers and continue the education of shapes in the art room, I included the vocabulary and standards in my book.

Because Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes introduces so much, I recommend reading it in two parts! On the first day of the collage project, try reading about how line creates shape, the difference between organic and geometric shapes and what makes a shape. The first half of the book chats about geometric shapes, what makes them unique and how to tell them apart. From there, the book discusses organic shapes. Perhaps that could be discussed on the second day, when the artists focus on the organic shapes of the food they wish to include in their collage sandwich.

By the way, if you are interested in checking out free lessons and downloads, you may want to subscribe to my email list! You can do so here.

And often I share videos on YouTube before I have a chance to chat about them here. So...be sure to subscribe! You can do so here.