Let's create an abstract word-painting! This one is fun and easy. All you'll need is a piece of paper, a permanent marker, water-based markers, a cup of water and a paintbrush. When you are finished with this painting, try painting your name as the words or someone else's name, like mom or dad! Let's get started:
Hey, y'all! Today I'm sharing my very favorite marker hacks! In this post, I'll be sharing my favorite lessons involving these hacks but be sure and listen to the podcast episode where I share even more details. Be sure to click on the link and visit the posts I'm sharing...these are free lessons and many of them include a video as well as free handouts for you and your students! Here's the podcast episode:
James Rizzi meets Van Gogh Cities! This project was a huge hit with my third and fourth grade students. What I loved is that my students had a chance to explore painting but without the mess! I did this project near the end of the year when we were completely out of watercolor paint. Did you know that you can use markers as watercolor paint?! All you do is color and add water! I loved the technique so much I did it for the next lesson too.
Chris Uphues Hearts! This lesson began as a sub plan and quickly became a kid and teacher favorite! I know many of you have done this one in your art rooms and it makes me so happy. Again, we outlined the hearts in marker and then used paint to "wake up" the marker and turn it into paint.
Marker Prints! In the podcast episode I mention printing with markers and it being a little tricky when you dampen the paper. I had totally forgotten about the photo I shared above...last year we used baby wipes instead of a sponge and water and it proved to be great at getting the paper just damp enough to pull a print. You can hear more about this in the episode and definitely check out more in the link!
I mean, how fun is that?!
Color Diffusing Coffee Filters! I think many of us know about this hack BUT...did you know...that after your students are done coloring their filter they should LEAVE THEM ON A STYROFOAM PLATE when you spray with water and allow to dry. Why? So that the marvelous marker color stays on the filter and doesn't drain out and get on the surface below. Hear more about that in the podcast episode.
We attached these using paperclips and hung them in the windows of our school for Dot Day!
Self Portraits in Kimonos! Here is another use for those coffee filters! This lesson was a kid favorite and look how precious they are! More details in the link.
Children's Day! These color diffusing fish came from our sponsor, Roylco. I love using color diffusing papers with markers and these were a huge hit!
We used permanent markers for details we wished to remain and waterbased markers for ones we wanted to spread. We also used watercolor paint for more pops of color. Notice how the fish is on a plastic bag...this is how the fish dried as well so that the color would remain on the fish!
Again, we hung these in our large bank of windows and they looked so beautiful.
To attach one to the other, I used paperclips. I also used paper clips to attach the fish to the ceiling tiles.
Making Marker Juice!What to do with all of those dried out markers?! Make Marker Juice! Now in the podcast, I share an easy way (as seen above) and the hard, better results, way. We used these paints to create a background for our "Ain't Gonna Paint No More" self portraits.
My kindergarteners had a big time making these!
Foil-Covered Printing Plates!What to do with printing plates once printmaking is complete? Cover them with foil and make a new work of art! I don't talk about permanent markers in the podcast but I did want to share the projects we've done with them here. Permanent markers are great for many reasons but one is when coloring over foil. They make the most beautiful shimmery effect.
Dot Day Sparkle!Check out this beauty! These were made with Styrofoam plates, foil and permanent marker.
Foil Relief! When weaving one year, my students were stressed about the amount of waste yarn we were throwing away. We decided to keep it and then create with it! Check out the blog post for details.
Speaking of not wasting a thing, we also do something similar with our printing plates! Follow this link for more.
I hope you learned a fun and new marker hack today!
Recently, I shared that my students in fourth grade are working on creating their own Tiny Art Show. Because I was going to be out of school for a couple of days visiting the art teachers in Vermont, I needed a lesson to keep my students engaged. I created this Tiny Gallery of Gratitude sheet for my third and fourth grade students. I hope they enjoyed it (I'll find out tomorrow!) but fingers crossed they did. If you think your student would like it too, here's a link to the FREE PDF.
I gathered these books for my sub to start the lesson with. They are all wonderful books to introduce the idea of gratitude. Because my sub would be with my students for a couple of days, I asked that she read a book at the start of each class...but I let her decide which ones to read.
As for supplies, I set out pencils, erasers and color pencils for my students to use. I asked that the sub save the work so that we could return to this drawing as a sketch for early finishers. I also want to see what they drew! If you are interested in other projects that show gratitude, here you go:
This Gallery of Gratitude lesson was a HUGE hit with the entire school with all creative hands on deck. I cannot recommend doing this lesson enough!
I recently did an updated version of the Gallery of Gratitude and I love it even more! We used modeling clay and did a bit of writing out the faculty and/or staff member we were grateful for. Lesson here and here.
Helping my students understand what gratitude is and how to show it is very important to me. Do you have lessons that you love that help spread gratitude? I'd love to hear about them!
Well...something super duper and magical happened to me this weekend while I was taking a little trip to Orlando...I got to met Chris Uphues and Jennifer!
You.Guys. I have been WILD AND CRAZY for these two for a while now. They are simply the best. SERIOUSLY. I mean, look at this amazingness first of all...
And having met them, I can tell you, they are just as bright, happy and loving as each and every heart you see right here. Seriously, y'all. My mom and I sat down with them, totally interrupting Chris' mural painting time, and they made us feel so welcome, happy and warm just to be around them. I've never met two people who were as cute and kind as these two. I could literally hang with 'em all day!
When I discovered through some excited messaging with Jen that we'd be in Orlando at the same time, I knew I wanted to make a meet up work. I mean, I've been creating lessons and sharing my love of Chris' work for a while now!
Since I'd be meeting them...I decided to have my students learn about Chris while I was away. So...Chris taught art for a pinch while I was gone, even if he didn't know it.
Sweet baby Jesus in the manger, there is nothing, NOT A THING, I hate more than prepping for a sub. Can I get an amen up in here?! THAT being said, I did create some drawing sub plans for my kids and I thought I'd share 'em with you. My students and I LOVE Chris Uphues and I am so excited to share this drawing lesson with them. When I'm out, I like to keep my sub life easy: so a lesson for ALL GRADE LEVELS with LIMITED SUPPLIES AND PREP it is! Yippie! Happy sub means happy classroom to return to.
I told my sub that the classes that only have 30 minutes will probably only get to the dry erase board sketching. They're also reading the book The Shape of my Heart at the start of art class. For my hour long classes, they will also sketch and then, after a short time, meet again on the floor to view the rest of the video. What's up next for these drawings? Just you wait and see (which is code for I HAVE NO IDEA BUT I'M UP FOR SUGGESTIONS!).
Also...stay tuned. I'll create a post in the next day or so with free downloadables of the handouts I created. Until then!
Hey, friends! Tomorrow is my first day back to school where I'll have kiddos in the art room and I'm super excited. One thing I love about this time of the year is coming up with fun projects that kick the school year off right. Last week, I shared some of my favorite Dot Day projects which I occasionally use as a theme for my back to school art projects. Today I thought I'd share my favorite collaborative back to school art projects. There are a lot, so get ready!
But before we get to that, I have some exciting news. Recently, on our Wednesday night Facebook LIVE chats (to join the fun, like/follow here), the one and only Barney Saltzberg joined us. We had an absolute blast chatting with him. You can still find our conversation archived here. He has a new book out, My Book of Beautiful Oops, and is GIVING ONE AWAY! Yay! To enter to win your FREE copy of My Book of Beautiful Oops simply do the following: * Leave a comment below. Tell me what your plans are or what you are doing on these first days back to school. Inquiring minds wanna know! * Leave your email address. This way I can let you know when you win, yay! It's that easy, y'all. Big thanks to our buddy Barney for this wonderful book and fabulous giveaway. Now, let's talk Best Back to School Art Projects.
I love kicking off the school year with a good book. You Be You and Only One You by Linda Krantz are two fabulous books to bring to your art room. This is a project that can be done with all of your students...and will leave you with a beautiful work of art to showcase their efforts. More on this mural here.
You can find out just how we created these fish here.
Feel free to bring this how-to video to your art room!
I am in love with this wild, wacky and colorful mural that was created by my kindergarten through fourth grade kiddos. It's Okay to be Different is a favorite book of mine by Todd Parr. This mural has been up for a while now...and it still remains outside my art room door. I think it's a great message for all. You can find out about this mural here.
Here's a short video to share the process!
You can read about our process of creating these funny faces right here.
Monochromatic selfies are a super fun way to start the school year. I've done this a couple of different times and with a couple different themes. You can find out more about how these were created here.
This video really helped my students during the creation of their selfies.
On year we even made our selfies into a world map! This one took some time to do...and wasn't easy but sure was pretty once it was complete.
Our heart mural is now a couple of years old and still hangs proudly in our school office. I love it, it's really stood the test of time. And who doesn't love the message of LOVE? You can see more about the completion of this mural here.
The details on how each heart was created and by what grade level can be found here.
Speaking of love, this mural was created by all of my students...they actually made it one year while I was out on jury duty. It was so awesome to come back to some amazing art! Here's the complete blog post.
Here's the video I created for my sub to share with my students.
And here's the second video in that series.
Probably one of the more popular posts on this blog has been this wings mural project. It's a GREAT back to school project because it's low-mess and low-stress (until you get ready to assemble that is...and then it's HOLY COW, WHAT WAS I THINKING?!). But once it's up, you won't regret it! Deets here.
Here's a video I created to share with my students...feel free to use in your art teacherin' world!
I hope y'all have gotten a couple ideas for your return to school...I'd love to know what you and your sweet kiddos are creating! Also, don't forget to enter to win Barney's new book. Just leave a comment about your first day and don't forget to include your email address. Have a great week!
Labels: elementary art, vintage clothing
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