Let's Draw and Make Larry the Line!

(Adding this here before I forget...Larry the Line downloads can be found here!)

Hi, friends!

The other day, I shared a spiral Larry the Line download (check it out here) and it got me thinking. I've had a lot of requests of How to Draw Larry the Line tutorials in the past and I thought I would combine that idea with a follow up to the spiral snake download. So...here we go! 

A How to Draw and Make Larry the Line!

I'm here for scale to show ya just how big you can make these!

In the video, I'll walk you and your artists through how to draw their very own Larry the Line, how to create their snake as well as do a line review. To check out the full video, it's here:

In this video, I share how you can make your Larry the size of a messy mat or 18" X 24", 12" X 18" OR 9" X 12". It's up to you and the supplies you have available!

For supplies:

* Large Larry: tagboard (aka Messy Mats), new or used! Not sure what a Messy Mat is? Here's a short clip! And here's a link to those mats as well as my very favorite art supplies. 

* For tagboard, I'd recommend using an ink-filled bingo dauber!

* Tempera paint! Need some tips and tricks on working with kids and tempera paint? Here ya go! 

Planning to create a smaller Larry? Then you can simply use markers to draw! 

Of course, this TOTALLY FREE download may be a fun warmup for artists!

And if you don't have a copy of my book, Larry the Line, you can find it here!

And stay tuned, I've got another couple of Larry-themed lessons coming your way this week, yay!

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(EASY!) Abstract Shape Painting!

Hi, y'all! I know, I can hardly believe it either: two blog posts with two lessons in one week?! What can I say, when the ideas start rollin', it's hard to stop 'em!

So, truth be told, every since I started adding slightly diluted tempera paint to my bingo daubers, I've been coming up with all sorts of fun art lessons! I have several 'in the can' and I'm working to bring them to you and your artists as fast as I can. To always stay up-to-date on my free video lessons, you may want to join my email list! You can do that here. 

Like my most recent videos, I'll start this one with a bit of a Teacher Talk to walk you through the prep for this lesson. I would say this project is appropriate for kindergarten through 3rd grade, depending on what it is you hope to cover with your students. Meaning, if you find that you have older students who need a simple project to remind them of your painting procedures, this may be it! And if you have younger students who are ready to dive into the land of shapes, this one's for you.

OF COURSE, the best book for the job is Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes! This book covers EVERYTHING...I really wanted to create a book that wasn't your basic baby shape book like so many out there. I wanted to dive in to organic, geometric, the difference between a form and a shape and so much more! 

And now, for the lesson video:

I found that for this lesson, the prep was pretty easy. I mean, filling those empty bingo daubers was not fun BUT...once they are done, they do last. You can find the empty bingo daubers here. 

I also found that tempera paint works well with this project althought, tempera cakes would work too. For my favorite painting supplies including the paint trays and more, visit here. 

I created this lesson because I thought many of you may be moving on from LINE themed lessons to now...shapes! If you'd like to see my Top Ten Line Themed lessons, visit here! 

And in case you missed my other super fun and colorful painting lesson, see it here. 

Oh! AND my cardboard line sculpture lesson! It's here. 

I just love how colorful these are. I think what really does it is that different colors used for the outline. 

For my personal art, I kinda want to paint some funky still life paintings using this method. Kind of a pop art meets cubism. What do you think?!

I hope you have a chance to try this lesson out! If you do, please lemme know, I would love to see. 

Happy Friday!

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My Top 10 Favorite Line Lessons!

Welcome to my Top Ten Line Lessons!

Since I have been sharing so many LINE lessons on my blog lately (with more to come, yay!), I thought I'd create a blog post with ALL of my very favorite lessons on line. Consider this your one-stop-shop for all things Line-Lesson-y!

Of course, we have to kick things off with The Man, The Myth, The Legend: Larry the Line! All my line lessons begin with Larry so if you'd like to get yourself a copy of my book, you can do so here!

To kick things off, let's start in kindergarten! Right away, we dive into all things LINE by create a line sculpture on the very first day! By the third day, we are ready to put our line knowlege to work with these lines paintings. 

Did you notice in the photo how nicely the artist was holding their paintbrush?! That's because they know all about The Paintbrush Ballerina! This method of teaching painting will totally change how your artists handle their brushes and paint. 

For a little Paintbrush Bootcamp (with free downloads!) visit here!

After these structured paintings where we paint lines across out paper, we dive in with either watercolor or tempera cakes to add color. You can find this line unit here!

This line sculpture lesson is one of my all-time faves AND it's what I teach on my first day with kindergarten artists! I also recommend this lesson if you have to do a teaching demo for a job interview. It's always a hit with kids of all ages!

To take a look inside my art room on that very first day of art, you can watch me teach! Check it out here!

Of course, if you are on a cart or simply don't feel like busting out the paint at the start of the school year (don't blame ya!), you could always do a variation of the line lesson with tempera sticks!

Then you can finish 'em off with these wild and wacky line monsters! For that lesson, visit here.  

And, of course, if you are doing collage with your students, you DEFINITELY need my new book Scissors, Glue and YOU! 

One of my FAVORITE ways to teach lines is with Line-Making Stations! My artists CRANKED out so much artwork in just a couple of 30 minute art classes. Not only did they learn all about lines but a variety of ways to create them! You can read all about that and check out the video and handouts I created for the occasion here. 
Printed lines was a fave! They really popped with black and white paint on black and white paper. Stay tuned to how we used all of these pieces of art!

All ya need is cardboard and some paint! Visit the link for the handout!

I did these stations with my first through fourth graders. Even this cutting station because, let's be honest: they all need the practice!

Here we used our ink-filled bingo dauber. If you aren't familiar, visit this link and I talk all about 'em!

For details on how these looked when finished and for some trouble-shooting tips, visit this blog post!

One year, I did a variation on the kindergarten line sculpture and made it into a school-wide project! We called them our Getting-to-Know-You sculptures!

I created a couple of totally free downloads and my students used them to create a coded work of art! These were so fun to have on display for open house. 

Here's a little look at what the finished display looked like! Tips and tricks for this lesson can be found here.

You could also...turn that sculpture into a HAT! I did my sculpture on a paper plate and then wore it like an artsy thinking cap! For the lesson video, visit here!

Once the paper sculptures are complete, your artists could try their hand at these super fun cardboard line sculptures!

Of course, modeling clay is fabulous for teaching lines. Let me share this sheet with you as well as walk you and your artists through the process here!

Keep the line sheet in a sheet protector and it's perfect as a center for those early finishers or for a line making station!

Looking for a Larry-themed lesson?! Then this new one from my blog is sure to be a hit! You can check it out (with video, of course!) here!

Whatever you do, I hope you have fun AND I hope you have a wonderful long weekend. You've earned it, friends!

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Exploring with Shapes: Shape Centers in the Art Room

Hey there! Not too long ago I shared that I have been creating art-makin' centers or stations or whatever you wanna call them for my students. So far, we've made it through the Line Stations and have recently been using the papers there to create works of art. Now that we've wrapped up that (and the kids loved it so much I assumed it was a hit), we are ready to move on to shape! Here is a look at what my 2nd through 4th grade stations look like:

These stations are a little longer than the line making ones. So, for my 30 minute classes, students will get to MAYBE two stations before moving on. I'm keeping the format of them changing stations more open: if they are finished, they are to tidy their area, put away their artwork (with name on it, pretty please!) and move on to any station with an open seat. 

Just like the papers created with the Line Stations, these are just the starting point of our project. Each grade will create something different with their shape explorations. I've been sharing what my students created with their papers, you can check it out on my Instagram. Details to come, I promise!

In these centers, students will focus on geometric shapes. We will learn more about organic shapes soon. Cardboard printing expanded from line making to creating castles in this station. I can't wait for students to work on these later in class.

Students will explore cutting geometric shapes as well as printing them in this station.

Students learned about radial symmetry in this station. I had foam stars on hand...but may use different shapes with other grades. I'll keep ya posted! I'm excited how these turned out!

I have a ton of bleeding tissue paper shapes that we are creating a design with in this last station. I have plans for these...stay tuned!

Since my kindergarten and first graders are working on something else, I'm glad I have an empty table to pile everything on. It's...a lot to keep up with but the kids are having a blast and that's all that matters. 

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Creating Lines with Modeling Clay

I recently shared that I created line-making stations for all of my students. You can check out a video and blog post on that here. While I was out, I created this video and sheet as a sub plan for all grades. I've since decided to add it to my early finisher centers! Check out the video I created for the kids here:

And here's how I plan to use it as an earlier finisher center. The kids loved working with it while I was away so this should be a fun activity choice for them!

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