Since I recently shared a tips and tricks video on all things watercolor paint, I thought I'd dive in with my very favorite watercolor lessons of all time. I have 16 of 'em just for you but before we get to those...I thought I'd share some of my all things watercolor.
And here's a short video of me introducing my kindergarten students to watercolor!
If one of the things your students struggle with is BRUSH CONTROL (or just not abusing those poor paintbrushes!), might I recommend my Paintbrush Ballerina method? You can kick things off with my book The Paintbrush Ballerina and then dive into my free downloads!
Once complete, students can 'graduate' to painting with watercolor paint in these fancy frames...and even earn a Paintbrush Pro certificate! Those downloads are here.
Now let's get to those lessons!
In my Tips and Tricks video, I share that one of my favorite things to do is create customized watercolor trays. I like to have a warm and a cool tray on hand as that allows my students to explore with watercolor paint without the messy/muddy paintings. Warm and cool colors are analogous which means that they not only sit next to each other on the color wheel but...they also look great when mixed!
For this second grade lesson, students had to decide which they wanted to use: warm or cool. Then we traced a circle and created this sunset or sunrise scene.
Once dry, we created these silhouettes with India ink. You can find the lesson details here!
Here's an oldie from over 10 years ago but LOOOOK how pretty! This is a similar process to painting the background with an exploration of Ming vases. Details here.
If you'd like to see my introducing watercolor paint to my kindergarten friends, visit here!
Now this lesson is usually one I do with tempera cakes BUT you could also do it with watercolor paint. It's the perfect rainbow follow up lesson for kindergarten (or any grade!). Lesson here!
Now I never did a blog post on what we did with those rainbows but...I do have the evidence! I did this lesson EVERY YEAR (which is wild I never blogged about it) and they always made me so happy. We created the sun and cloud images and added them later. We used blue chalk to add color to the sky before we added the cloud and the sun.
Exploring abstract painting is always fun...especially when you can tie it in with the combo of crayons or oil pastels and watercolor. They always look so fab together! This could also be a super fun LINE review. Which seems like the perfect time to reread my book Larry the Line! Find this lesson here.
Now I don't think I ever created a lesson on this one (my googling turned up empty handed) but what we did with the weavings was create these fun houses! To do this, we painted with tempera on a large sheet of paper a sky and the ground. Once dry, we cut out a house silhouette and glued it over our weavings. Early finishers had fun learning how to do a little bit of stitching!
I love this lesson for learning how to do a fun wet-on-wet technique. In the video, I'll walk your artists through the process and they will love the magic!
One of my VERY favorite things to do is create these texture cards for use with oil pastels and watercolor. I've created several vidoes on how to create these but...it's so easy! Just use tag board and glue to draw some line designs. I used the line ideas I created in Larry the Line.
To create them quickly, I cut a ton of those little cards and laid them all on a table before attacking them with lines drawn by my glue gun. Then my kindergarten friends used oil pastels to create texture rubbings!
From there, they painted over the texture rubbings with watercolor before using ink filled bingo daubers to add an alphabet. This lesson is always a hit! Also...those texture cards will last FOREVER. I made one set and used it for over 10 years! Lesson details here.
This lesson was created for a sub to use and the kids LOVED it! This one comes with a video and a free download. You can find it here!
Check out this fun one! This could be the next step in the house lesson where your artists create little pop up houses. The most fun was in created the patterned background. Lesson details here.
I love a lesson that ties in a couple of concepts. This one explores LINE (featuring Larry!) as well as the wet-on-wet watercolor technique. You can find the full lesson here.
Back to the lesson at hand! In this one, students will use watercolor paint and a wet-on-wet technique to create their jumble of geometric shapes! For my favorite watercolor supplies, you can visit here. Here's the video lesson:
This lesson pairs perfectly with my previous one on organic shapes so they are fun to do together. And they are quick lessons, so no need for a lotta days set aside for this!
Transparency film is totally not necessary BUT...I have found that kids love to draw on the slick surface of a dry erase board. With that in mind, I thought of my stash of transparency film when it came to these projects. If you ask around at school, there is usually a ton under a pile of dust somewhere in the librarian's closet! Or you can pick it up here.
OR students could simply draw directly onto their paintings!
This shape sheet can be found in the back of my book!
OR you could just totally leave 'em like this! I love the look of these with the watercolor dots!
Regardless, I do hope you and your amazing artists have fun!
Hey, y'all! I'm coming to you this week with two new fun lessons with a focus on SHAPE! I'm super stoked about these and how they tie in with my book Alfred the Ape Knows His Shapes. Now, you don't need my book for the lesson as I share some images from the book in the video but...it would really suppliment the lesson for sure!
For this project, you'll need the following supplies:
* Paper cut to 8.5" X 11"; I like to use 80 lbs mixed media paper
The focus of this lesson (and the one I'll be sharing in the next couple of days) is SHAPE. In particular, the difference between ORGANIC and GEOMETRIC shapes. In this lesson, the artists will be creating an organic shape painting while learning a fun watercolor technique called Wet-On-Wet.
By the way, my book explores ALL things shape! I wrote it because...while there are a lot of books on shapes they seem to focus namely on teaching the names of shapes. Often, they seem geared to ward a very young audience. I wrote this book with the second grade curriculum in mind and all of the knowlege that children that age should know. To take a look inside my book, watch the video or...visit here!
I was recently sharing with some art teachers during a virtual PD (did you know that I host those? Yep! You can always contact me at cassieart75@gmail.com to learn more!) and we were talking about 'early finishers'. For this lesson, students who finish painting early can always...create another painting! I like to offer smaller papers for my early finishers. This saves paper and, if students are given a smaller brush, they are also forced to WORK smaller!
Often, I'll ask my early finishers to be 'art helpers' and ask their friends "do you want some help?" before assisting them on their work. Some students love the help of their friends while others prefer to work independently. It's important that students have that choice.
Just a couple of thoughts on those early finisher friends!
Going on a SHAPE walk, especially outside, can be fun when introducing organic and geometric shapes. Or! Just press pause on my video and let the students see if they can identify the difference between the two.
Personally, I think the paintings without the lines are a lot of fun! My students LOVE the wet on wet watercolor technique. It's also great for teaching paintbrush control.
Now no matter what the thickness of paper, unless you are using watercolor paper (and who has the budget for that?!), it's gonna wrinkle. This is why I keep a thrift store iron in my art room to stack and flatten the artwork. Just a hot tip of ya, in case you too are a little wrinkly (I blame the children for each of my wrinkles).
Now, once the paintings are complete and dry, the kids could draw directly on their artwork OR...they could use transparency film.
I like the transparency film because the slick surface is super fun to draw on AND....if the kids draw something they don't like, you can 'erase' the lines with a dry erase marker! Just trace over the lines with the dry erase and wipe off with a tissue. Boom! It's gone!
WARNING! I made the error of not making my paper the same size as the transparency film...so don't make that mistake! Be sure and cut the paper to a 8.5" X 11" before letting the kids paint. Trust me! It will make things a whole lot easier.
Have fun and stay tuned for the GEOMETRIC shape lesson.
Oh! And!
Just a reminder that I'll be at NAEA next month, signing and selling my books. Hope to see you there!
