Petals and Picasso

This drawing of a hand holding flowers is based on a similar work
done by Picasso in his later years. The goal of this lesson is to
introduce spatial awareness to young artists. Students observe that
the part of the flower stem that is held can not be seen because the
hand is not flat, but folded around the stems. Instead of tracing a
flat hand, students trace their hand with the fingers folded and
then draw in the fingers to indicate how some of the hand is behind
the flower and the fingers are in front.

The best part of this lesson based on the paintings of Monet, is that every child can work independently and achieve success in reaching the goals related to working with line, color, space, and symmetry. Using oil pastels, students explore line in creating trunks, branches and twigs of trees. The reflection of the trees in the water is done by folding the paper and burnishing the tree design with a wide popsicle stick. Finally the color of the ground, sky, and water are done with washes of watercolors. This lesson can be coordinated with science units of the seasons.

There's a Monster in My Closet

This project is a wonderful way to relate literature and sculptural art to young artists. It came to me as I was pouring the last of my cereal into a bowl one morning! Dark places can be pretty mysterious and children get to express their creativity as they build their own monsters using a variety of textural, three-dimensional objects. Classroom teachers can have children write or tell their own stories based on their creations.