Art Show snowmen!

The second graders had their music/art show this evening, and since the music teacher was showcasing Christmas music, I decided to have them do some sort of winter picture. I have many snowmen lessons that I do, but decided to research on pinterest for some new ones. I found a great one here: http://mrsjacksonsartroom.blogspot.com/ (you gotta love pinterest!) Anyway... I fell in love with it, and had to have my students make them. So, 92 snowmen later this is what we had for the art show, and let me tell you, the parents LOVED them! Just in case you were wondering why they were not all in a straight row, they were hung on a wall where there was a ramp and handrails, so they had to be staggered in order to not go behind the hand rail. Unfortunately, I am not tall enough to hang them high enough that this wouldn't be a problem. I'm still waiting on my last growth spurt... it just hasn't come yet!

Tissue paper sun catchers

My second graders are getting ready to start this new project. It is a sun catcher that is created with tissue paper collage, and a black construction paper silhouette. We start by taking blue and purple tissue paper and ripping it up into small pieces. The tissue paper is glued onto a transparency sheet using liquid starch that I added Crayola Glitter It! to (it gives it a little sparkle that the kids love!) While the tissue paper dries, the students take a piece of black construction paper that is the same size as the transparency and draw a one inch border on it, then draw a tree without leaves that touches all four sides of the border, and then cut it out. Finally, the students glue the trees to their tissue paper. These are a great display on the windows in our school lobby. We also made them last year and displayed them at the local mall.

Kindergarten Calico Cats

This is one of my favorite lessons to do with my kindergartners. It is a tissue paper collage with a painted outline. I give each student a 9x12 and a 12x18 piece of paper. Using crayons, I show the students how to draw a body using a large oval, and then add legs and a tail onto it. Then I show them to draw a cat's hear by drawing a circle and adding triangle ears, football shaped eyes, triangle nose and whiskers. Next, the students use black tempera paint to over their crayon lines, and then we let them dry. The next time the students come to art, they are given liquid starch and tissue paper squares. They brush the liquid starch onto the cat, and place the tissue paper onto the starch. Then they brush more starch onto the tissue paper to seal it. I talk to the students about overlapping the tissue paper, and give them time to work. After the cats dry, we cut them out and glue the heads onto the bodies. For a little bit of sparkle, try adding Crayola Glitter It! mixing medium into the starch. The students love this because then their cats are glittery.