Owls in the Night

In Sights and Sounds of the Seasons we were inspired by this fabulous art lesson from Deep Space Sparkle of Torn Paper Owls.  To begin, I read excerpts from Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, which tells the story of a girl who goes owl sighting with her father on a cold winter's night to see her first owl. 


As we enter a time of more nighttime, owls are more likely to be spotted since they hunt at night since most are nocturnal.  We learned about different features of owls that make them unique including their huge, staring eyes and their little ears that provide them with their keen hearing.  The children also agreed that while they're cute, owls can be quite scary, especially since they have the ability to fly almost silently.   We talked about how their soft flight feathers muffle the sound of their wings making them excellent nighttime hunters. 

This project was completed in one hour and used the following materials:
18"x12" Dark Blue Construction Paper
Oil Pastels-white, yellow, and black
Scraps of owl colors-brown, gray, white, black, orange, yellow
Precut circles in various sizes for the eyes (older students can cut their own!)
White glue
Scissors

1. To begin students learned how suprisingly simple it was to draw an owl. With black pastel start with two large circles for the eyes, add a triangle beak, then a head with little pointy ears.  Next add a large "U" for the body, and then legs and talons (the students loved this word!).  The wings can be drawn spread out in flight or perched. A branch could be added if the students wanted to.

2. White and yellow oil pastels were used to add stars, a moon, and/or clouds to the dark blue sky.

3.  Owl colored paper scraps were torn to make up the feathers of the owl.  We did the body and head the same color first, then the wings a different color (this helps them stand out).  Glue was added to the areas in sections and the feathers were added to cover all the blue paper.

4. Next students selected 3 different sized circles for the eyes (some chose to cut their own out). These were layed with the smallest on the top and largest on the bottom.  The eyes are the most important part of the owl so they have to stand out!

5. Beaks and legs were either cut or torn and then glued on.  The branch was also covered in torn paper at this time.

The students had a blast creating these very special owls and were proud to show them to their parents!

 
 

 

 

Mexican Marigolds

In Journey Around the World, 4-7 year olds visited Mexico, where we learned about the annual Day of the Dead celebration or "Día de los Muertos." Marigolds are an important flower during this time as they keep the celebrations welcoming and joyful for all involved. 

This project took two 1 hour classes and used the following materials:


White Tag Board 12"x18"
Blue Construction Paper 12"x18"
Tempera Paint-red, orange, yellow, pink, metallic gold (warm colors)
Paint Shaper Combs
Sequins
Green Construction Scraps
Warm Construction paper 9"x12"
Oil Pastels (warm colors and black)
Scissors, Glue, Paintbrushes


On the first day students began by dividing their tag board into thirds while the paper is in the horizontal position (this just has to be approximate).  Next warm colored tempera paint, various paint shaper combs, brushes, and sponges were provided.  Students painted the first section mostly red (they could add orange or gold), the second orange, and the third seciton yellow.  We emphasize trying to create unique textures in each section of these painted papers. These were set aside to dry for the next class.

Next students chose a piece of warm colored construction paper and drew a vase form of their choice.  Students were to make sure their vase was large and took up most of the paper. These were cut out and then oil pastels in warm hues were used to add a simple geometric or line pattern.  These were glued to the bottom portion of the blue construction paper (the blue is in vertical /portait position)


The next class students began making Mexican Marigolds--they had a blast and learned some great new cutting skills. 

First the painted paper was cut into 3 parts, one of each color.  Then each color was cut in half to get 6 squares total, two of each color.  I showed them how to "round out the corners" to create a circle. 

 From there students were free to cut, shape, and tear their circles to create petals.    They could cut notches, fringe, rounded petals, spikes...Whatever they wanted.  The goal was to create 3 separate flowers, each with at least 3 colors and layers.  Smaller circles were cut for the centers and extra layers of the fluffy marigolds. 

Tacky glue was used to add shiny sequins to the centers to jazz these amazing flowers up (Not that they needed it!)

The last step was to use various shades of green construction to create a stem and leaves for each flower.  The flowers, stems and leaves were all glued onto the blue construction so they filled the vase. 

This project makes a great display for fall, as it is colorful, cheerful and had bold fall colors.  It's really not as complex as it sounds--all the steps are simple!

 

 

 

Painted Paper Gourd Collages

In The Sights and Sounds of the Seasons we made colorful gourd collages using homemade painted papers.  Children, old and young alike LOVE making painted paper--it's their chance to experiment and explore the endless possibilities of paint application and manipulation.

This was a two day project --one for painting papers and the next for making the collage.

Supplies are minimal and most are paint texturing items:

White suphite paper 12"x18"

Tempera paint in fall colors

Large Brushes

Magic Paint texturizing tools: Paint combs or scrapers,

 sponges, toothbrushes, bubble wrap...anything that will add texture

1. Paints in warm fall colored paints (red, orange, yellow, brown, and green) were set out and children used various items to texture white suphite paper.  Goards, pumpkins, leaves and  Indian corn were displayed so students can observe the textures and colors.

2. We used toothbrushes to splatter, sponges to dab, bubble wrap to print, combs to drag, and even our fingers! Names were put on the papers before painting began. Ensure that students put names on all papers--they can also just be made for sharing with the whole class (some kids do grow attached to their papers though, but will share...some!)

3. In the next class students were inspired by a still life of various gourds, pumpkins, leaves and Indian corn to create a unique collage.  Shapes were cut from the painted papers and sharing of papers was encouraged.  Objects were arranged to overlap each other. These were glued to black paper to make the vibrant colors pop!

 Below are some results.

Adric

Beth

Chloe

Cullen

Eddie

Gaia

Jake

Karlee

Levi

Maddy

Megan

Meredith

Seth

Miss Vanessa

Fall Harvest Bean Mosaics!

In The Sights and Sounds of the Season we welcomed the fall harvest by paying homage to all the colorful foods that could be used to create mosaics. I began by explaining that the history of mosaic art goes back some 4,000 years or more.  The Greeks began using this technique by arranging pebbles in precise patterns to create scenes of people and animals.  Later in Italy, wall mosaics were made using "Tesserae," tiny glass and terracotta pieces, which were vivid and reflected light.  Students were also shown examples of Byzantine and Islamic mosaics, which decorated glorious mosques, temples, and other places of worship.


After a brief mosaic history, I showed the students some of the materials we were using to create our own mosaics. They took turns identifying the items, as we used common dried foods like split peas, black beans, pumpkin seeds, rice, navy beans, kidney beans, and more.  I even passed around a spice jar of Anise stars and had them use their little noses to make their best guess as to what common candy they smelled like (Licorice!). 

This project took two classes and used the following supplies:
6"x 6" matte board or cardboard square
various beans, seans, twigs...etc
Leaves
white glue
warm colored tempera paint
string
hot glue gun/sticks


First: Each student was given at 6"x 6" chipboard square.  I showed students some leaves and asked them to identify what tree they were from.  Most were common like oak, maple, and birch.  They then traced the leaves onto their board (some did one, others did 2 or 3, depending on leaf size)

Next: Students filled in one leaf at a time with glue and covered the leaf area with dark colored beans or seeds.  They repeated this step with the remaining leaves.  They used light colored seeds and rice to fill in the background area. 


In the next class: To introduce warm fall colors into this mosaic, we added craft stick frames for the border.  Lastly, using red, yellow, brown, and orange tempera paint, the artists painted the frames and any empty spaces of their chipboard.  We even attached a yarn string to make these mosaics hangable decorations! Some chose to go without a string and use them for trivets.


Here are some examples of our Fall Harvest Bean Mosaics!

 
























                Cullen





       

                 Chloe

         Aidan

  

      


















          Eddie



            Jack



                Gaia



          Karlee

           Jake
        

























                   Levi





                   Maddy

       Megan


























           Meredith



























         Seth





        Beth
                                               
                                           Miss Vanessa

                     

                         These looked so artsy while

                  they were drying on newspaper all in a row!