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!

 
 

 

 

March Comes in Like a Lion

In Sights and Sounds of the Seasons we talked about the popular saying,

Winter Snowmen Paintings

In Sights and Sounds of the Seasons we celebrated the winter snow by building our own indoor snowmen.  Rather than drawing and painting a traditional 3 ball snowman, we took on the challenge of painting closeup snowman in a profile view. 

 First:  The snowman was drawn with black oil pastels making sure it was cropped of either side of the blue paper.  Eyes, Nose, Mouth, Buttons, and Arms came next.  Students designed their own hats and scarves to add to their snowmen. 

Second: Use temperas to paint everything on the snowman that wasn't white (hats, eyes, scarves....Carrots!) 

Third: Next white painted was added to the snowman.  Now it's time to let it snow by painting fluffy snowflakes.    

Last : We retraced our black lines to ensure our snowmans don't get lost in the winter blizzard.

Enjoy!

 

               Chloe                                  Aidan

  Eddie                                       Gaia

       Jack                                     Jake

      Maddy                                   Luke

       Meredith                            Meghan

    Victoria                                 Nicholas

Yula

Wintertime Birdhouses

In Sights and Sounds of the Seasons we discussed how birds survive the brutal cold winters here in Pennsylvania.  Some birds, like geese, migrate south to warmer climates.  Some birds stay here and often choose birdhouses to stay warm. 

• To start, sharpies were used to draw a birdhouse and any decorations for the house (perch, hole, roof)
• Next the children used colorful tempera paints to paint their birdhouses.
• The next class students used colorful papers, feathers, and buttons to create birds to live in their special birdhouses. 
• Lastly, we used our figures to add crisp, white snow to our pictures.  Enjoy!

 

Eddie

 

Cullen

 

Jack

 

Chloe

 

Meredith

 

Maddy

 

Aidan

 

Megan

 

Miss Vanessa

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

Mixed Media Scarecrows

In Sights and Sounds of the Seasons we created fabulous mixed media scarecrows to celebrate fall harvest. First, we discussed how scarecrows are used to prevent crows and other animals from eating a farmer's crop.  We also talked about how many families make (or buy) scarecrows as decorations during the Autumn season.  This project took two 1 hour classes, but make take longer depending on the student age and size of the watercolor paper.

Supplies include:

11"x 15" watercolor paper

Watercolors-pan or even better... liquid!

Craft Sticks

Patterned Paper and/or leftover painted paper

Construction paper

Raffia

Googly Eyes

Buttons

Sharpies

1: We began this project by using watercolors to paint a farm scene of crop fields and a blue sky.  Each hill was filled with bountiful fruit and vegetable crops. 

2. We also constructed a simple scarecrow "skeleton" using craft sticks and glue, which we would dress the following week. Use two sticks for the head and body, and then add arms and legs.

3. We continued this project the following week by focusing on giving our scarecrows clothing and a personality.  Students cut out pants, shirts, dresses, hats, patches, and faces using their skeleton as a template.  We use construction paper, patterned paper and some leftover painted papers.

4.   After our scarecrows were well dressed, we added googly eyes, raffia, and buttons.  Finally the scarecrows were glued onto their painted backgrounds.  Below are some of the fantastic results.

    Eddie                                        Cullen

     Beth                                               Karlee

                                              Seth

        Aidan                                        Adric

       Gaia                                       Chloe

            Levi                                     Maddie

            Megan                                   Meredith

 Miss Vanessa