"Year of the Dragon" art projects

My Grade 7-9 students recently finished their Chinese Dragons for Lunar New Year. This was an end of semester project for them. I gave them total free reign and said the only theme was "Chinese Dragon"- they could use any media they wished to illustrate this. I showed them a video about Lunar New Year celebration as well as one explaining the Chinese zodiac story. Some students shared how they celebrate with their families. I didn't do any tutorials other than showing them examples of dragons in Asian art. 

We discussed the physical  characteristics of a Chinese dragon. Chinese dragons have many animal-like forms such as turtles and fish, but are most commonly depicted as snake-like with four legs. Academicians have identified four reliable theories on the origin of the Chinese dragon: snakes, Chinese alligators, thunder worship and nature worship. They traditionally symbolize potent and auspicious powers, particularly control over water.

Chinese dragons have nine characteristics which are a complex combination. They have a camel’s head, a demon’s eyes, a cow’s ears, a deer’s horns, a clam’s belly, a snake’s neck, an eagle’s claws, a tiger’s paws and 117 carp scales.

Prior to the lesson, I hunted down some dragon themed Lunar New Year decorations at our local Asian supermarket. They had loads to choose from as you can see below.

Look at these giant cans of Lays potato chips!!!

I was super impressed by how these artworks turned out!  Watercolour was a popular medium.

 

  

 

Chinese Blue & White Porcelain Vases

This is a fantastic lesson I've incorporated into my "Art of China" unit. 

I pinned this lesson months and months ago and finally got around to it this year 

with my Grade 9/10 class.

It's found HERE on one of my all time favorite art blogs: http://arteascuola.com/

She gives all the instructions on her blog.

The only thing we did differently was use white acrylic paint instead of gesso. We also used simple bamboo sticks/skewers for the scratching part. My kids loved this lesson- a couple even saying it was their favorite all year :)

Chinese New Year Inspired Spiral Swirly Snake

This is a somewhat late posting of a Chinese New Year art project I did with Grade 1 students. 

2013 is the Year of the Snake so I immediately thought of the classic spiral snake craft and thought it would be manageable for Gr.1 kids.

Start off by showing the kids some images from Chinese New Year celebrations: the dragon and lion dances, the red lanterns, fireworks, etc. I also told them about the traditional colours used- most notably RED, which is considered a lucky and prosperous colour. 

Other colours commonly seen during this time are yellow and orange.

To start the project, each kid was given a blank spiral snake template which was double sided with the snake pattern on both sides. There are loads of different templates on the internet; I tried out a bunch beforehand and really liked this one from from The Lunchbox Season website.

Next time I would photocopy these onto cardstock as they would just end up being sturdier. Nonetheless, basic copy paper does work. Students coloured theirs using markers, but you could also paint them, or whatever you want, really. We talked about patterns and different ways we could colour the snakes to make them look interesting.

Once one side is coloured, flip over the paper and colour the back side as well, as both sides will be visible once the snakes are hung up. Allow about two classes for this whole colouring process. Then students simply cut them out following the black line. Add googly eyes or draw them on with a marker.

Here are some finished ones:

For hanging, I started off by poking a hole in the tail, then threaded yarn through it and after about 5 minutes of tediousness (and realizing I had to do 25 of these) I figured I needed an easier and faster way!! lol

So I cut pipe cleaners in half and found they were much easier and faster to thread through a hole in the tail, twist and voila, you have a hanging hook/loop thingy.

Here's one hung up. If there's a slight breeze in the room, they twirl around really slowly 

and are quite relaxing to look at!