Observational Plant Drawings

I have a lot of plants in my classroom. They have proven to be very useful over the years for a spontaneous art projects. One of my favourites, that require no prep, are observational drawings. 

With this group, Grade 7-9, we practiced first directly drawing them with black markers. Afterwards, they could choose their own media- most chose watercolour. 

Observational drawing is an excellent way to help students learn to draw what they see. It is difficult at firs but the best way, in my opinion, to strengthen one's drawing skills and build confidence. 

 

Hoop Weaving

I saw some gorgeous hoop weaving in a fancy gift store one day and figured I could probably figure out how to make one. I enlisted the help of a colleague at work who also happens to be a master weaver!

She bought bamboo embroidery hoops of various sizes. She taught the students (Grade 7-9) how to wrap cotton twine all around the hoop for the warp strings. 

Then she demonstrated how to start off weaving in the middle with the classic over-under-over-under method. Then she demonstrated the sumac weave. 

Students had the most fun choosing the colours for their weaving. Once they started, they quickly got the hang of it!  These take a long time to complete so it's best to start off with smaller hoops.

Here's some in-progress photos- most kids had to take their hoops home for the summer to finish. 

 

One Eyed Alien Art Project

This is a Grade 5 project I developed quite a few years ago. I was perusing my local Dollarama and found really big googly eyes (about 1" - 2" in diameter). I immediately thought of a cool one-eyed alien project. This lesson really challenges students' creative skills.

This project was published in SchoolArts Magazine a few years ago. 

You only need simple materials for this art project:

black construction paper
white paint or white paint pens (for stars)
markers
copy paper
large googly eyes (1- 1" diameter)

scissors and glue sticks

See all the steps to this project in my previous post HERE.

 

Cute Llama Art Project

This is a cute quick project we snuck in during June craziness. Alot of my class was away on field trips so I just had a few kids. We drew these cute little llamas.

See my previous post about this project HERE.

So I start off my demonstrating how to draw a cute llama. 

Then students drew theirs on 12 x 18" heavy white paper. 

Then outlined in sharpie.

They created a pattern on the fabric and coloured it using coloured sharpies.

Finally, they could bubble cut them out or add a background and 

then glue on mini pom-poms for a little halter type thingy.

Some Grade 4/5 results:

 

Color Diffusing Paper Watercolour Flowers

This was a fun and fast project for the end of the year with my Grade 4,5,6 class.

I ordered these colour diffusing paper flowers by Roylco.

Students simply chose a couple of flowers and painted them using liquid watercolours. 

Some sprinkled salt on top for a cool textural effect.

Once dry, they crumpled up orange tissue paper and glued it to the center. 

I'm sure there are many different ways of using these flowers 

but I kept it simple because JUNE, amirite, lol.

The important thing was my kids really enjoyed this as it was just free-flowing and fun!