Colourful Oil Pastel Paper Weavings

This is a great one day lesson that my Grade 4-6 students completed in an 80 minute period. 

The nice thing about oil pastels is you get vibrant colours and don't need to worry about drying time.

I found the lesson HERE. 

I let my students choose any colour combinations they wanted. Its a great lesson for reviewing colour theory and different types of harmonious colour combinations. We used cardstock and glued the strips onto 12 x 18" black construction paper and then I cropped them down after. 

 

Colour Wheel Snowflakes

This was a super fast lesson that only really took about 40 minutes to complete.

I wanted to review the colour wheel with my class and have them do an art lesson where they had to really concentrate using their fine motor skills- I'm finding my students the past five years have really gone downhill in terms of fine motor skills, and I'm not blaming covid!

I found the project inspiration HERE but tweaked it a bit. 

I have these awesome snowflake stencils from the brand Roylco.

Students chose one and traced it onto a square of cardstock in pencil.

Then they coloured each 'branch' using a different colour from the colour wheel (we skipped indigo).

You need to outline it three times so you have a nice thick band of colour/pigment.

Then, using a brush and water, paint over each marker line to dissolve it and create a soft shaded watercolour effect. If the line is too thin, it won't bleed much.

 

Warm Cool Watercolour Grid Paintings

One of my all time favourite watercolour projects! I teach this to Grade 7,8,9 and it gives them a good grasp of how colours work well together (analogous and warm vs. cool) and also brush control when using watercolours. 

I posted this project previously HERE and HERE.

Students measure a grid onto heavy white paper. The smaller the grid, the longer and more challenging it is to paint essentially.  So it's a good project for differentiation.

Then they draw an image onto the grid. I leave the subject matter up to them. They just need to make sure to fill the page effectively. Then they paint it using watercolours- I typically encourage warm versus cool colours but you could use any type of colour combinations really. 

Some finished works:

 

Circle Grid Tree

This is a perfect back-to-school lesson as well as a perfect end of the year lesson. Simple materials, straightforward directions -----> perfect for those times of the year where it can be stressful or hectic.

I've posted about this lesson previously HERE.

I found the lesson HERE.

I use markers for this project but you could also use coloured pencils or crayons.

I have different marker brands organized in different bins.

I print the template onto regular 8 x 11" photocopy paper. I've also used larger sizes before but they take a really long time to finish and students can lose motivation. 

I encourage the students to create a pattern within the tree. I give them free reign in terms of colours. 

They write down the colours they use on the bottom of the paper so they know which colours to use next class.

These look so beautiful hung up on a bulletin board!!

Some Grade 4-6 results: