Cozy Creatures in Winter art project

This was a quick and adorable art lesson I developed for a 40 minute class I had to teach. Normally my periods are 80 minutes long, so it was a challenge to find a project my Grade 7-9 students could complete in that short time. 

I found this small winter themed scrapbook paper at Dollarama. I've never seen anything like it- it looks definitly AI produced but I was here for it! Any teacher who visited my room and saw it LOVED it, lol.

The paper was about 5 x 5". There were about 8 different designs- as students walked in, they chose one.

I used regular photocopy paper and split it into 4 pieces, so each square was small. The students googles clip art images on 'animals with scarves or sweaters". They drew their animal in pencil, then, using a fine tip black marker, they added stippling for fur texture. they then coloured in the scarf/sweater using pencil crayons. They cut it out and glued it onto their background. I love how cute they came out!!

Cozy cuteness overload!

 

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.

 

Birch Trees Watercolour Paintings

This is a very popular and well-known art teacher project- you can see variations all over the internet. 

I think it's so popular because there is a high student success rate with this lesson, due to using masking tape. I've posted versions of this project many, many times in the past.

I now normally do this lesson with my Grade 7-9 class. 

On heavy white paper, draw a wavy horizon line for the snow. Then students use different sized widths of masking paper and tear/cut tree shapes and put it on the paper. Some choose to add branches for extra realism.

Trace around the bottom of the tree trunks with a pencil.

Paint the sky using watercolours. Let dry.

Some add salt for texture.

The next class, carefully remove the masking tape. Mix up a cool toned light grey/blue and use it to paint shadows down on side of each tree trunk. |Then, using the same paint, add cast shadows from the bottom of each tree. Make sure you go in the same diagonal direction for each tree.

Final step is to add the signature black markings using a thin brush and black paint.

I always love how these come out- it's a real crowd pleaser!!