Elementary Art Enrichment Ideas

When we started our Continuous Learning Plan, Kansas' response to Covid-19, it was decided that elementary specials would be offered as enrichment. Music and PE had two different Zoom sessions a week for PK-2 and 3-6 but I got permission to just do one for all elementary and to use Facebook live. I think it worked better for me with demonstrating (not that I was flawless) than Zoom would have. Why did I ask for one session? Well, besides that I had scheduled Zoom sessions with my middle and high school classes on the same day, I knew that I could present the same ideas and tell how younger and older kids could participate. I also know that with my own children, if the older kid is doing an activity, the younger kids want to do the same thing. All in all, it worked out pretty well.

Here are the themes I used for each week:

Week 1: Color

In the first week I talked about primary and secondary colors and how to mix them then we made a found object color wheel for the #colorwheelchallenge!

Does anyone else have trouble when downloading images from the Canva app? Sometimes I have to do a screenshot to avoid distortions like in the graphic above.

Week 2: The Creatrilogy
Peter H. Reynolds gave permission for teachers to read his books to our classes and since I'm a big fan, I read The Dot, Ish, and Sky Color from the Creatrilogy box set. Suggested activities were...
The Dot: Make dot artwork!
Ish: Draw ishly- use a marker so you can't erase and embrace mistakes!
Sky Color: Observe the sky and paint what you see. Maybe even observe the sky at different times of day or different days of the week. Watercolor demo.

Week 3: Zoos and Aquariums
Have you seen all the zoos and aquariums that were offering virtual field trips and animal talks during social distancing? I showed 4 project ideas inspired by specific zoos or aquariums- a porcupine from the Elmwood Park Zoo, a jellyfish from the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, Fiona the Hippo from the Cincinnati Zoo, and a giant panda from the Smithsonian National Zoo. Check it out!

Week 4: Earth Week
Goldsworthy-inspired nature artwork, Patrick Dougherty-inspired stick art, nature faces, nature fairies, and stick weaving. I love nature art!
Here is the doc with the activities I suggested. Feel free to make a copy so you can edit!

Week 5: Fauvism
I thought of Matisse's Open Window as soon as I knew we would be working from home. I wanted to talk to students about looking around them and how we all see different things out their windows. I said they could draw from observation what they see out their window or even what they would like to see! I went ahead and threw in some more art history and talked about setting up a colorful still life to observe.
Here is the doc I shared!

Week 6: Art Outside
This was my worst week! I paid attention to the temperature in the forecast but not the wind speed. And I live in Kansas! I tried to show using toys to draw shadows and doing texture rubbings but it was so windy that after 5 or 10 minutes I told the students watching it was a good thing they already knew I wasn't perfect and gave up.

Week 7: 2D and 3D
I couldn't really decide what to do for the last week so I asked on my facebook page what the students wanted. A first grader told her mom it would be "life changing" (LOL) if I would show how to draw 3D shapes since they were doing that in 1st grade math. We talked about the differences between 2D shapes and 3D forms (in art we have more specific vocabulary) and then I showed how to draw cubes, cylinders, and cones. I ended by showing how to do 1 point perspective letters since that is usually a hit with upper elementary students.

Continuous Learning: Nature

During Continuous Learning, I included several choice board options that involved nature. I find that getting outside really improves my mood so I figured it would be good for students, too. I teach in a rural area so these were accessible options for my middle and high school students.

Take a Photo That Represents Spring

Spend Time in Nature, Take a Photo to Document

Andy Goldsworthy-Inspired Nature Artwork

I love how the student organized the rocks by value

Another spiral. I love the texture of the clover showing through the sticks.

My example made with things found in my yard

Things Organized Neatly- Self Portrait in Objects

Next up in art challenges that don't require art supplies, Things Organized Neatly- Self Portrait in Objects! I came across #ThingsOrganizedNeatly last year and used it as a challenge for Photo Friday last fall, but then my KAEA friend, Nicky Bowers gave me an idea to add the self-portrait element after she had her students arrange and photograph at 15 objects that represented them.

While some students didn't understand the concept of composition and kind of just threw the items in a pile, some understood and did a good job. I think if we happen to be online next year, I will probably give a handful of choices instead of ALL THE CHOICES at once so we can go over the concepts behind each one.

Some of the high school students included a list of objects and the reasoning for including them and that was interesting to read!

This post includes work from middle and high school students. I think it worked well with both age groups.

Advanced Students Art From Home

My advanced students were given prompts for the first few weeks before moving to choice boards. Here are some of their pieces!

Make art with what you can find at home

Food art inspired by Jessie Bearden

Make art showing how you feel about your social distancing experience

The points on the map represent feeling distanced from her friends.

Make art about a personally meaningful theme or idea