Kusama Inspired Dot Sticker Artwork

Here is a throwback lesson to last school year when I taught my elementary classes via zoom from my classroom to theirs! I introduced each grade to a modern or contemporary artist and 3rd grade learned about Yayoi Kusama. I read them a book about her but for the life of me I can't remember which one! I will share this resource from the Tate about her- https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/explore/who-is/who-yayoi-kusama because it would work really well.

I came across a big bunch of dot stickers like people use for garage sales when I was cleaning out a drawer so those became the special material for this lesson. I gave each student a sheet of orange, yellow, and green and a piece of drawing paper. Then they were allowed to use the dot stickers however they wanted with the school supplies they had in their bins! It was interesting to see the different solutions they came up with. Some students even used the stickers as masks and removed them after coloring.

Sometimes we find materials and ask each other what project could be done with it, but I'd encourage you to present them to your students and see what they think of!

Kinder Circles

One of the first projects for my Kindergarten students this year was stamping and painting dots for International Dot Day. We talked about shapes when the students used empty play-doh containers to stamp circles into a composition. Some overlapped, some didn't. Some dragged the containers all over the paper which made it mostly turn black. I didn't encourage this but didn't make them stop. I might have said something like "Oh, you won't have much room to add color next week if you turn your paper all black!" but I was fine with them exploring the tool.

 In the second class, we talked about the primary colors and how they can be mixed to create secondary colors. Each table was give only primary colors and the students were encouraged to try creating new colors. My new painting management technique is to put out a sponge instead of giving out paper towels. Students clean their brushes in the shared water and then blot on the shared sponge. I think this idea came from Choice Without Chaos if I remember correctly! It has worked very well so far, though I still have students asking "What is the sponge for again?" The sponge is a lot more absorbent than the brown paper towels at school.

I used the opportunity to talk about paintbrush care since it was the first exposure to tempera paint for most students. They did a pretty good job for the first time! I asked them to "dip the tip", hold the paintbrush "like a pencil", and mix paint on the paper instead of mixing all the colors together on the tray. I love how the paintings turned out. Some painted inside each circle and some did not. Either way, I think they are beautiful! Some students even added crayon in the next class period. I am WAAAAY behind on this blogging thing! Oh, parenthood. The boys are worth it! :)

Kindergarten Wax-Resist Kandinskys

 My original idea for this Kindergarten project was to make wax-resist concentric circles inspired by Wassily Kandinsky, then use the circles as the center of sunflowers. After the students finished painting their circles (on 6 inch square paper), we liked them so much that we didn't want to cut them! 

  Instead, I decided to display them side by side to make a gigantic Kandinsky-inspired bulletin board.

This is just about the longest bulletin board I've ever seen! I had to use some of my examples and make a couple more signs to fill the space.

We've gotten tons of compliments on this project! The artwork really brightened up the hallway. I took the artwork down on Tuesday. Tomorrow is a work day so I'll be finishing up the YAM display.

Kindergarten Concentric Circles- My New Approach to Kandinsky

My SMART goal this year is about Kindergarten students being able to identify and draw basic geometric shapes.  I am doing one project that focuses on each shape.  Kandinsky's Farbstudie Quadrate was the inspiration for the circle project.  Last year when I did this project, I asked all students to make their concentric circles on a grid, like Kandinsky. (See the first few photos below.)  

 My approach to learning about the artist stayed the same but this year I realized that the grid wasn't necessary so I gave the students more choices.  My regular classes used markers and crayons and my double Kindergarten class did a wax resist version.  (I got permission to take one class at a time into the Art room while a Para led the other class in play-doh sculptures in the cafeteria.)  I really like the free style circle drawings.

1st Grade Circle Prints

 This idea was inspired by the circle printing lesson on Art is the Best Part of the Day.  This was a two class period project.  On the first day, we reviewed organic and geometric shapes (that seems to be my "thing" this year) and talked about how overlapping creates new shapes.  We used styrofoam cups like I saw on Art is the Best Part of the Day but we also added cardboard tubes for variety in size paint.  I put black tempera paint out in little trays and showed the students how to stick the cups and tubes in the paint, then print on their papers.  I asked the students to have overlapping and to fill the space.  

On day 2, I showed the students how to find the new shapes that were created by overlapping and asked them to not have two shapes of the same color that touched.  I also reminded them to trace the outline of the shape with crayon first before carefully coloring the inside.

Some students got a little carried away with printing and had LOTS of little shapes to try to color in.  I encouraged the students to take their time and think about where they were putting each circle but some just couldn't resist! :)

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2 More Kindergarten Projects

I'm getting a lot done today on our first official snow day of the school year! School was in session yesterday but I called in afraid to make my 4o mile trek to school with worse weather in my area.

Here are 2 more Kindergarten projects I've been meaning to add:

Kandinsky-Inspired Concentric Circles

Kindergarten students learned about artist Wassily Kandinsky and used the DBAE approach- Describe, Analyze, Interpret, and Judge, to discuss his painting Farbstudie Quadrate from 1913. I love the painting and have a poster of it in my classroom. We talked about the shapes and counted the circles and squares, talked about the colors, discusse

d "abstract", learned the word "concentric", shared opinions and ideas, and talked about aesthetics. Here is a picture of Kandinsky's painting:

Several students thought the circles look like eyeballs and of course being in Kansas, a few said they thought it was pictures of tornadoes. I showed the students how to fold their 9x12 inch papers in half horizontally or hotdog style (thank you Dinah Zike) and then how to fold the paper into thirds. After the paper was folded I showed the students how to start

with a circle in the middle of each section then make different colored rings around it using markers and some crayon on top of the markers. The picture above was not quite finished but it's the best image I have of the project right now!

Cars and Roads

I got the idea for this project from one of my Kindergarten students who constantly wants to draw "car roads". At first I thought he was saying Cairo but then he made a drawing to show me, an intricate grid of "car roads" or highways. I played with the idea and came up with this: First students draw their roads, an interesting line that fills the page. Some drew curvy roa

ds, some straight lines, whatever they wanted. After drawing the road, they were to fill in the rest of the space with things you would see next to a road or highway. Next, I showed the students how to draw a VERY basic car and truck using simple shapes. Each student picked a construction paper square, drew their vehicle, and cut it out. I thought it would be good practice to try to cut out the shapes that they drew and while it was very difficult for some, some students surprised me with their fine motor skills! After the vehicles were cut out, they were glued to the roads.