Art Projects

STAINED GLASS ART

GRADES: 3-12

MATERIALS:

• colored tissue paper
• black construction paper
• glue sticks
• pencils
• scissors
• drawing paper (for the patterns)

METHOD:

1. Have the student draw a simple design, (flowers work very well in this project) or a collection of shapes. Do not have them overlap.
2. When the student has a nice design done, have the student cut out the shapes.
3. He then places them on the black construction paper, and traces around the outline.
4. When this is done, he carefully cuts out the shapes.
5. The student then picks the colors of the tissue paper he wishes to work with.
6. The student then uses the pattern pieces to retrace the shape on the construction paper, adding about 1/4 inch all around.
7. Working on the reverse side of the construction paper, he places glue around each shape, and carefully pastes down the tissue paper. Each piece, and each color should be glued down individually.
8. When completed the work should be placed on the window glass for display.

This is an easy project for the primary grades. It teaches students the primary colours as well learning how to mix primary colours to make the secondary colours. The project is very satisfying for the students, because it is not just an academic lesson, but allows students to be creative. The end result is art!

MATERIALS

• Red....Yellow....Blue Poster Paints
• 1/2 inch wide paint brushes
• heavy white drawing paper: 8 1/2"x11" or 9"x12"
• plastic cups for the paint
• black construction paper
• water
• newspapers
• scissors
• rulers
• pencils
• white glue or a glue stick
• a cylindrical object (i.e. a soup can)
• pictures of sunsets (best if over water)

DIRECTIONS

• Holding the paper horizontally, have the students measure down about 5" and draw a horizontal line across the sheet.
• Have the student use a cylindrical object to make a semi-circle someplace on the horizontal line, (a soup can works great). This is going to be the basis for the setting sun.
• Show the students the pictures of sunsets and what colours are in the sky...the reds, the purples, the blues and the yellow gold of the sun. Talk to them about the colours that they see.
• Tell them about the primary colours red, yellow, and blue, and how the students can make all of the other colours just by using the primary colours. (Red and blue make purple, yellow and red make orange, blue and yellow make green).
• Pour some of the primary colours into the plastic cups, and show them how to mix the other colours. The paint should be vibrant, but thin, so it could be used almost as a watercolor.
• Have the students paint the sun yellow.
• Now wet down the paper so that the colours will bleed together. (Bleeding is having one colour run into the next so that there isn't a hard line separating them).
• Next, colour around the sun, going from orange, to red, to violet-red to purple to blue. It will look something like a rainbow when finished. The part under the sun and sky is water, and is blue with the colours of the sunsets reflection. A golden path is on the water from the setting sun. Let their imaginations take hold.
• With black construction paper, the students can draw a palm tree on an island, or a boat in the water, or anything appropriate for the scene.
• They then cut out the shapes, and glue them down onto their sunset paintings.

The paintings look best when mounted on a black background.

This project turns an ordinary crayon drawing into a beautiful piece of artwork worthy of framing. For the lower grades, there is more teacher involvement because of the wash technique. Students from grade 4 and up will have no trouble following the directions. Results are spectacular.

MATERIALS

• crayons
• good quality white drawing paper 8 1/2 x 11 or 9x12
• black poster color paint
• 1 inch wide paint brushes
• bucket
• water
• lots of newspapers
• several plastic cups for mixing the paint

DIRECTIONS

Have students draw a picture on the paper. For the project, a large colorful bird, a large fantasy fish, or even a still life with lots of flowers works the best. The brighter the crayons the more fantastic the results! The crayon must be applied very heavily to the paper, leaving as little white showing on the paper as possible. The drawing should be made as colorful as possible. Since the wash is black, tell the students not to use black crayon backgrounds.

At a separate table have a bucket of water and lots of newspapers set up. The newspapers should form a thick pad to absorb excess water from the drawings.

Put some of the black poster paint in the plastic cups, and mix it until it is the consistency of thin cream. You should test this out yourself on white paper to make sure the paint is a dark grey and not a heavy opaque black.

Take the drawing and put it in the bucket of water until it is very wet.

Take it out and crumple it up. Squeeze out the water. VERY CAREFULLY flatten out the paper. The paper will be very easily damaged if you are not careful.

When the paper is flat, go over it with the paint wash that you have prepared. Give the student the crayon batik on a sheet of newspaper to let dry.

The results look like batik fabric and can be framed for the best effect.

This project, although it looks really simple, turns out very creative art work. In this activity, children are limited only by their imaginations. This project is wonderful if you have loads of broken crayons that no one wants to use anymore!

MATERIALS

• White drawing paper
• Crayons (broken ones are best)

DIRECTIONS

• Have students make a large doodle using only one color crayon. It should fill the entire sheet of drawing paper. (Show them an example of a doodle, or scribble, if they don't know what the word means). Make sure the design has lots of loops and open areas.
• When they are finished with their designs, have them select some of those broken crayons in various colors.
• Show them how to take textures off various articles to fill in the large areas of their designs. This is done by placing the drawing over various textured surfaces and rubbing with the flat side of the crayon so that the texture comes through. The more textures and colors the better! (Point out that everything has texture--from the chipped paint to the cork bulletin board. Children are great in finding things to use for texture...sponges...board erasers...screens...leather book bags...etc...).

The pictures will look great mounted on construction paper, and placed to look like a quilt!

All children can create. All children are artists. This beginning of the year project makes all children become a part of a whole, as they learn that team work produces something beautiful. Even the child that says he/she can't draw produces something of beauty.

This is a mural that requires some preparation and creativity on the part of the teacher, but the results are spectacular!

MATERIALS

• 2 sheets of dark blue or black construction paper: 36x48
• masking tape
• white drawing paper
• markers or crayons
• magazines
• glue sticks
• scissors
• glitter

DIRECTIONS

• Select famous landmarks from your metropolitan area.
• Ask the students for volunteers to draw each of those landmarks (accuracy is not important)
• Other students draw buildings, people, cars, airplanes, etc. Have students do more than one drawing to get a city feel. (Some of my students used newspapers and cut out building shapes. The type made it look like windows).
• After the buildings are completed have students look through magazines for photos of real cars that can be incorporated into the mural.
• Let their imaginations soar! They can use the markers and the crayons to color in their buildings and the other components of the mural.
• When they are done coloring they cut out the pieces, making sure that each child puts their name on it where it can be seen.

Now it is up to the teacher's imagination. I did one with my class and holding the paper horizontally, put in a big strip of blue construction paper representing the East River (we did the Manhattan skyline). We lined up the buildings with some of them overlapping to give a feeling of the city viewed from across the river. We then put boats in the water, and cars riding along the shore. Then we took the glue and glitter and made fireworks in the sky. All of the work was done by the students including the Statue of Liberty standing in the harbor. The principal liked it so much that it was placed in the school lobby for the entire year!

The same type of project can be done with an undersea theme, country/rural scene, futuristic cityscape, etc.

The Valentine mobile is very pretty when done, and can be hung any place in the house. The project is simple enough for even small children as the shapes are easy to cut out. Some teacher preparation might be required for making patterns for the younger student.

MATERIALS:

The first five materials are required for the project. The others are optional depending on the budget of the teacher or the students. The project looks just as good "plain" or with all the glitter and the trimmings.

METHOD:

This project requires preparation on the part of the student and the teacher. It can't be done as a quickie art project because of the amount of assemblage required. Students should be give about two weeks to gather the materials to make their time capsule. When done, it will make a great gift for parents as a remembrance of their child at this age, created by their child and NOT captured on home video. The work will consist of things that are important to the student.

The teacher can open the discussion of collages by explaining what they are, and show some pictures, actually the teacher can do one too, as an example for the class. You might send home a note to have parents help the student gather some of the materials for the project.

MATERIALS (teacher supplied):

MATERIALS (student supplied):

METHOD:

This project works well for all grades. It is easy to do, requires almost no preparation or clean-up. Even if you live someplace that has no snow, this simple project lets students enjoy the "almost" feel of snow.

MATERIALS:

PROCEDURE:

I did this project with my students and the results were quite impressive. The weaving and design looks almost like the cloth from Africa. It can be used as a wall hanging or table decoration.

MATERIALS:

METHOD:

As is the tradition during Kwanzaa, ears of corn can be drawn by the students and glued to the kente cloth. This of course is optional.

The designs can then be displayed.

Most children will tell you that they can't draw a figure of a person no matter how hard they try. Some won't even try. With this lesson you can almost guarantee success in having figures that look like figures while creating a great design using a repeated pattern for display.

MATERIALS:

METHOD:

The teacher draws a few examples of stick figures on the board: standing, sitting, moving, bending etc. Teacher shows proportion, legs longer than arms, knees and elbows bend. The stick figure can be jointed etc. Then tell the student to draw a stick figure on the paper. The figure should be fairly large. After he has drawn the stick figure, he then goes around it to fatten it up. When he is satisfied with the way his figure looks, tell him to pick two colors of construction paper. Have him double the sheets, so that he gets 4 figures out of this. The student then cuts out the figures, using his drawing as the pattern. When this is completed, he will have 4 figures that are the same. The student then glues them down in an arrangement that suggests movement. Use a contrasting piece of construction paper for the background. The figures can overlap, can be linked, as long as you can see a pattern. He can even use the original stick figure to add interest, as long as it is not the side with the pencil on it.

This is a weaving project, with a difference. Most students do a weaving, but it comes out looking like a table mat. When completed, this weaving can be framed and hung up. This project is relatively easy to do, once the over and under of the weaving is done. Some students might need a little help understanding which strip goes over, and which one goes under but once accomplished the rest of the project is easy.

MATERIALS:

METHOD:

VARIATION:

Do the weave as described above. Have the student look at a piece of fruit. The student then draws the shape of the whole fruit on construction paper and cuts it out. Then he draws what the inside looks like when the fruit is cut in half. He cuts that out. Then a wedge of the fruit, and pits if they are inside the fruit. After all of the pieces are cut out, the student assembles them on the weaving and glues it down. This makes an interesting wall hanging.

This project requires few materials, but lets the students become very creative. Colored drawings seem to spring like magic from a black background. A discussion of etchings should precede the activity.

An etching is usually done on glass or metal plates, using a sharp tool to make the image. Both materials are then coated in wax. The students will be using the same method, only substituting paper for the glass or metal.

MATERIALS:

DIRECTIONS:

The project requires a lot of elbow grease to cover the paper, but the extra effort taken produces beautiful colorful results. When finished have an art show in the room.

MUSICAL RHYTHM INSTRUMENTS

GRADES: K-7

MATERIALS:

• plastic, metal, cardboard iced tea containers or coffee cans with lids (actually anything that has a containers lid is fine) For coffee cans, remove the bottom metal piece and replace with plastic lid.
• glue gun (to glue the lids on when finished, and glue on trimmings)
• large and small beans, rice, sand or gravel to put in the cans, and anything else that sounds that if it would make a nice sound.
• construction paper
• markers
• crayons
• scissors
• pencils
• glue sticks
• assorted trimmings, string, beads, fringe, small shells etc.
• cut dowel sticks

METHOD:

1. Have the student bring in a container.
2. Students will place some of the gravel, sand, beans etc., or a combination into his container.
3. The containers are then sealed so that nothing falls out while being played.
4. Cut a piece of construction paper to the size of the container. Have the students draw their designs on it before gluing it down, it's easier this way.
5. Glue the paper to the container using either the glue stick or glue gun.
6. Decorate the instruments with various trimmings, fringe on top, shells, beads etc.
7. When everything is dry, put on a record and have the students play their instruments. Teacher is the band leader.

PAPER MOSAIC

GRADES: 2-12

MATERIALS:

• Construction paper of varied colors cut into strips about 1/2 inch wide. A paper cutter helps make the strips straight, and takes less time than cutting them with scissors.
• Glue sticks
• White drawing paper--9x12
• Pencils
• Scissors

METHOD:

1. For this project students should be encouraged to make a small sketch on a piece of scrap paper first, so they can see the layout of the page. Tell them to draw something that will fill up the page. (Flowers, colorful birds, tropical fish, heads, a still life, and fruit are things that work well with this project).
2. When they have completed their sketch, have them draw it on the drawing paper. Have the students pick out strips of different colors. (We used a lot of construction paper). They will cut them into squares themselves.
3. The students will then paste down the various colors on the various objects. An orange for example can have light orange, dark orange, and even red/brown as a shadow on the orange.
4. They should place the squares down as close as possible, leaving white paper showing through to look as though the mosaics are embedded in plaster.
5. When done, mount the finished work on a larger sheet of construction paper and display.

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