Folk Art Landscapes by 2nd Grade

Very much inspired by Painted Paper's Folk Art Landscapes,  my 2nd graders drew a 3 dimensional shaped house or barn in a patterned landscape.  It took one day to draw and nearly two days to paint.

Students had the option to draw the house first in the foreground, or last in the background.  I showed the students two step by steps, however they filled in the patterns on their own.  They used a variety of of pan watercolors: basic, glitter, metallic, and florescent.

I adore the vibrancy of them!  I feel this is a simple, yet successful project that students very much enjoyed!  These make a pretty display down the hallway.

lovin' lions

First of all, i got my 2nd graders excited about lions after looking at these photos.  And watching this video.  Talk about melting your heart!  (Learn all about Christian the lion here.)


I used this drawing tutorial and did it along with them in pencil.  On day 2 we watercolored them with a limited palette.  I actually did the lesson with each 2nd grade class a little differently just as an experiement and I will be posting more photos soon.  The overall lesson was about symmetry.  I just love the expressions on the lions faces!

kinder portraits on a whim

i'll be honest, i don't spend as much time on portraits as i wish i could (time- the teacher's biggest dilemma!).  portraits are ultimately my favorite works of art by children!  this was on a whim, and i only did this with one class because they happened to be a day ahead of the rest.

kiddos picked a piece of construction paper, looked in the mirror (just to help them understand the process of self portraits), and painted what they "saw".  

kinda adorable, huh?

p.s. i got the idea here!

boys vs. girls (and ink monsters)

by 3rd grade girls

today i tried out a fun little activity with my 3rd graders based on Stefen Bucher's Daily Monster.  He makes ink monsters by blowing india ink with a straw and turning the blot into a monster with sharpies.  After sharing a few of his videos, i turned the kiddos loose.  (well not really! i was actually quite bossy.)  The kids LOVED this.  But i would have to say, the boys did so much more!

by 3rd grade boys

i mean look how much more detailed they are!  And they're so dark and deranged!  It's hilarious compared to the girls' monsters with their eyelashes and smiles.  Oh, the minds & imaginations of 10 year olds!