Elementary Projects for Valentine's Day

Looking for projects inspired by Valentine's Day?  Check out the lessons I created with K-3!  Some projects were inspired by other lessons I have found over the years, so I tried to share the blog posts from other teachers who inspired my lessons.

Romero Britto Heart Paintings with Kindergarten

Materials: Pencil, Paper, Black Marker, Tempura Cake Paints

Duration: 1-40 minute class period

Directions: Start by sharing pictures of Britto's art with your kindergarteners!  Share how he created designs in each space of his art, such as dots, lines, colors, etc...now's the fun part!  Have your binders practice drawing hearts!  Some may struggle at first, but once they get the loop and points, they'll go crazy with their hearts!  Using pencils, have students create one or more hearts to fill their paper, then draw in lines and shapes.  Once done, use a black marker to trace, then tempura cakes to paint in the spaces!

Contour Hearts with 1st Grade

Materials: Heart Templates, Pencils, Paper, Oil Pastels, Tempura Cake Paints

Duration: 2-40 minute class periods

Directions: For Day 1, start by talking about how the hearts can overlap (one in front of the other).  Have the students use heart stencils to trace out about 10 hearts (overlapping to fit them in the paper).  Once traced, have students use oil pastels to trace, color in, or add patterns to each heart.  On day 2, have students finish filling in the hearts with oil pastels and fill in the rest of teh paper with tempura cake paint!

Symmetry Hearts with 2nd Grade

Materials: 9 x 12 colored paper, 12 x 18 colored paper, pencils, scissors, glue

Duration: 1-40 unite class period

Directions: As a one class project, the object is to have students achieve the illusion of symmetry with the heart design.  Using the 9 x 12 paper, draw half of a heart, cut the shape out, then glue the outer piece to the edge of the 12 x 18 paper.  Draw another heart inside of the already-cut heart, cut it out, and glue on the opposite side.  Draw, cut out, and glue down about 3 more heart shapes and you have a finished piece!

Positive/Negative Space Hearts with 3rd Grade

Materials: 9 x 12 colored paper, 12 x 18 colored paper, small baggies, pencils, scissors, glue

Duration: 2-40 minute class periods

Directions: On day 1, talk about positive/negative space in art.  Using the 9 x 12 colored paper, draw and cut out a heart shape.  On each side of the heart, draw and cut out shaped that will be reflected in the finished artwork.  Please Note:  Use the baggies to store the pieces once they are cut out.  This prevents any lost pieces, plus it's 100% easier with clean up.  Once all pieces are cut out, glue down the big heart.  On day 2, show the students how to glue the pieces down to reflect the empty space.  Not all students will finish right away, you will see that it may take the entire time for many students.

This project was also achieved by many other schools and can be found here for 5th grade and here for 6th grade.

Love Paintings (Inspired by Robert Indiana) with 3rd Grade

Materials: LOVE Stencils, 10.5 x 10.5 white paper, Pencils, Black Markers, Tempura Paint

Duration: 2-40 minute class periods

Directions: On day 1, we discussed the artwork of Robert Indiana, then folded the white paper to make 4 squares.  We then began tracing stencils to spell out L-O-V-E in each square.  Students then began painting colors in the letters and in the backgrounds.  On Day 2, students finished up on painting.  If they finished on the first day, each letter was traced with marker to cover any loose paint lines.

Here's another variation of the lesson!

Heart-Shaped Coil Pottery with 3rd Grade

Materials: Ceramic Clay (or air dry clay), Water, Canvas, Desired Paint (Glaze or Acrylic)

Duration: 2 40-minute class periods

Directions: On Day 1, discuss how to create a coil pot using ceramic clay.  Start with rolling a small amount of clay into a ball, flattening it down then rolling coils to wrap around the flat base.  Use the water for the slip process to make the coils stay together once dry.  Once the pot is completed, pinch the top and bottom of the top of the pot to form the heart shape.  On your own, fire the pottery for your next step.  On Day 2, (depending on your resources) paint the pots using either glaze (if kiln is easily accessible) or acrylic paint (if you can't fire again).  

More Valentine's Day Projects on Pinterest

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Alien Collaborations!

I wanted to share a collaboration between my 3rd grade students and my colleague's jr. high students!

Previously, I shared a project called Joan Miro Monsters with 3rd grade.  Students were to create their own alien or monster creature using only 12 different shapes.  The details for the project can be found  in this link.

This year, the jr. high art teacher, Elizabeth Farnesi, and I joined forces.  Liz's eighth grade students were paired up with a few of my third graders to participate in a collaborative art project. 

It began with my 3rd grade students designing their own aliens inspired by the art of surrealist artist Joan Miro.  Students created their alien creatures in their own environments, gave them a name, and imagined what special abilities the aliens would have (this was included in the students' artist statement about their artwork).  Once they were finished, the drawings were sent over to the junior high where the eighth graders were able to pick the drawing of their choice.

Mrs. Farnesi worked with the eighth grade students to design a plan for their alien. They figured out what colors they would need, how it would look from certain angles and how the monster was going to be portrayed.  The junior high students were also to choose whether they wanted to recreate the monster using clay, felt or render the alien as a realistic drawing.  

After creating their alien, the 8^th grade students had to design the packaging for the alien to be transported in back to our school and to the 3rd grade student. All of the junior high students were generous enough to donate their project to their elementary partners. The students were so excited and loved every single one! 

Here are a few examples of drawings my 3rd grade students had created:

And here are a few finished creations!

Once the artworks were complete, the 3rd graders received a nice surprise!  These images were used on our publicity within our school district.

Split Class Success! Wayne Thiebaud Inspired Projects

Wayne Thiebaud is an American painter who is known for his colorful desserts: pies, ice cream cones, pastries, cupcakes, and gum ball machines!  It's no wonder why elementary students LOVE to make art inspired by Mr. Thiebaud's creations!

If you've seen my previous post about teaching split level classes, it can sometimes be challenging teaching projects to 2 different grade levels at the same time.  One of the methods I use is teaching the same artist and using two different projects.  It's also a bonus to use the same materials to save on prep!  The key is to focus on what concepts you want your students to learn.

The split level class I had this past school year was a 2nd and 3rd grade class.  In second grade, I normally work with Thiebaud's gumball machines, but for this project, I decided to have 3rd grade work with the cupcakes at the same time!

Here are the painting examples I had shown to 2nd Grade:

…and 3rd Grade!

2nd Grade Gumball Machines

Materials
-10.5" x 16" black paper
-12" x 18" colored paper (for frame)
-elmer's glue
-pencils
-chalk pastel

Objectives
The students are introduced to the art of Wayne Thiebaud for inspiration.  For the project, the 2nd grade students will create a resist project using elmer's glue to trace out their image, then chalk pastels to fill in with color.  The students will also demonstrate value by adding a shine to their created gum balls.

Directions
Day 1:  The students are first introduced the artworks of Wayne Thiebaud.  Next, they are asked to draw out a gum ball machine design and fill the bowl with circles for gum balls.  The trick is to try and draw each circles to be the same size, as well as a decent size to color in once the glue dries.  Also, demonstrate to the students how to squeeze the glue out of the bottle to trace a thin glue line.  This will save on major drips while the project dries on the drying rack.

Day 2-3: Since the projects will now be dry, demonstrate to the students how to fill in the spaces with the chalk pastels.  I allow the students to have a kleenex to blend their colors.  Try to show students how to stay within their glue spaces.  I noticed when students smear or attempt to blend the entire project at once, all the chalk mixes together and makes the project look messy and ghost-like.  Have the students glue a colored paper to the back to finish with a frame.Here are the finished examples!

3rd Grade Cupcakes

Materials
-10.5" x 16" black paper
-12" x 18" colored paper (for frame)
-elmer's glue
-pencils
-chalk pastel

Objectives
The students are introduced to the art of Wayne Thiebaud for inspiration.  For the project, the 3rd grade students will create a fun cupcake that demonstrates value (highlight and shadow).

Directions
Day 1:  The students are first introduced the artworks of Wayne Thiebaud.  Next, they are asked to draw out their cupcake designs using a pencil.  Instead of doing the glue tracing, students will begin filling in their artwork with chalk pastel colors.

Day 2-3: Demonstrate to students how to apply colors for highlights and shadows in the frosting, cupcake wrapper, and main shadow of the cupcake.  Once students have finished their pieces, have them glue a 12 x 18 colored paper to the back for a frame!

Here are the finished examples!