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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Artists That Inspire Us: Clay Vessels (Inspired by Ceramic Artist Melissa Monroe)

Meet Melissa Monroe. Melissa is a lifelong Illinoisan, having been raised in Galesburg and now living in the Chicago suburbs with her family. She sells her ceramic art at shows in the Chicago area and at fine stores and works with chefs to create custom dishware for their restaurants.

“When I started working in clay in college it was impossible to predict the places it would take me. It has been fun journey of farm dinners where I provide dishes, the art show circuit in Chicago, and gallery shows. As I have grown in my work I find my creativity divided into two camps: the functional and the sculptural. My functional work has become focused on working directly with customers creating custom plate ware for their homes and businesses. I love to sit down to a day of throwing and trimming all of these commissions and getting the satisfaction of the matching sets of bowls and plates. The second part of my art is the creative sculptural side - making wild abstracted flowers and sculptural vases, bottles and jars. These are the objects of imagination and whimsy. I hope that both of my camps of artwork provide a connection with each person either in daily use or visual connection.”

Melissa is a friend and artist colleague from my home town. I've had the joy of working with her for our local artist guild and is this year's featured artist for our Illinois Art Education Association's Mosaic Magazine. Melissa is an artist that inspires me, so I decided to share her work with my 4th grade students.

The Project

Inspired by Melissa’s style of ceramics, students will create their own clay vessel displaying a face. This will be done by using the slab technique for ceramics.

Materials

Ceramic Clay, Water, Glaze, Canvas, Clay Tools, Rolling Pins

Directions

This project will take about three 40 minute classes for creating and glazing, and one 40 minute class for assessment and artist statements.

Day 1: Introduction and vessel design. Students are shown a slideshow featuring the artist Melissa Monroe, as well as the artworks she created. After a group discussion about her style of work, the teacher demonstrates how to create a vessel using the slab technique. Students are given a portion of clay and instructed to take ¼ of the portion to roll into a ball and press down to make the base. With the remaining clay, students use a rolling pin to roll the clay out to a slab that’s ¼” thick. Next they are to draw a long rectangle in the slab, cut the remaining clay away, and wrap the slab around the base. Once the slab was wrapped, students marked the bottom of their vessels with their initials and wrapped their projects for the following week.

Day 2: Details and finishing touches. Prior to students receiving their projects to finish, they are shown how to attach facial expressions using the slip/score process. Similar to Melissa’s designs, students add eyes, nose, mouth, eyebrows, and any designs that show expression. Once completed, students handed in their projects to dry over the week. A week or two is needed between days 2-3 for clay to dry and fire in the kiln.

Day 3: After clay is fired, students are shown how to apply glaze to their pieces. Projects will go through a second firing

Day 4: Chromebooks needed to visit Artsonia to write artist statements (or create your own method of writing artist statements with students)

Here are the finished art pieces!  The lesson plan with standards will be available in this year's printed Mosaic Magazine for IAEA members.

This post is a part of The Art Ed Blogger's Network: Monthly Tips and Inspiration from Art Teacher Blogs. On the first Tuesday each month, each of these art teacher blogs will post their best ideas on the same topic.

Participating Art Teacher Blogs:

• Art Class Curator - Artists That Inspire
• Art Ed Guru
• Art is Basic
• Art Room Blog
• Art with Mr. E
• Artful Artsy Amy
• Capitol of Creativity
• Create Art with ME
• MiniMatisse
• Mr. Calvert's Art Room Happenings
• Mrs. Boudreaux's Amazing Art Room
• Mrs. T's Art Room
• Party in the Art Room
• shine brite zamorano
• Tales from the Traveling Art Teacher
• There's a Dragon in my Art Room

Courage with Clay: February's Stepping Stones

Click here to view this article in Arts & Activities Magazine

One of the trickiest materials to work with while traveling or working without a room is clay.  Clay materials can take up a bit of space, but it’s one of the most entertaining projects that students become engaged in.  No matter if it’s play dough or ceramic clay, students love to sculpt and mold!  Clay projects can be created in any space you work in.  From the start, it may appear to overwhelm you, but if you plan accordingly, clay projects can be one of your most successful lessons of the school year.

Start with knowing your space.  Do you have a classroom all year round?  You can provide space in your room to work and store materials.  Do you have a kiln in your school?  Even better!  Is there a kiln in the district, but not in your room?  Consider creating clay projects that can handle traveling to another school to be fired.  Do you travel?  Investigate where you can store materials either before the clay is used or while the projects are drying.

Figure out with clay works best.  If you have a kiln in your school or district, you have the ability to use ceramic clay that can be fired and glazed.  If not, consider ordering air-dry clay, which can help in giving your students a similar experience with molding the material.  Even with traveling from room to room, you can manage providing clay lessons for your students.  The key to teaching clay from a cart is to communicate with your co-workers on how to manage the clay with a shared space.

Communicate with other teachers involved.  If you move a cart from room to room, inform your co-workers about your intent to use clay materials.  Your co-worker may have space to help store projects during the week, such as the top of shelves or closets.  When you communicate with the teacher, both of you can collaborate to help students have the experience of working with the materials.  In the past, when I traveled from room to room, I would keep the air-dry clay in a box behind the teacher’s desk in the morning, which made it easier for me to travel without moving around a heavy box.

Research how to disperse the clay.  Since I currently have a room, I find it easier to use the clay cutter to disperse the clay.  When I was traveling, I would split the clay in advance and place it in boxes in the teacher’s classrooms until I visited for my art time.  Managing your clay materials will make it easier for you no matter what situation you teach in.

Protect the table tops.  Whether your classroom tables or students’ desks, figure out how to cover your table space.  I use 12” x 12”canvas clothes for our clay projects, but when I traveled, I needed to use gallon size ziploc bags to protect student desks.  During clean up, it’s always good to have a cleaner recommended by the school district.  Art time in elementary can be limited, but with the mess that clay can make, leave extra time for cleaning the tables.

There are other clay materials that work.  In our district, we introduce ceramic or air-dry clay in 3rd grade and create a clay-based project each year until 8th grade.  For my early elementary grade levels, I still use Crayola model magic for some of the student projects. Our intent is to have the early elementary develop an understanding of form; how 2-dimensional shapes can be made into a 3-dimensional form.  We also want students to learn how to create basic forms before using more advanced clay materials, like ceramic clays.

It’s okay to use Playdough.  At the kindergarten level, I introduce using playdough and the students love it!  It helps them become familiar with clay materials, plus they giggle and laugh with everything they make!  There are simple clay tools that help with fine motor development, such as rollers, scissors, and press molds for rolling, pressing, cutting, and molding.  At the end of the class, the clay can be put away for another class to use.  

Plan how you’ll design and finish the pieces. If you have the materials and space provided, take it the next step!  If you have a kiln, there are plenty of glazes available to use to decorate your fired clay projects!  If you do not have access to a kiln, consider having students use acrylic paints to finish their projects.  Acrylic leaves a bright color coating, plus you can add a clear coat to protect the paint.  

No matter what space you have or what your teaching situation is, you can always make room for clay projects!  Have courage and plan time to get creative with clay!

Expressing Culture and Identity in Art: January's Stepping Stones

Click here to view this article in Arts & Activities Magazine

One of the best qualities of our society is our immense blend of multiple cultures.  Today, we can easily do a DNA search to find our ancestral background and see just how many different regions of our planet make up our genetic markers.  We also have families who immigrate from their native homelands for brighter opportunities, travel to explore different perspectives, and study abroad to expand their learning.  This helps to build empathy and open-mindedness for a more positive future.

It is important to recognize multiple cultures in your classroom because your students come from many different backgrounds.  You may have refugees, first generation families, or children from mixed heritage.  Your students will all be different with individual stories, faiths, cultures, and identities.  As an educator, you are responsible in helping students feel safe and accepted in our diverse society.

Discussing culturalism can be a sensitive topic, but it is important because it is a part of our identities.  From elementary through higher education, students want to convey their individualism through the arts.  Our art classes are one of the best outlets for students to express themselves.  It is up to us, as their teachers and role models, to facilitate the learning environment for our students.  There are a few approaches you can take to help build diverse relationships in your classroom.  

Create lessons that are inspired by the variety of your students’ cultures and backgrounds. Students love to learn about artists that they can relate to.  For example, if you have a larger population of Hispanic students, create a lesson inspired by Mexican Folk Art or known artists from the region.  If you have Arabic students, create lessons inspired by Middle Eastern geometric designs or architecture.  From experience, students respond very well when learning about art and artists that reflect a part of their own background.

When available, leave room for students to express their culture and identity in their artworks.  This does not need to happen in each and every lesson you teach, but if given the chance, students love to add images and patterns that represent a bit about themselves, from their favorite toy, comic, colors, symbols, and familiar imagery from their culture.  This helps give students more personal ownership of their pieces and more pride in themselves.  

Tread lightly with holidays.  Holiday projects can very fun, but, there are cultures and religions that do not recognize the same holidays that we do.  For instance, I have families that cannot work with Halloween, while others recognize Samhain.  I work around the holiday themes by focusing on the seasons instead.  Many projects give room for students to add holiday details on their own terms.  For example, I do a perspective pumpkin patch with 3rd grade, but it’s their choice if they want to add faces, ghosts, or bats in their artworks.  You can also work with winter trees, but it leaves room for students to add decorations if they wish.

Keep an open mind when using symbolism.   Sometimes, students may express their identity and culture with the use of symbols.  Many cultures have unique symbols that we may not be familiar with because they are not part of our own heritage.  I had an experience in my 4th grade class when students were painting their clay boxes.  One student who was of Hindu faith added a symbol for prosperity in their traditions.  The class, unaware of the original meaning, had questioned the symbol, which encouraged a conversation about using symbols in proper context.  Through the exposure of a different culture, my students have a better understanding of the diversity around them.

Ask, don’t always assume.  In some cases, you may have an experience where students are using symbols or imagery in their artworks that you may or may not be familiar with.  Some common misunderstood symbols are the hamsa, dharma wheel, pentacle, lotus, ankh, yin yang, and Nordic runes.  Many of these symbols represent a student’s culture or faith, but can easily be taken out of context.  If you see a student using symbolism within their artworks, ask questions about the purpose of the imagery in their artwork before assuming they may be sneaking in a hidden message.  

Invite parents and artists from different cultures to come and talk with your students.  Some of the best cultural resources may lie within your own community!  There are many artists residing in home towns that are more than happy to come and talk with your classes and share their works of art.  In the past, I’ve invited parents to share art and imagery from their family’s homeland, and students have responded very well to having community members come in to talk with them!

The best way we can celebrate diversity is by giving our students the space to express themselves in positive ways.  Let’s give them the opportunity to shine!

Mixed Media Mania: December's Stepping Stones

Click here to view the full article in Arts & Activities Magazine

Mixed Media Mania

Creating artworks with multiple materials are some of the most memorable projects a student can treasure.  There’s so much experimentation in the process, and opportunities to integrate other ideas within the project creation.  Mixed media is defined as an artwork created with more than one medium.  Common mixed media projects are altered books, artist trading cards, collage (assemblage), quilt art, and inter-media.  Many mixed media techniques are experimented in the upper grade levels, but can also be used as early as Pre-Kindergarten.

When I think of mixed media, I think of STEAM because there is a great opportunity to tie in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the finished artworks.  When coming up with a mixed media project, there are a few things to keep in mind when designing and executing the lesson.  I must confess that some of the tips to be shared were learned by experimentation.

Browse your materials.  Some of the most common mixed media projects require the simplest of materials, such as crayons to watercolor, or Mod Podge for assemblage.  Take the time to go through your collected materials and research what art medium can work with others.  I recommend browsing art education blogs with lesson ideas or visiting websites of art supply companies that list multiple mixed media lesson plans.

Experiment with what you have.  If you have a wonderful idea using multiple materials for your students’ finished products, know what works together and what doesn’t.  This is where it’s always best to create your finished example before executing the lesson.  It’s good to learn first hand what materials can be water resistant or bleed colors when wet.  Document what steps are involved in the process.  Are you incorporating technology?  Do you plan on having students create beginning designs of their products before executing the final piece?  Are there precise measurements involved?  Practicing these steps and performing your experimentation will help you execute the lesson with better ease.

Explore multiple techniques.  Assemblage and resist are two of my go-to techniques with younger grade levels.  My younger students are always interested in the magic of crayons or oil pastels resisting watercolors or tempura paint.  It is also fun to assemble multiple images or drawings and add more elements, such as paint, gel markers, or even air-dry clay for 3-dimensional pieces.  My older students enjoy altering materials, like playing with torn paper, adding images in collage, or painting over found objects.

Know there will be successes and failures.  In my 11 years in education, I have had a few lessons that have been tossed out or heavily modified.  One of my most memorable examples was when I started my “stained glass” tissue paper project with 6^th grade.  I wanted to create a glass effect using tissue paper on clear vellum, and applied black glue to trace the images, which made the glass designs stand out.  When I first started the project, I learned that regular glue was not the glue to use to apply the tissue paper. After many projects dried, the vellum and the tissue paper peeled apart.  I also learned that with using the black glue, projects needed to be dried flat and not on the drying racks, or else they would leak.  I learned that Mod Podge did the trick and created a shiny effect with the tissue paper.  If you start a project off from scratch, you will find out what works after playing with new materials with your students.

Organize the chaos.  Working with multiple materials can be fun and exciting, but when you work with different media (especially when you’re on a cart), you need to keep a stricter eye on the creativity in the room, especially is you have limited amounts of items to use.  I always need to keep this in mind when using feathers, beads, pipe cleaners, or other embellishment materials.  Students want to cake their projects with every bead available, but when the last class is ready to start their project, you end up running out.  Make sure to divide the materials available with all your classes.  There are some projects where I encourage students to pick up their own embellishments, which makes the product more exciting and personal for the maker.  Also, when working with an abundance of materials, allow for additional clean-up time with younger grade levels. 

Enjoy your students’ amazing products!  When the artworks are completed, have the students reflect on their process!  You can achieve this through artist statements or critiques.  You can also have the students talk about the steps used in creating their artworks.  In an open critique, ask them how they felt about the process and finished product. 

Enjoy your mixed media projects with your students!  The are some of the best artworks to make with your students!