If the Dinosaurs Came Back Magnets

Second Grade Art
1 class period

If the Dinosaurs Came Back Magnets, Second Grade Art Lesson

As you all know, sometimes you get a donation for the art room that is too good to turn away, but at the same time leaves you wondering how on earth are you going to use this in your art room or try to incorporate it into your curriculum. 

I was given a generous donation of a large roll of magnetic sheet.  I decided to unroll the sheet and cut it into 5 x 5 inch squares.  The magnet sheet is very thin, so I was able to do this very easily on the paper cutter.

Day 1

To begin this lesson I read the story, If the Dinosaurs Came Back by Bernard Most.  We discussed the dinosaurs we saw in the book and the contrast of the pictures.  To pump up this lesson and fit it better into my curriculum we also discussed the concept of cityscapes.  Vocabulary Discussed: cityscape, horizon line, foreground, background, middle ground, overlapping.

Students were given some ideas and tips on how to create dinosaurs and how to place them in a modern day environment.

These projects turned out wonderful!  Students were also super excited that it could be taken home and put on the fridge right away.

Examples of Student Work:

Mouse Paint New Spin

Kindergarten
2 class periods

Mouse Paint, Kindergarten Art Lesson

Day 1:

On the first day of this lesson we explored the primary colors and discussed the color wheel.  Together as a class we read the story White Rabbit's Color Book by Alan Baker. 

Students took a 9 x 12 inch piece of paper and folded it in half.  (Don't forget to have students write their name on the back).  Students were then instructed to paint on one half of the paper with liquid tempera (only the primary colors were used).  After the paper was painted, it was folded in half and rubbed.  When students opened their papers back up, they took great delight in seeing how the paint mixed to create the secondary colors.

Paintings were set on the drying rack to dry.

Day 2:

On the second day of class, students heard the story Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh.  I informed the class that today we would be creating a mouse inspired by the book we just read.

Students had the choice of red, blue or yellow construction paper pre-cut in 6 x 9 inch pieces.  Students glued this to the center of their painting.

Next students were given brown strips of paper, scrap pieces of yellow, blue and red paper and a small piece of aluminum foil to create their paint brush.

Adding the paint brush to the composition.

A 3 x 4 inch white piece of paper was given to each student.  The corner were trimmed to create an oval shape for the mouse body.

Small pieces of beige paper were given to cut the ears and tail from.

Creating the mouse body.

A black sharpie marker was used to add eyes, a nose and whiskers for this cute little mouse.

Examples of Student Work:

Picasso Portraits

First Grade Art
2 Class Periods

Picasso Portraits, First Grade Art Lesson

Lesson Introduction:

Students learned a brief biography about artist Pablo Picasso via a power point that I created.  We also examined more closely his Cubism style of painting. I shared with students this YouTube clip on the difference between realism and cubism.  Portraits: Cubism Art Lesson  Please note, I did not share the last few minutes of the video where there is a lesson on how to make a cubist portrait.  I wanted to present my own directions for that part of the lesson.

Pablo Picasso in his studio.

Day 1

Students were given a 12 x 18 inch piece of construction paper.  I selected a color for each section I taught, just to make it easier for me to keep track of the classes, but you could open this up for student choice.

Students then chose a 6 x 9 inch piece of construction paper for their shirt for their portrait.  Students were shown how to cut two corners off to create the shoulders.  This was then glued to the bottom of the 12 x 18 inch piece of construction paper.

I tried to have various skin tone papers available for students to choose from.  For the head I had paper cut 7 x 9 inches and the neck 3 x 5 inches.  We started with the neck piece.  Students were instructed to glue it so it looked like it was coming out of the shirt versus resting on top of the shirt.

The head was created next.  Students round all four corners on the 7 x 9 inch construction paper to give the head an oval shape.  This was then glued on top of the neck.

For the remaining part of class students were shown how to create different types of hair styles.  I turned them loose on the construction paper scrap bucket for this part of the lesson.  I demonstrated folding and curling paper, as well how to make short and long hair styles.

Names were placed on the back and handed in.

Day 2

Before this class period took place, I created handouts that had various eyes, nose and mouth pieces on them.  If you did not want to take the time to do this step, you could have students just hunt for these pieces out of a magazine.

Students cut from my handouts two eyes, a nose and a mouth that they liked.  I reminded them that it was ok for them not to match and the placement of these features could be off centered to help with the Cubism feel of the piece.

After the pieces were glued down, students were able to use markers to add details such as coloring in the eyes or lips or adding details to the shirt.  I also allowed them to use the construction paper bins to create other things for their portrait like necklaces, hats, bows, etc.

The final step was to glue 1 x 1 inch pattern pieces of paper around the border of the composition.

Students Examples:

Bird's Eye View Snowman

Kindergarten
2 Class Periods

Bird's Eye View Snowman, Kindergarten Art Lesson

Day 1:
This class period began with a very basic discussion about perspective.  We talked about how one can see the world a bit different depending on how you were positioned in this world.  As a class I had students stand up and quietly look around.  Thinking about all the things they could see.  I then had student lay on their tummies and look around the room from this perspective.  We discussed the differences.  I described to students how we call this perspective worm's eye view.  I then asked students to imagine what the opposite of worm's eye view would be.  With a bit of hinting it didn't take students too long to figure it out and once I explained this view point was called bird's eye view, one could see their excitement in their understanding.

We started with a 12 x 12 inch piece of black, gray or blue-gray construction paper and a 10 x 10 inch piece of white construction paper.  Using our scissors students were shown how to cut the corners off their white square to create a circle shape.  I informed students this would be the bottom snowball for our snowman which was then glued in place on the black construction paper.  A thin brown strip of construction paper was then glued across the large white circle to represent the arms of the snowman.

We then used a 6 x 6 inch piece of white construction paper for the middle snowball.  Corners were once again cut to form a circle and then glued on top of the brown strip.

Using a 5 x 5 inch piece of construction paper (various colors were set out for students to choose from), we once again cut another circle to create the scarf.  Students glued this on the middle snowball.  Scrap strips of the same color were created and glued in placed to represents the ends of the scarf.


Day 2:
On this day, begin with a quick review of bird's eye view.  A final snowball was created to form the head of the snowman.  This square is 3 x 3 inches.  At the same time we cut the final snowball, have students select a 3 x 3 inch piece of colored construction paper for the hat.  I show students how to place the two pieces of paper on top of one another and cut the corners.  Now they have two circles the same size!  Have students glue the white snowball head on the center of the scarf circle.  Then cut the colored circle in half to create the hat. Because they cut the circles at the same time, the hat should fit the snowman's head.  Show students how to glue this on half of the snowman's head.

The rest of the class period is used for snowman details.  We create a carrot nose out of orange construction paper scraps, draw details on our hat and scarf with markers and crayons and give our snowman a face using a sharpie marker.

Our final step is to take a Q-tip and dot the background of our composition with white tempera paint to create snowflakes.


Student Examples: