2nd Grade Art Lessons

Please Note: All images seen below are of my students artwork only. These photos/lessons are not posted in any particular order regarding the flow of my curriculum.

 

Abstract Self-Portrait Paintings

This fun self-portrait lesson combines art exploration in abstract art and color theory.

It is DEFINITELY one of my favorite lessons for 2nd grade!!

On the first day of the lesson, I showed students my example paintings as well as just the abstract drawings before the paint was applied. I asked students what they thought abstract artwork might be while looking at my examples. They noticed that the drawings were basically lines and shapes! We discussed how abstract art focuses mainly on lines, shapes, and colors and didn’t show a “picture” of anything (a person, a dog, a tree etc.) I then showed them a slideshow of artwork by various abstract painters (Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Joan Miro, Jackson Pollock and William de Cooning) and talked a little bit about their background.

Then I demonstrated on how they could draw an abstract drawing using different lines and shapes using rulers, various circle tracers as well as by hand.

They started in pencil on 12×18″ tagboard and then went over all the lines with crayons being sure to press super hard as they traced over their lines (later on we would do a crayon wax-resist). They then filled out a short questionaire with 10 or so questions asking about their favorite things and things about themselves. If they didn’t answer them all, that was okay- I suggested to answer their favorites first, then at least answer 6.

In the next class, they painted their drawings using liquid watercolors creating a crayon wax-resist. I gave students just red, blue and yellow paint, which allowed a review on primary colors!  We also reviewed secondary colors and  warm and cool colors as I demonstrated mixing colors, which was a great reminder on color theory!!

While students worked, I took each students photo (which I later printed as a high-contrast black & white photo on printer paper).

In the following art class, students glued their black and white self-portrait onto their painting as well as their printed sentences that were cut into strips. (I typed out their answers and cut each question/answer into strips with a paper cutter).

I know this lesson includes quite a bit of additional prep from me for all their photos and text, but I couldn’t resist doing it! The watercolors really pop against the black and white photo- as well as the strips of text! Plus, I just love this take on a self-portrait project. Kids really enjoyed the abstract component and of course loved getting their photos taken as well!

I hope you enjoy these awesome abstract self-portraits as much as I do!!  

Thank you Bridgette from http://guerzonmills.com for the idea! (I found via Pinterest)

Learning Goals: 

– Learn what abstract art is and can identify abstract art

-Learn about abstract artists and their artwork (Paul Klee, Kandinsky, William de Kooning, Jackson Pollock)

-Review and can identify primary, secondary and warm and cool colors

Birch Tree Landscapes 

This lesson is another one of my favorites for 2nd grade!

The objective of this lesson was to create a landscape painting, while students are introduced to, and gain an understanding of, foreground, middle ground, and background within artwork. Second graders looked at the artwork of Bev Doolittle for inspiration.

Students applied their previous knowledge with creating perspective and space in their artwork from the “Monet inspired Bridge” lesson for this birch tree landscape lesson. Objects in the foreground appear to be larger and lower on the page. Objects in the background are smaller and higher on the page.

On the first day of the lesson, students drew hills and trees on paper. Some trees in the foreground, a few in the middle ground and some in the background. Students then used the side of a piece of corrugated cardboard dipped into a little bit of black liquid tempera paint, to create the black lines within their birch trees.

Paintings were then left to dry until the next week.

On the second day of the lesson, they drew grass blades and flowers using crayon in the foreground (pressing hard!), and painted the land and sky with watercolors, creating a crayon wax-resist. 

For days three and four, students observed pictures of animals for reference, (I had packets of various photocopied pictures of animals for each child to observe, as well as simple step-by-step, how to draw animal packets that I made earlier) and drew them on separate small pieces of 80# drawing paper.  They then carefully cut them out and glued them onto their finished paintings to inhabit their wonderful birch tree landscapes!

The results are beautiful and I think students did such an incredible job! 

Learning Goals:

-Students apply previous knowledge on how to create perspective in their artwork

-Learn about the artist Bev Doolittle and her artwork

-Develope an understanding of foreground, middle ground and background within artwork

-Demonstrate an understanding on how to create a crayon wax-resist painting

-Enhance drawing skills through observation

 

3D WATER LILIES Inspired by Claude Monet!

I LOVE these flowers!!!  I also think this may be my new favorite art lesson to teach!

2nd Graders did such a fabulous job creating them– SO proud of their work!!

Step-by-step directions with photos below! AND a YouTube tutorial on the lesson is available under my “Art Instruction Videos” page.

I also have a FREE downloadable tracing template for the petals! Learn more below!!

The art display (almost complete! Waiting on another 2 classes to finish then will add the rest!!)

To view a You Tube Tutorial Video on this lesson click HERE!

 

This lesson incorporates focusing on 5 of the 7 elements of art! – ( line, shape, color, form, texture) and is inspired by artist Claude Monet and his water Lilies.

This lesson took (4) 40 minute art classes.

TO VIEW A YOU TUBE TUTORIAL VIDEO ON THIS LESSON CLICK HERE!

ON DAY 1 students learned about Claude Monet and looked at a slideshow of some of his paintings- Especially (of course ) his water lilies!

Students then painted a sheet of 10×10” heavy weight tagboard with turquoise liquid watercolors, adding salt while wet!! This becomes the water background, and the salt, (once dry), will make it look like light is reflecting off of the water.

The blue paper is set aside to dry.

Then, students painted an entire sheet of 12×18” heavyweight tagboard either fuchsia or orange using liquid watercolors.

Kids had a choice of two colors to keep clean up simple—(did I mention I don’t have a sink or access to water within my art room at one school, and teach off a cart at another???)

ON DAY 2 -Create the lily pad

To create the lily pad, students glue various shades of green and yellow and light blue tissue paper (pre-cut into squares) using watered down white school glue (or watered down mod podge)  on an 80# 10×10” piece of drawing paper.

I pre-draw the circles for the lily pads with sharpie to save time.

I use watered down glue (just a smidge of water per glue container) to thin it out to make it more easily spreadable. Kids apply it with a regular tempera paint brush.

Students applied a thin layer of watered down glue, then a piece of tissue, then another thin layer of watered down glue to make the tissue smooth and flat. Students repeated this process until the entire circle was filled, overlapping tissue a little as they glued.

Let dry

ON DAY 3  – Attach lily pad to blue water background, then cut out petals.

Students cut out their green lily pad and then cut out a triangle from their lily pad

Then they glued their lily pad onto their blue paper with a glue stick (using lots of glue) and pressed for 5 seconds to make sure it was flat and glued on securely.

Then after setting aside, students cut out their flower petals.

(Prior to class, I traced 6 large, 6 medium, and 6 small petals using tracers I created, on everyone’s pink or orange painted sheets, to save art making time).

As kids cut EACH petal out, they wrote their names on the backs of each one with a pencil, then put it in a zip lock baggie, with their name on the baggie in sharpie, and was set aside for the following art class.

Students thought it wasn’t necessary to have them write their names on the backs of their petals since the zip lock bags would have their name, but I just wanted to be extra cautious in case petals were misplaced/mixed up with someone else’s or fell on the floor…. Which did happen a few times–  So I’m glad I had them do that extra step!

These baggies were then set aside in a box for later. Each class had it’s own box.

ON DAY 4:  Assemble the flower!

Students finish cutting out petals (if needed) then glue down all the large petals first, then medium, then small.

I show students under the document camera,  how to stack the fish “tail” of each petal (we talked about how the shape of the petals looked like fish)  right on top of each other like when making a sandwich –stacking the next rectangular  fish tail over the previous one each time.

I used “Aleene’s” quick dry (and other types of Aleene’s tacky glue) to attach the petals. It’s important to use quick drying glue that is stronger than regular school glue in order to support the weight of the petals and it helps them pop up.

Another bonus—The glue dries clear!

I bought packs of 5 for $5 at A.C.Moore, (also sold at Michael’s). Each student had their own glue bottle.

(Since the bottles are small, I re-filled the same small bottles with a larger sized one for the following classes). 

Students put a dot of glue per petal’s “fish tail”  (about the size of a pea). I have students count to 5 for each petal, while pressing.

After applying glue and pressing the “tail” down for 5 seconds, bend the petal back at its base with one hand, while pressing the “fish tail” down securely with your other finger. This makes the petal stand up and pop out rather than laying flat. (See photo below— I think this pic explains it better)

Once all petals are attached, then add the yellow felt fringe to the flowers center!

Students roll the fringe, starting from one end —keeping it tight as they roll it up.

Glue the bottom of the rolled fringe (heavily), with the same tacky glue.

Put some glue on the center of the flower as well.

Attach fringe roll to center and hold for 20-30  seconds. Don’t worry if the fringe is squished – you can adjust it once totally dry (20-30 minutes later).

I had students set the finished flowers in the hallway to dry flat for awhile– and hung later at the end of that day!

I could NOT w-a-i-t! To hang these beauties up!!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO MY TEACHERS PAY TEACHERS PAGE TO DOWNLOAD A FREE TRACING TEMPLATE FOR THE 3 PETALS (LARGE, MEDIUM AND SMALL). 

Learning Goals:

Students learn about the life and artwork of Claude Monet

Learn what Impressionism is

Can create and understand what a three-dimensional work of art is

Learn about the Elements of Art and particularly what Form is

Learn various painting techniques (using salt with watercolor)

SPRINGTIME BUNNIES AND BEAR CUBS

How adorable are these?!? My 2nd graders did such a fantastic job creating them!

This lesson took (3) 40 minute art classes to finish and incorporates the Elements of Art- Line, Shape, Color, Value and Texture! We also used overlapping, contrast and pattern in our work!  Students could choose between creating a bunny or a bear cub. Read below the photos of student’s artwork to see how they were created!

TEACHERS

FREE DOWNLOADABLE BEAR CUB TEMPLATE ON MY TpT PAGE HERE

TO FIND MY BLOG POST WITH PHOTOS ON HOW KIDS CREATED THESE AND MORE… CLICK HERE AND COPY AND PASTE  “SPRINGTIME BUNNIES AND BEAR CUBS- 2ND GRADE!” IN THE SEARCH BOX! 

DAY 1 

Students drew flowers all over their 9×12″ 80# drawing paper using markers and crayons. They were encouraged to draw the flower heads LARGE and draw LOTS!! Especially along the top and sides since later on the bunny or bear would be placed over their painting.

I demonstrated a bunch of different ways to create the flowers first, but students could draw them any way they wanted! I also encouraged them to use bright colors. If they drew flower heads with a circle center, they colored in the circles with crayon, pressing hard. Once their paper was filled they drew green stems from each flower head going all the way to the bottom, using a green crayon as well as a green marker for each one.

DAY 2

Students finished up creating their flower heads and stems if needed (they really took their time with this step and loved created intricate flowers!!) then using just water on a paintbrush, they went over each flower with water.

This turns the marker into almost a watercolor consistency, which kids LOVED!! I showed them how to just do one flower at a time then rinse their brush before moving onto the next so the colors wouldn’t get muddy.

Then students went over all their stems with water. The crayon part of the stems would remain a solid line since crayons resist water.

We talked about the Element of Art “Value” and how the colors of the flowers would get softer and lighter in value once water was applied.

The wet flower paintings were left to dry until the following class. Students then either chose a bunny or bear cub template to start drawing lines with sharpie to add TEXTURE!

I downloaded and printed the bunny template from a website for teachers called Teachstarter (free template) and then created the bear one myself and made copies for kids.

I demonstrated how to draw straight lines close together in between each section using sharpie. Students could leave the eye area as it was, or go over the lashes and create longer lines. We discussed how the lines created fur- like texture. We also discussed how the black & white vs. the colorful flower background would create CONTRAST.

DAYS 2-3

Students continued drawing lines if needed, then carefully cut out their animals and glued onto their flower background! I just LOVE how simple yet beautiful this lesson is! Plus, kids continue to understand how they are applying the elements of art while creating!

Learning Goals:

Students create artwork utilizing the elements of art (Line, Shape, Color, Texture and Value) and can describe how they used each in their art

Students can define contrast and point out the use of contrast in their artwork

Students can create, define, and point out overlapping in their artwork

Positive/Negative Hands

For this lesson, students learned about positive and negative space in artwork and used their previous knowledge (from their sketchbook cover lesson) on warm and cool colors to create this colorful vibrant painting.

First, students painted a 9×12″ paper using either only warm colors, only cool colors, OR a rainbow (in the rainbow’s order) using watercolors.

On the second day of the lesson, they traced their hand on the back of their painting using pencil, then carefully cut out as one piece and set it aside.

They took the remaining paper (now showing the negative shape of their hand) and glued down to the left side of a sheet of 12×18″ black construction paper, being sure to line up the edges.

Students then folded the positive cut out of their hand in half and drew a half circle (or other shape) in the middle, cut out and glued to the center.

The remaining hand with the hole cut from its center was then glued to the right side of the black paper. Thank you Mr. O (http://mrosartroom.blogspot.com/) for the awesome lesson inspiration!

Learning Goals: 

– Students can create and define positive and negative space within artwork

– Demonstrates a clear understanding of warm and cool colors and shows this in their work

 

Silly Monster Selfies

Second graders had a blast creating these super adorable silly monsters!

On day one (of two) for this lesson, students drew a simple monster head shape with two pointy parts for ears, on their chosen 9×12″ colored construction paper background with pencil. They then dipped the edge of a 2″x4″ piece of thin cardboard (I used the cardboard that comes with the packaging for styrofoam printing plates)  into black paint and “stamped” short black lines along the edge and within their monster to create texture for fur! These were left to dry until the next class.

On the second day of the lesson, students then cut out their monsters, leaving a little color around the edge and glued onto a 12×12″ piece of black construction paper.

They added big eyes with punched out white paper and black paper for the pupils as well as a mouth and fangs!

They learned how to create a symmetrical mouth by folding a piece of black paper in half and drawing only half the mouth along the folded edge and cutting out while still folded.

I LOVE how these came out!! Thank you @mrsallainart (via Instagram) for the inspiration!!!

Learning Goals: 

-Students can define and create texture within their work

-Students can define and create a symmetrical mouth within their monster

Another time we created the same monsters using the same technique, but added cut paper hearts to make them “LOVE MONSTERS” for Valentine’s Day! See Below

 

I read them the cute story, “Love Monster” by Rachel Bright for inspiration!

Symmetrical Fall Leaves

For this art lesson, second grade students created enlarged, symmetrical fall leaves with warm colors.

Students first practiced their observational drawing creating at least 5 leaves in their sketchbooks, while looking at a leaf handout.

They then chose one drawing to enlarge on 12×18″ paper. They folded the paper in half and drew only half of their leaf, using contour lines, along just the folded edge. They then carefully cut it out, to reveal their symmetrical leaf cut out.

Students then drew the veins of their leaves with crayons and then painted the leaf using warm colors with watercolor paint to create a crayon wax-resist technique.

For a final touch, students glued their dry leaf painting onto either a blue, green or purple piece of construction paper  revisiting what the warm and cool colors were from the sketchbook cover lesson, in the beginning of the year.

Learning Goals:

– Be able to identify warm and cool colors

– Develop observational drawing skills

– Explore and learn about contour lines

– Understand what symmetrical means and be able to identify and create a symmetrical image

Catching Snowflakes Portraits

Second graders LOVED creating these adorable drawings of people catching snowflakes on their tongues!! They did such a wonderful job, and I love how each student put their own unique spin on the final touches!

For this fun two day art lesson, students first drew a face looking up (we talked about how the shape of the head with the small bump for the nose pointing up and a large round shape for the face resembled a pumpkin). Then added an open mouth, teeth (here, kids could add spaces between teeth to show the person lost a tooth or teeth!), a letter “m” for the tongue, hair (flying around from the winter wind), scarf, and sweater or jacket.

Once all drawn in pencil, students colored in using oil pastels. Students learned how to clean their oil pastel sticks using a small piece of paper towel or tissue before applying color. (Since multiple colors are all in the same container, the oil pastels can have other colors on them which can affect their work, unless wiped away first).

For the final step, students added snowflakes (of course!) and could add one on the person’s tongue as well, then outlined the person with a black oil pastel to help define edges and make the person stand out.

Thank you Aly at Little Yeti (http://artisandesarts.blogspot.com/) for such a cute lesson idea!!

Learning Goals: 

-Students learn tips and techniques with oil pastel

-Learn how to draw from a different perspective (person looking up)

 

 

 

 

WINTER BEARS IN SWEATERS!

CUTENESS OVERLOAD! I ADORE THESE BEARS and love all the different expressions!

Read more on this lesson below students artwork, and find out how to view my step-by-step drawing directions on how we created these bears!

I love all the different expressions!

This lesson took 3 art classes to complete (40 minutes each).

2nd graders followed along with me as I did a guided drawing for their bear under the document camera. We drew our bears on 12×12″ 80# white drawing paper in pencil to start. Then added a ton of texture for the fur by drawing lots and lots of lines with a fine point sharpie. Second graders colored in the eyes and nose with a thicker sharpie except for the little white highlight to create light reflecting off the bears eyes and nose.

Then students used some of their math skills to create their patterns in the sweaters!

To do this, students drew 3 curved lines inside the area of the sweater, creating 4 stripes. Then referred to a pattern sheet with a variety of patterns labeled by a number. Each student got dice to roll, and for each of their striped sections in their sweater, they rolled their dice to figure out which pattern they’d draw. For the 1^st section in their sweater they could create their own from their imagination, or pick one from the pattern sheet. For the 2^nd section in their sweater they rolled the dice and drew the pattern according to the number rolled. For the 3^rd section, they rolled the dice twice and added the two numbers together to get the pattern, and for the fourth section, they could choose whatever pattern they wanted from the sheet or create their own!

Once drawn in pencil, the patterns were traced over in sharpie, then colored in carefully with markers.

LEARNING GOALS:

Students can identify and use the elements of art LINE, SHAPE, COLOR, and TEXTURE to create their bears

Students can define and create patterns within artwork

Students understand that artwork can incorporate math concepts and can use their addition skills to create the patterns

TO FIND MY BLOG POST WITH STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS ON HOW KIDS CREATED THESE BEARS AND MORE… CLICK HERE AND COPY AND PASTE  “WINTER BEARS IN SWEATERS” IN THE SEARCH BOX!

 

Snowmen at Night

For this lesson, students listened to the story “Snowmen at Night” by Caralyn Buehner, for inspiration.

During this lesson, students learned about perspective in art. Perspective is the technique used to represent a three-dimensional world (what we see) on a two-dimensional surface (a piece of paper or canvas) in a way that looks realistic and accurate, as we see it in nature. Perspective is used to create an illusion of space and depth on a flat surface.

To do this, students drew some snowmen larger, along the bottom of the page to appear closer to the viewer, and some snowmen smaller, near the top of the page to appear further away from the viewer with snowy hills in between, to create the illusion of space and depth. Students also added trees, houses and other objects within their work.

Second graders also learned that a profile is a side view of a person, animal etc., (or in this case a snowman!) and drew at least 2 snowmen in profile.

After drawing everything in with pencil on black paper, students colored in their drawings using oil pastels. They had the option to color their snowmen and snow with whatever colors they wanted.

If students chose to color in the snow and snowmen the same color, they needed to just be sure to leave a little space around their snowmen, or draw a black line to separate and define the snow from objects within the snow.

Learning Goals:

-Students learn what the word perspective means in artwork and how to show that in their work

-Understand why size and placement of objects are important in order to create perspective in artwork

-Learn about viewpoints and understand what a profile is

 

 

“Birds-Eye view” Snowmen Collages

This snowman collage was a fun 1 day lesson using cut paper, oil pastel, and sharpie. We discussed what a “bird’s-eye view” perspective was first then students had the choice of creating a snowman looking up or looking straight ahead.

Students traced 3 different sized circular objects (a cardboard circle for the base, blank or old CD’s for the middle, and a small plastic take out cup for the head) on a sheet of 12×18″ drawing paper. They  drew a blue line with oil pastels around the edge of each circle, then with a circular motion, blended along the edge with their fingertip.

They cut out the circles, then glued them into place largest to smallest on a sheet of 10×10″ colored construction paper. They added brown “sticks” for the arms, a cut triangle for the carrot nose, and a scarf with pieces of colored construction paper. Eyes, mouths and buttons were drawn using a black sharpie.

Students either placed the carrot along the blue edge in order to have the head looking straight ahead, or in the middle to show the snowman looking up towards the sky.

Learning Goals

-Students learn what birds eye-perspective means and can show that in their work

Mixed-Media Jellyfish Paintings 

On the first day of this lesson, students learned about what mixed-media is. I explained we’d be using a combination of different mediums— tempera paints, chalk pastels and oil pastels to create our pictures. I also demonstrated the difference between chalk pastels and oil pastels on scrap paper. Students then created an underwater background painting using liquid tempera paint. They started at the top of the 12×18″ tagboard with blue paint, then layered on white right on top of the blue and blended to create a tint of blue. Then after cleaning their brush in water, painted just blue, then just purple and then black working their way down their papers. Students were encouraged to blend where two different colors met, to create a smooth transition from color to color.

On the second day of the lesson, students drew jellyfish using white chalk pastels. I demonstrated a really simple way to draw them by creating a dome like shape then adding wavy lines (some longer than others) underneath. They could fill in with whatever colors they wanted once drawn, and then blended using their fingertips.

We discussed the difference between opaque and translucent when creating the jellyfish with chalk pastels. Students then added black and green seaweed and some fish with oil pastels. I love how the jelly fish look like they’re almost glowing!

Thanks Patty (Deep Space Sparkle) for this lesson idea!

Learning Goals: 

-Students learn what “medium” means in art and what “mixed-media” is

-Learn about differences between chalk and oil pastels

-Learn what a tint is and how to create them

-Learns translucent vs. opaque

MONET INSPIRED BRIDGE PAINTINGS

2nd graders created these beautiful paintings inspired by the artist Claude Monet.

On day 1 of the lesson, students learned about Monet and watched a great video about his life and artwork narrated by an 8 year old girl. You can view it here.

Students then drew a bridge in pencil, and colored in with crayons. They made sure to press hard while coloring in and to not leave any gaps of white paper showing in order to create a crayon-wax resist later on.

Students learned that Monet was a very famous French painter, who was a founder of French Impressionism. They also learned he would often paint “en plein air” (meaning open; in full air -in French), and that he enjoyed painting the same things over and over, but at different times of the day. Each time he went outside to paint it, the light would be different and change the way the colors and shadows looked.

He especially loved painting his water lily pond by his house in Giverny, France. It was very important for him to capture a sense of light in his work, (morning, afternoon, evening light as it fell on his subjects).

He achieved this by adding various shades of color and white to his paintings.

Students created a sense of light within their work by drawing black lines (like the number 7) within certain areas of the bridge to create shadows, and white lines (like the letter L) to create light.

They also added white to the grass and on one edge of their lily pads.

On the final day (day 3) of the lesson, they used a wet-on-wet technique and painted their drawings with water, then painted with blue liquid watercolor while still wet. Then they sprinkled salt all over their paintings, which when dry, creates these interesting effects you see here within the paint! It makes it look like light shimmering on the water!

Students did a fantastic job creating these Monet inspired paintings, don’t you think?

Learning goals: 

-Students learn about the life and artwork of Claude Monet

-Learn that Impressionism is a style of art

-Learn that Monet was one of the founders of Impressionism

-Can define and create a crayon wax-resist painting and use wet-on-wet techniques

-Gains an understanding of perspective and space. Learn that objects that are closer to us are drawn larger and lower on the page, and objects that are further away are drawn smaller and higher up on the page

FIELD OF FLOWERS PAINTING

This was a super fun one day painting lesson! Kids used warm colors to create the flowers by making simple circles upon circles, then used cool colors to create stems for their flowers!

The goal was simple- fill in the space on the 12 x12″ paper (we used manila tagboard) with lots and lots of flowers and stems and have FUN!

I LOVE how simple and colorful these are! They look great hanging all grouped together in the hallway around springtime with the pop of bright color behind them.  Thank you Painted Paper Art (http://www.paintedpaperart.com/) for sharing this fun painting lesson!

“THINKING OF SUMMER” SELF-PORTRAITS

This was a perfect lesson for finishing off the school year! Thanks Mr. O (http://mrosartroom.blogspot.com/) for this fun lesson!

2nd graders drew the tops of their heads large, along the bottom of their paper, adding just their eyes and eyebrows to their face. They drew a thought bubble, and things that they were going to do, or wanted to do over the summer! Once outlined with sharpie, they colored in with crayon, then painted the background with whatever colors they wanted using tempera cakes.

Enjoy!

Warm / Cool Hand Design with Patterns (Sketchbook Cover Drawings)

For every grade level (1st-5th) I have students create a drawing that gets mounted onto a sketchbook for each student to use throughout the year. The sketchbooks stay in my art room in grade level/ classroom bins. Each grade has a different drawing lesson and creates different artwork from other grades.

To create the actual sketchbooks, students folded a sheet of 12×18″ 60# paper in half horizontally, for the cover. Students then staple in 12 sheets of pre-cut 8.5 x11″ paper (donated extra long printer paper -8.5 x 14″- Legal size- that I cut to 8.5 x 11″ ahead of time).  *Any left over cut scraps of white paper are then used for other collages/lessons. Then their drawings get glued onto the cover. 

Great for when kids finish early, plus it keeps all (what usually would be) loose practice drawings all in one contained place. Students use sketchbooks to free draw in once finished with an art lesson (if they finish early), as well as to practice drawing/plan out their ideas, before doing a final version. 

Growing up, I had sketchbooks and diary’s that I would draw in and I think it’s so fun to be able to look back on something like that. My students will have sketchbooks from 1st-5th grade, a new one every year to be able to look back on and see /track their own artistic growth throughout the years! Especially fun when you’re older to dig up all your old sketchbooks from your parents keepsake chest and flip through as an adult! 

So for this particular sketchbook cover drawing lesson, second grade students created a hand drawing using warm and cool colors and patterns. 

Students first traced their hand and drew a pattern inside their hand. Then they drew a different pattern in the background filling in the entire page.

After outlining with a black sharpie, they colored inside their hand using only warm colors, and colored in their background using only cool colors (or vice versa) with markers.

Sketchbooks are used throughout the year to plan out ideas, practice before making a final drawing, work on an extension of the current lesson if finished early, and of course to just have fun and experiment.

Learning Goals: 

– Understand the purpose of an artist’s sketchbook

– Demonstrate an understanding of warm and cool colors
– Can identify and create patterns in their work

3D PAPER SCULPTURES INSPIRED BY ARTIST CHARLES MCGEE

This lesson took ( 2 ) 40 minute art classes to create.

Students learned about the artist Charles McGee and we discussed his artwork. We discussed how we’d be utilizing the elements of art, line, shape, and form to create our sculptures. Then students received a sheet of copy paper with 4 lines pre-drawn and photocopied for the class.

Then using a black sharpie marker, students drew a different pattern in each section, creating 5 sections.

Then on day 2, students cut out each section with scissors.

Students then flipped over each strip, and folded back the ends. They then glued the flaps with a glue stick and positioned the flaps on a piece of 8×8” white cardstock paper and pressed for 5 seconds. Students could place each strip wherever they wanted creating height by placing the flaps closer together, and then gluing on other sections on top of previous ones. They had a lot of fun creating these fun and interesting sculptures!

LEARNING GOALS

• Students can define and create patterns in their artwork
• Students learn about and can identify Charles McGee’s artwork
• Students can create a 3D sculpture and understand the difference between 2D and 3D

APRIL SHOWERS BRINGS MAY FLOWERS

This lesson is one of my new favorites for springtime!! It took 3 (40 min.) art classes to complete.

DAYS 1-2

Students each received a 9×12” 80# sheet of drawing paper with the umbrella pre-printed. I drew the umbrella and photocopied x30 for each class (extras are always a must in case kids need a new sheet).

Then students followed along with me as I drew under the document camera showing them how to create the raincoat, shorts, legs and rain boots.
Once that was complete, we drew a curved line for the hill, and a few clouds in the sky, then traced over everything but the hill with a black sharpie.
‘Then students colored in the person and umbrella with crayon.

Then using a white crayon we created rain in the sky (making sure to press very hard). We talked about how although you can’t really see where you’re putting the rain drops, since it’s white on white, you can see the waxy sheen it has on the paper when you tilt your paper.

After creating the rain, students used two shades of green crayons (a lime lighter green, and a darker forest green) and drew grass blades all over the hill, letting the lines overlap and go diagonal at times.

Students then drew tulips (by drawing a U and then a W at the top and daisy shaped flowers all around the grass with whatever colored crayons they wanted.

DAY 3

Students finished coloring in the person, umbrella and flowers and could add other details like a sun and rainbows (a cute dog!) all with crayon, pressing hard as they colored.
Then, using blue liquid watercolors they painted in the sky over their raindrops, creating a crayon-wax-resist. It never gets old seeing students get excited to see their raindrops magically appear!

LEARNING GOALS

• Students can define and create a crayon wax-resist painting
• Students can define overlapping and use it in their artwork

PUMPKIN TINFOIL PRINTS

This was a very fun 3 day lesson!
To prepare for the lesson, I took 30 sheets of tinfoil and traced a piece of 80# drawing paper (9×12”) onto each sheet of tinfoil with sharpie.

Then students followed along with me as I showed them how to draw their pumpkin on a sheet of 9×12” 80# paper with pencil. Then they traced over all lines with a black sharpie.

Then inside each section of their pumpkin they drew patterns with pencil first, then colored in some of the shapes with black sharpie and traced over all lines as well, like in the picture above (this is my teacher example).

Then on DAY 3, students colored in the rectangle on their sheet of tinfoil with whatever colors they wanted, any way they wanted, using Crayola washable markers, making sure to fill in all of it.

With their finished black and white pumpkin drawing next to them, and a large messy mat under their colored tinfoil, I walked around and sprayed water using a spray bottle about 5 or 6 times onto the colored part of the tinfoil (maybe holding it 12” away)

Students then placed their pumpkin paper (face down) onto the wet area that was colored on the tinfoil, lining up the paper with the black rectangle, and gently pressed all over for at least 15 – 20 seconds.

Then students carefully lifted one corner of their pumpkin drawing and flipped the paper over onto the tinfoil to reveal their awesome print! All the marker transfers onto their pumpkin drawing!

Then we placed the messy mat, tinfoil and pumpkin print onto the drying rack to dry. Kids had a BLAST creating these!! This is definitely a fun and exciting lesson that I’ll definitely be doing again!!
This lesson idea is from @mrsallainart and @art2.chambers and @helloartteacher

LEARNING GOALS

• Students can create a print using markers and water on tinfoil
• Students learn the basics of printmaking
• Students can define and create various patterns within their artwork

OWLS AT NIGHT

This lesson took 3 (40 min.) classes to complete.

DAY 1

Students followed along with me as I showed them how to draw the owl and branch on 9×12” 80# paper with pencil.Then they outlined the whole owl and branch and leaves, with black crayon.

DAY 2

Students colored in their owls with whatever colors they wanted, using crayons. They colored the branch with brown crayon, and the leaves using warm colors. They added stars and a moon with yellow crayon, making sure to press down hard.

DAY 3

On the final day, they painted the sky with black liquid watercolors, creating a crayon wax resist!

LEARNING GOALS

• Students can use various lines, shapes and pattern to create a drawing of an owl
• Students can define and apply warm colors to their artwork
• Students can create a crayon wax resist painting and understand it’s technique

SNOWMAN IN PERSPECTIVE

I taught this lesson with 2nd and 3rd one year. My second graders were jealous when they saw my teacher examples and found out it was for third, so I decided what the heck, I’ll let them do it this year too! They loved creating them!

For this lesson, students learned about perspective, and how to draw things from different angles. This was a fun, quick two day lesson with markers and sharpie. I love the different facial expressions on each snowman!

DAY 1 – 2

Students followed along with me as I showed them how to draw the snowman‘s body under the document camera. We drew on 9 x 12“ 80 # white drawing paper. We started at the bottom corner of our paper drawing a curved line. Then in the middle we do a smaller curve for the center of the snowman‘s body. Finally we added the smallest curve for the head.

Then I show them how to add the carrot nose but making sure it was drawn closer towards the top of the head and the nose went beyond the headline. From there the eyes were added on either side closer to the top of the head and the smile was created with circles.

Then we added the snowman’s buttons (or rocks in this case) going from largest to smallest starting at the bottom.Then I showed them how to draw a small curved line on the left side of the neck and the right side of the neck and connecting the lines for the scarf. Then drawing a curved “S” line for the shape of the scarf blowing in the wind, adding fringe at the end to create texture.

Then we added the sticks for the arms and a hat of their choice. I showed them a few different ways to draw a few different hats or they could draw their own. For a final step, we added snowflakes all around the snowman with marker. We sharpied the whole picture and then colored with markers.

LEARNING GOALS

• Students learn about perspective and can define the term
• Students can create a drawing of a snowman with the perspective of looking up from below
• Students use their knowledge of line to create texture within their art

SUPERHERO MASKS

This was a super fun one day lesson (40 minute class).

I drew four different mask shapes, each on a sheet of 9 x 12” super heavy weight tag board paper and then ran each one through the copy machine.

Students could design their mask anyway they wanted with pencil first and then colored in with markers. Once finished they cut out their mask and then folded a little bit where the eyes were and then cut a tiny slice so they could get their scissors inside and then cut out the eyes. Some students even decided to draw above the mask line to add other details as seen in the photos above like rabbit ears and additional details above their mask design. They were extremely creative!

To fit their mask to their face I had straps that I cut from the same super heavy weight tag board paper into 9“ x 2“ strips. Each mask got 2 strips. I helped them staple each strip end to each side of their mask first, then put the mask against their face to measure out where the straps should meet/ overlap and then stapled at that area, so it would fit snug on their head, but be able to come off easily at the same time.

Students LOOVED this fun and engaging lesson and wore them immediately after they were finished being sized! This lesson coincided with reading the book “Almost Super” within their classroom, at one of my schools.

LEARNING GOALS

• Students continue to enhance their cutting skills
• Students can use a variety of line, shape, color, texture, and pattern to design their own unique mask
• Students understand that art can relate with other subjects