Pop-Up Books

I took a graduate class last fall in bookmaking....NOT SCRAPBOOKING.  While we did several versions of binding and construction, not all were applicable to elementary Art....several, however were. This is a simple pop-up that may be used 3-5 grades, providing you work slowly.
To start, you need 2 bookends, about 6''x4'', of some heavy poster board. Next cut a long strip of heavy paper for the folded pages. Pleat it accordian style to fit inside the ends. The paper should be slightly smaller than the bookends. On each outward fold , cut a small design that will ''pop''.
The inside paper that is to be folded needs to be long enough to make at least 4-5 cutouts, so you will need 8-10 pages, plus 2 more pages to glue to the bookends.
For the bookmaking class, we used special glue, but a cheaper substitute is paste...yes, the stuff none of us buy anymore.

 I and Janis Gillespie spent 2 hours wednesday, September 21 constructing one. They turned out great!

Name Design

This lesson uses letters of the student's name to form a colorful, patterened design. You may also use vocabulary words, spelling words, or any other words which you wish the students to remember.

Start by drawing on a 12'' x 18'' white paper the word/name you wish.....you may change either size or paper color. Place on each table ONE color...have the class paint in the first letter. Change colors, clean brushers. Place the next color on the table--next color, next letter. Repeat until all letters are done. Then begin with the spaces, and repeat the process until all spaces are done. Time permitting, pattern in the letters or background. These always turn out great...the biggest problem is getting the class to paint slowly, so that they stay within the lines. P.S. I use regular tempra.

Positive and Negative Space Name Art

Positive and Negative Space Name Art

This turned out to be a nice review of positive and negative space for my fifth graders. They began by making a grid on their papers using a ruler with different sized squares and rectangles (one space for each letter or number). Then the students drew the letters of their names using capital and lowercase letters that had to touch at least two sides of the spaces on the grid. If they wanted, they could also put the year or the year they were born. Finally, students colored in either the letter or the space around the letter with a marker and then erased all pencil lines left showing. The fifth graders were very proud of their abstract names.

What's in a line?

Contour Line Drawings

My second graders were reviewing types of lines. I took out a bunch of scrap paper and they searched for interesting shapes. They used a glue stick to put the shapes on their 9x12 paper. Then they followed the contour of their shapes with a marker.

Harold and the Purple Crayon

This is my favorite lesson for kindergarten's first art class. We read "Harold and the Purple Crayon" and then talk about different adventures we could go on if we had magical purple crayons like Harold. The kids only get purple crayons and they can draw adventures on the front AND back of their paper. When they are finished I also have a movie version of the book that I let them watch while the detailed drawers finish up.

Room Idea

Room Idea for First Nine Weeks

I decided to go with a "Welcome to the Pack" theme. I also have a book called "The Crayon Box that Talked" to help with going over rules and getting along in the art room.

Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti

This project was based on the African folk hero Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermott. We tried two different methods of creating the graphic spider. The first type was flat, the other was to glue the paper legs into a circle. Both methods were successful, it would be a matter of preference. This project was very simple to do and the results are very bold and graphic.

Bigfoot Cinderrrrrella



This project is based on the book Bigfoot Cinderrrrrella by Tony Johnston. We used 1 inch wide paper strips and glued them together. We used clothespins to hold them together to dry while we were building. We experimented with both gluing them onto a piece of paper and also just hanging them up from the ceiling with no background paper. Another fun project that was pretty simple to do, if you used clothes pins... aka "art clamps".

Cloudy with a Chance of .....

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a children's book written by  Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett. We had a great time making a project based on this book. Our project ended up being Cloudy with a Chance of Snacks.  We used crayons, watercolors, glue and various snack food items.

Professional Development ~ August 2011

A group of us worked together the past two days exploring children's literature and art projects inspired by them. We had a lot of fun and shared a lot of good ideas. I am going to try to get a few of our projects posted  in the next few blogs.