Silly Pumpkins, Pre-K

 This was a very simple project that I did with the Pre-K students this week.  Basically, I gave the students lots of pre-cut shapes, and they glued it together to make pumpkin face.

I think these are cute!

Fall Trees

 These fall trees were made by my second graders.  I found the idea for this lesson on the blog Painted Paper.

 This is a very simple lesson.  Basically, students start by creating painted paper.  I gave my students only primary colors, so they could blend to create secondary colors.  After the painted paper is dry, students cut out the leaves and glue it to the paper.  Lastly, students painted a tree trunk and add dots for falling leaves.

Bulletin Boards

 I am a little late in posting this, but here are my Halloween bulletin boards that I had up in my classroom. 

Pumpkin Still Life, 3rd Grade

 This was a simple still life lesson.  I had my students draw apples, pumpkins, and corn on a piece of white paper.  Everything was then colored with oil pastels.  I encouraged my students to experiment with mixing and blending analogous colors.  Next, we cut all of these vegetables out and glued them to construction paper. 

Overall, I think these turned out really nice. 

Scarecrows, 1st Grade

A few years ago, I found this cool lesson on Deep Space Sparkle, and I have done this lesson with my students many times. The background was done with oil pastels and watercolors. The the scarecrows were made with paper, yarn, and a popsicle stick.I think these are super cute!

Fall Still Life, 3rd Grade

These simple still lifes were made with oil pastels. We drew pumpkins, apples, and corn on white paper. I encouraged my students to experiment with blending analogous colors (colors next to each other on the color wheel). After this, these were cut out and glued to construction paper. I think these turned out rather well.

Leaf Prints, Kindergarten

This is a very simple project that I do every year with my kindergartners. For this project, we used real leaves. To do this, we painted the back of the leaf. Then we turned it over, and stamped it to the paper. For the background, we used a sponge and tempera paint.
These turned out great, and look even better in person.

Fall Trees, Pre-K

The little Pre-K kids are adorable, but I sometimes struggle to come up with good developmentally appropriate lessons for these little ones. I am always praying that my lesson won't end up being a disaster. However, I think this one was perfect for them. I began by giving each child a pre-cut tree trunk. They then used a glue stick to glue it to the middle of their paper. After this, I gave each child a small green piece of paper with short lines drawn on it. I then had the students use scissors to cut the lines for grass. (Make it clear that they are not to cut the entire strip off. It is suppose to have a frayed look.) Many of my little ones have a hard time with scissors, but this was great practice for them. Since they were only cutting straight lines, most did a great job. After this, they glue the grass to their picture. Lastly, students make leaves using their finger prints. I handed out sponges with red and yellow paint on top. This was kind of like a hand made stamp pad. It kept the kids from having too much paint on their fingers.
I think these turned out great. I know that they absolutely loved putting their fingers in the paint! Days after, they were still talking about it.

Fall Tree Reflections, 2nd Grade

This was a really simple, but fun lesson. I found this lesson on the Incredible Art Department Website, however, there are many versions of this floating around cyberspace. To begin with, we folded our paper in half and drew a line right at the fold. We then used a light watercolor wash on our papers. The bottom half needed to be blue to make it look like the water. I told the students that the sky could be any color they wish. After this, students used brown tempera to paint the trees. Before the brown paint dried, I had the students fold their paper in half, and print the trees on the bottom half of the paper. Some of my students were amazed and thought this step was magic!. We then painted the leaves. I had them paint the leaves using fall colors and a paint brush. Instead of painting normally, I had them dab the leaves on with the brush. After this, the students folded the paper in half again, and print the leaves.

Some of the students were a little upset that their prints weren't perfect. I tried to explain that reflection are generally a little choppy and imperfect. Next time, I will bring in photos of reflections so they understand this better.

Fall Still Life, 2nd Grade

This was a really fun lesson, and my students LOVED it. As many of you know, most of my art lessons have to be completed from start to finish in one, one hour class. (This has to do with the way my job is set up.) However, I was very convincing, and talked my way into having two classes for this project. Even with two classes, I really had to keep the kids moving quickly in order to finish in time.First Day: To start this lesson I brought in a few pumpkins, and showed them how pumpkins can be multiple colors and have lots of texture. Then, we painted three pieces of paper. One for the apples, and the other two for the pumpkins. The paper was first painted one solid color, and then added textures after. The textures can be done by splattering, using combs, or simply brushing on paints. This was all we had time for on the first day. The idea for this part of the lesson was found on Deep Space Sparkle.

Second Day: The second day was extremely busy. To begin, we started with weaving the basket. It took about 20 minutes to weave the baskets. (By the way, some students found weaving extremely difficult. I had to spend a lot of time helping certain students). After the basket was weaved, I gave the students a half sheet of construction paper to use as the table cloth. I gave students about 5 minutes to decorate the table cloth with oil pastels. After this, we finally got to cut out our apples and pumpkins. Basically, we just turned our painted paper over and drew circles on the back. Pumpkins were big circles and apples were smaller ones. During the last three minutes of class, I had the students use paint to add stems, vines, and lines onto their pumpkins. It is important not to give students too much time with the paint or they will over do it.
These turned out absolutely AWESOME!!! Some of my students have claimed that this was their favorite art lesson ever!

Scarecrows, 1st grade

I love these scarecrows. I can not take full credit for this project, I found it on one of my favorite blogs, Deep Space Sparkle. I had to adapt this lesson a little though in order to get it done in one hour.

Autumn Trees, 5th Grade

This lesson was all about teaching the students a little atmospheric perspective. Things close to you are larger, things far away smaller. Also, we discussed that having the trees go entirely off the top of the page will make it seem that you are standing right in the middle of the forest. We drew everything in pencil first and then colored with oil pastels. The sky and the grass was painted with watercolor.

Students love oil pastels!!! I truly think it is their favorite thing. Some of my students call them painting crayons. They love to put colors on top of each other and blend it together with their fingers.

Leaf Prints, Kindergarten

Just wanted to share these wonderful Kindergarten prints. These prints were done with real leaves. I can not take complete credit for this lesson because I found it on Deep Space Sparkle and adapted it to my kindergartners.

Directions:

1. white paint is brushed on the back of the leaf

2. Flip leaf over onto the black paper. Place a scrap piece of paper over it and rub.

3. The students are amazed when they lift the leaf up and see the print. They think it's magic. :)

4. The space around the leaf was stamped with a sponge. (make sure to tell them Not to paint on top of the leaf)

I just love this project. Kindergartners are awesome!