Art from Books Series: Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse

Many of you have started school in the las few weeks or are starting this week. This is a great beginning of the year book and art project though I've seen and done it later in the year.

I first saw this art project at the end of the year in a second grade classroom but I like it for the beginning of the year better because it focuses on what students want to be when they grow up.

The book is about a little mouse named Lilly. She wants to be a teacher when she grows up because she loves her teacher then he is "mean" to her and she no longer wants to be a teacher. She goes through all the possible jobs she may want to work until she is friends with her teacher again.

You can find the book here on Amazon.

It's not a favorite book of mine but I do like it. 

This art project starts with reading the book and then drawing Lilly's character and adding an outfit for what you want to be when you grow up. 

Start out with an egg shape. This is your head.

Add a body, just an oval under the head.

Add a sideways "c" for the nose, a smile, an eye (I changed my eye later) and some ears. The ears are made by making  a "c" shape and another behind it. You also need an inner ear which I forgot and added later. It's just another "c" shape inside the first "c" shape.

Sorry for the eraser pieces in the next two photos. Here I added some arms and legs. (I'm really bad at feet and hands).

Now it has a tail!

Make it your own, Just like Lilly, decide what you want to be when you grow up. I obviously want to be a teacher so I drew some teachery things. I don't like dresses though, I was just being lazy. I thought about drawing a ninja, because I am one in disguise (I do karate) and I thought about an astronaut because I love space but I decided to stick with the truth. (I also added the inner ear here. Do you see it?)

Now all you have to do is color and your picture is done. Sorry for the poor coloring, I hate coloring so I put little effort into it. She kind of looks like she's wearing a night gown. I need to work on my drawing skills as well as my coloring skills in the future. It's good to have goals.

Andy Warhol's Campbell Soup Pop Art

One of my favorite all time art projects. Andy Warhol's soup can.

I first did this art project in 5th grade. My 5th grade class and a third grade class came together to do a whole unit on Andy Warhol. We wrote recipes, took crazy portraits, painted soup cans, and had an art show one evening. It truly was a blast.

Looking back on it now, the soup can painting was my favorite part, and really, the coolest looking part when hung on a wall. It so cool in fact, that my class's pictures hung in the airport for a month for everyone to see.

I've modified this project a lot since I did it in 5th grade. There was nothing wrong with my fifth grade lesson but due to time and money constraints I've changed it to fit current teacher needs. I've done this with second graders and fourth graders and learned a lot each time.

With my second graders, it was about meeting my goal of completing an art project. It wasn't about the students succeeding. As you can guess, there was a huge learning curb there. My students made camouflage cans and went through almost all of my brand new bottle of paint.

Take two, fourth grade. I did more planning this time. I knew where I fell short last time and I knew how to fix it. With my second graders, I played a short 2-5 minute video on youtube introducing Andy Warhol. I don't think it's up anymore, I looked. With my fourth graders I went out and bought a used copy of Getting to Know Andy Warhol on DVD.

You can find used copies on Amazon.

They also sell a book version but I like the DVD because it's only 15 minutes long and very informative. Plus find me a kid who doesn't like TV.

After watching the film I had the kids think of their favorite soup and write it down. This is where I learned from my second graders. Some one will say "I don't like soup." What do you do? I had a list of Campbell's soups for those students to just pick one. 

Next, time to start the art lesson. 

First, draw an oval on the top third of the paper, then draw two parallel lines moving downwards.

Next, draw a curved line on the bottom third connecting the two parallel lines. This would be like a smile on a happy face. Place a stripe above it by drawing two more curved lines. Draw a small circle (about the size of a half dollar) in the middle of the can. Split the can into two by drawing a linen either side of the little circle. 

Draw ovals inside the large oval to create grooves on the can top. Draw a line behind the can on the top or bottom third of the page to represent the table.

Next, Write Campbell's in cursive on the top portion (Lower grades probably will/ can not use cursive so have them write in their handwriting.) and handwriting on the bottom of their favorite soup. Write Soup in all capital letters. My fourth graders started freaking out here. Many exclaimed that they never eat can soup, only mom's homemade soup. That's fine, tell them to write their favorite soup anyways. My favorites were the cans that said Campbell's Mom's SOUP. Have students draw a picture in the small circle to represent their soup. This is the logo. In mine I drew a mushroom because I had mushroom soup (which I actually hate).

Now, let's paint. I've said before that I love bright color and after the camo soup can fiasco I stress bright colors with my students. I limit the students to three colors at a time, they are welcome to come back for more colors though when they need it. They are not allowed to use brown, black, or white at all in their pictures. I even hung some samples of Andy Warhol's work up so they could see his bright colors. Pop art should POP! I have black and white paint out if they water to make their part a different shade though. If you're talking about cool and warm colors you can have students paint the can cool colors and the background warm colors or vise versa. 

Time to outline. I give students three sharpies. One chisel, one fine tip, and one metallic. I got enough pens where each student has a pen in their hand at all times. I gave a fine tip and chisel pen to table partners and a metallic to each table group with the instruction to use the metallic when the student gets it then pass it on. The metallic pen is only used to write the word soup so students use it really quickly. Have students outline all words in the fine tip pen except for the word soup and their drawing on their label. Have students outline all other lines with the chisel pen except for the table line. It draws your eye more towards the can if you don't outline the table.

How does it feel? You're all done. 

Here are some samples of other cans. 

This is the one I made in 5th grade. My teacher bought every student a large canvas to paint on. She also bought acrylic paint and paint pens to outline. Again, this is why I modified it for cost. I certainly can't afford to do it this way with my students, I don't know how she did it. 

This one has a picture that I was going to add to the drawing if I had time. I printed up a 4-up of a portrait and colored it all different colors. I like it but I don't think I'll ever add it to the art project. I used a co workers photo for my example, he was such a sport in helping me.

This is my favorite. This is my 4th graders' work hanging in the computer lab. It really brightened the place up and looks like a real Andy Warhol Campbell's soup exhibit lined up like that.

Art from Books Series: Owl Moon

This is a great winter book for lower elementary. It's a cute book about a dad and his daughter hiking in the woods to call to the owls. A right of passage in their family. I love it. I first heard about it from a second grade teacher. She read the book and did this art project with her students.

You can find the book here http://www.amazon.com/Owl-Moon-Jane-Yolen/dp/0399214577.

After reading this book, the art project is fun and easy for students. All you need is some blue and white paint, brown water color, a round sponge, a paint brush, and some painter's tape. A piece of paper is helpful too.

Start by drawing a line across the bottom third of the paper. This is your snow and horizon line.

Next, grab some painter's tape. Cut lengths of tape long enough to reach from the top of the paper to the line you drew. You need about 3-4 pieces per picture. I wouldn't do more then 4 pieces.

Here's the hardest part, you need to rip the tape into two pieces. It needs to create two skinny pieces of tape not the easy was of two short pieces. Once you do that, lay a half a piece of tape down on your paper, then lay the other half down next to it with the clean sides towards each other. This is your tree. Repeat for all the pieces of tape you have.

Grab your blue paint. Paint over the top portion of your picture. Go ahead and paint over your tape. This is your sky.

Once your blue is dry, take your sponge and sponge paint the bottom portion of your picture with white paint. I know, white paint on a white paper, it doesn't make much sense. You'll still get texture though. Once you have covered the area (feel free to cover your drawn line too) dip your sponge in the white paint and put one sponge mark down on the blue to be your moon.

Once your picture has dried remove the tape. Go back with your brown water color on the spaces left by the tape. The tape mark leaves lines that look like winter trees. Water color is good for this because it gives the trees more depth.

Let it dry and you're all done. There is your winter scene just like in owl moon.

Mummy Grid Art

Ancient civilization, a big part of 6th grade social studies standards. I was a special student then. I lacked the ability to figure out grammar and spelling rules. I'm sorry if you come across any of those today. My teachers always said I would catch up when I was in elementary school.

In 6th grade my teachers pulled me out of social studies to put me in a special class to refine these skills. I think it was a waste of time but they were trying. Unfortunately for me, I missed most of social studies that year. Thus, I can't tell you much about ancient civilizations. Sad, I know.

So Little Brother was in 6th grade last year and I was trying to give him a head start and more knowledge on ancient civilizations. A little hard to do when you yourself have no background knowledge.

Around the University's Education department halls are work student teachers did with students. Actually there are only two different projects hanging in the hallways. One was this project. Students used grid art to create a mummy mask. They are so cool looking so I took what I read from the samples I saw and expanded on it for LB.

I modified a lot for LB because we only meet two hours a week but I'm going to tell you what I would do in the classroom if I did this project.

I would have students research mummy masks for homework or during computer time. They will find a mask they like that has a picture from the front and has an identified mummy they can later research. Students will print a picture in black and white and write down the name of their mummy.

In class we will add grid lines to the picture. There's math involved now. Students need to calculate how many evenly spaced out lines they need to make and create a square grid on the picture.

Next, students will be given white paper, I like ledger size, and will add the same number of lines as the picture to create a larger grid.

I'm sure you've done grid drawing before, they are often found in coloring books in the activity section. You simply focus on one box at a time drawing the image larger. I strongly suggest using a ruler for strait lines.

When the drawing is done you need to copy the image onto black paper. This can be done one of two ways that I know of. For LB we put carbon paper between the drawing and the black paper and Little Brother traced his whole drawing. I like this way because it's so much easier and the same piece of carbon paper can be used a couple times. LB liked looking at the carbon paper and seeing his drawing on that too.

The other way is to have the students use a pencil and color the backside of the whole drawing paper. It's a long process and my least favorite part of middle school art, aside from actually doing the drawing. My teacher once asked me why I couldn't draw like the girl next to me. Really?

Once the back is colored, place the drawing paper onto the black paper and trace the drawing just like you would with the carbon paper.

You should now have transposed the drawing onto the black paper. I had LB go over the tracing again so that it would be darker and he'd bee able to see it.

Next he used chalk pastels to color the whole mask in. I didn't want him to see a colored picture because I like bright colors and I wanted him to make it his own. If you want it more realistic, have the students research the actual colors, but after looking at mummy masks, some are lacking a little in color variations.

Last step for the art, use puffy paint to go over all the lines in the drawing. I told LB not to do anything in the face but it's up to you. The pictures hanging in the University went over all the lines. I kinda like the face without it because I think it makes it really busy to do the face too.

Last step, which really makes this a learning opportunity is for students to research and write about their mummy. I had LB add a picture of his mummy, not the mask but what his actual mummy looked like (do the best you can, sometimes the mask is all there is and that's ok), and write about the mummy's life before he became a mummy. It was great when we were done because people loved the picture and wanted to read what he wrote to learn more about his mummy.

Here's the final product. He ended up bring it to school because he was so proud of what he made and presented his work to the class. I think he did a great job and even my middle school art teacher would praise him on his work. 

micro phone lens

Have you seen these?

Micro phone lenses. They're $14.99 on amazon. Here's a link. http://www.amazon.com/Micro-Phone-Lens-Smart-Microscope/dp/B00GXR2W7S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403649640&sr=8-1&keywords=micro+phone+lens

They're amazing. They attach to the lens of your camera on your phone. They use static to stick so no adhesive to ruin your phone and you can pull it off and attach it over and over again. They worked on apple devices (iPhone, iPads, and iPods) as well as any other mobile device that have a flat lens the same size as the  Iphone lens.

You need to put the lens right against the object to get it into focus. Give the kids plenty of time to play with the lenses, trust me they are fun to play with.

This is a flower up close using the lens. You can really see all the details. 

Now let's make this an art lesson. Have the kids choose a favorite picture or you take a couple and print them up in black and white. If you take the picture, ask the kids what they think it's a picture of. The kids will love to guess and find out if they're right. 

Give the kids some pastels, chalk or oil, and let them color the picture. I like bright colors but some people like it realistic. I say give little direction on how to color and see what the kids do with it. The final product is amazing. 

Here are two finished products. Can you guess what they are pictures of?

The top picture is the back of a penny, the bottom I believe is a plant, probably a leaf. I told you the bright colors turned out awesome.

These lenses are great for science but I love how you can integrate science and art with one relatively cheap product. Happy coloring.

On a real happy note as I'm posting this, I just got offered a job yesterday morning so I may be moving North for the summer... fall, winter, and spring. So basically, forever.

Wishes

We all have wishes and I love this project. I have seen it in 1st grade classes mostly but I wanted to try it out and I only had a 7th grader. You may see his work a lot highlighted in this blog in the future.  For the sake of this blog we're going to call him Little Brother or LB because that's what I tell him he is to me. He's my model, I always tell him that I will use his works as an example for my future students. He gets embarrassed but I think it gives him pride too. LB is embarrassed by the picture I'm going to post, he's writing a book right now and I asked him if we could use it, he said no. Oh well, I'll get a good one for his about the author.

So, like I said before I went off on a tangent, this is probably most appropriate for a 1st grade project. I think it's best for when students return from winter break at the start of the new year. Students will write about their wishes and many cultures have wishes for the new year.

First thing you have to do is take a profile picture. 

This is LB's picture. We went through a couple until we decided this was the perfect picture. He wanted his glasses off but I thought the glasses were part of him and gave it character. I told him to act like he was blowing out candles. He did with no cheek puff, he's a musician he's not going to puff his cheeks, but it just looked like he was sitting there. So I told him to puff out his cheeks and make kissy lips to make it look like he was blowing. That worked. 1st graders might actually have puffy cheeks when they blow though, so it may be easier. 

Next, I printed the picture in black and white and cut him out so there was no background. You can have the kids do this part unless you want it perfect. 

Then I made him think. (I actually did this part first and didn't tell him what we were doing until I gave him all the pieces to put the final picture together.) I had him write on the top of a paper, my wish, then write down any wish he had. He had a lot too. Some were good, some were random, and some were weird. Again, what do you expect from a 7th grader. First graders will probably write things you will expect. This would be a good brainstorm with students before they actually write too.

I typed this list up, but you can certainly have kids the or write it or just cut out the words they wrote on the paper. Whatever works.

I gave LB his cut out picture, white yarn, a piece of black construction paper, and his wishes. I also gave him some glue. I told V to glue his picture on one side of the paper and draw a strait line for a stem at the other. (I saw this done with a stick and I loved it so much better.) I then had him cut the yarn into small pieces and glue it around the top of the stick and a few pieces blowing away to look like a wish maker flower. (Sorry, I can't remember what they are called right now but kids make a wish and blow them and all the pieces blow away. It'll come to me later.)

Then I have him use any wishes he had made, he didn't use all of them but he had that option, and put them on the paper. I've seen them written on paper to the side of the picture but I like giving more options, this is their work and not mine. LB decided to make it look like the wishes are part of the dandelion and flying off too. (I told you I'd remember the name later.) I thought it looked great the way he did. 

Here's the final artwork. It's a bit babyish for him because he is so old but it's so cute for a 1st grader and looks awesome hanging on a  bulletin board. 

I hope you like this, I love it. There is probably a book you can find about wishes to read before you start this project too. I'd love to find a perfect one. I love book project parings. 

About Me

My name is Kristen and I am on my way to be a teacher. I just graduated with my teaching credential and I'm searching for a job. I spend a lot of time looking for the projects, lessons, and crafts that kids will remember for their entire life. Meaningful learning is the best kind of learning and I want to make sure I use kids' time accordingly. Their time is just as precious as ours.

I started my hunt for crafts at a young age. I was always looking for fun thinks to do with my much younger cousins when they came over to spend time at our house.

This love for finding great crafts continued to follow me after I graduated high school. I worked at two different summer camps, on two different sides of the country. I learned a lot about crafts and fun things from my camp experience. I wasn't done yet though, I had to intern at a school for two semester while an undergraduate. I loved it. It really proved to me how much I wanted to be a teacher and be around such great kids. I went back year after year, semester after semester past what I needed to, to learn more about teaching and to work with the students. Every time I stepped into the classroom I took special note of projects and activities that seemed to really capture the students' and my attention. Things that really seemed to click. I took these projects and applied it to my student teaching and the students loved it.

I'm still trying to learn more though. Just because I'm done with the credential program does not mean I'm done learning. I continue to visit classrooms around my area to learn what teachers are doing. I lend my help in my free time to multiple teachers and I love when I walk onto a campus and students get so excited to see me.

I also attend conferences and professional development to make myself a better teacher. Through these I continue to learn about different lessons and projects I can teach my students. I hope to share with you what I learned and I hope you'll share with me some great projects you know.