Spring Forsythia Still-life

Spring is gradually coming to New England and we've been enjoying all of the flowers and trees that are starting to bloom. One of my favorite spring blossom is the forsythia--the bright yellow blooms just wake me up and get me ready for warmer days ahead!

Here's a quick project I did a couple years back with my home school kids that is easy and fun to do. Working from life, students create a mixed-media still life while learning printmaking and symmetry. This is a great opportunity to gather up some real forsythia in bloom, set it up in your classroom and then have the children work from life. I was a little late one year, so I brought in fake forsythia to display.

When using real forsythia, pass around blooms to let the children look at them close up and then look at the still life from further away. Display your forsythia in a pretty vase and show the students how the shape of a vase is symmetrical. I had my students fold a piece of construction paper in half and then cut the shape of the vase so it would be truly symmetrical (have some extra construction paper on hand just in case). Brown marker and sponge-painted X's make for an easy finish to this project. Low mess, low stress, and lots of beautiful color!

This project is from "Kids' Art Works," by Sandi Henry. This book is FULL of great art ideas for children and is a must for any art teacher. The directions are clearly written in the book and easy to follow and the results are great! All of the children enjoyed creating beautiful spring pictures full of bright yellow blossoms! Welcome Spring!