Kinder Picasso "Hand With Bouquet"

I've been visiting the Kinders at a local school (Clark Elementary in Amherst, NH) once a month doing an art enrichment program. I usually tie in a book or music or fine art (and sometimes all three) to make the experience a rich and multi-layered one. I have absolutely LOVED working with the children--Kinders are so cool. They are up for anything and so smart!

We've done some fall- and winter-themed art, but Spring is here! So I thought we'd create a piece that celebrates warm weather, flowers and color! I'm not a huge Picasso fan, but when I saw the piece "Hand With Bouquet" I immediately thought the children would love it. I experimented a bit with using cut paper and paper muffin liners to make a daffodil bouquet (which came out fine), but then I saw this version on the blog "Splish, Splash, Splatter." Rebecca uses the child's hand print as the hand holding the bouquet--WOW! Now, I'm a mom and anything that has a handprint in it instantly gets a place in my heart (and on the wall). It was a no-brainer--this was gonna happen!

But, I have to say, I was a bit worried about handprints and Kinders and only having a half hour per session...but it went great! We have a small sink in the art room, so I brought in two plastic bins, filled them with water, and had the children wash their hands in those. This allowed all 18 kids (or so) to wash their hands in about 5-7 minutes. I had a grown-up helper at the bins keeping an eye on things-I'm sure that helped!

I am so thrilled with the results and so were the kiddos! This lesson was fun and inexpensive and has a great "WOW" factor. It would be lovely for Mother's Day, too. I particularly enjoyed painting my own hand and then giving each student a high five before they printed their hand on the paper (that allowed me to check that they had covered their entire hand in paint and make sure they placed their hand properly on the page). I think the children thought I was silly-but it was so fun!

Here's how we did these colorful pieces:

Kinder Picasso "Hand With Bouquet"

Supplies Needed:

• One 12" x 18" piece of white construction paper
• Paintbrush
• Paper plate for palette
• Black tempera
• Oil pastels/cray pas (assorted colors, but you'll definitely need green)

Directions:

1. Paint your palm, thumb and fingers with the paintbrush and black tempera paint. Make sure you get a nice coat on your hand and go all the way to the tips of your fingers. Press your hand onto the white paper, leaving a handprint. The handprint should be perpendicular to the page. Now you can wash your hand.

2. Look at the picture of Picasso's "Hand With Bouquet." How does he make the flowers? What shapes does he use? Turn your paper so the thumb is up. Check out the examples to see what I mean. This gives a more realistic idea of the hand "holding" the flowers.

Our inspiration:
"Hand With Bouquet" by Pablo Picasso

I instructed the children to use the craypas to draw a large circle for the center of their flower and then color it in. Then add petals going around the center. Use whatever colors you want, but make 4-5 flowers on the area of the paper above the hand.

3. Then add the stems. They should go from each flower, to the hand, and out the other side. Add a couple of leaves to make your bouquet look realistic.

4. Don't forget to sign your work like Picasso, using a craypas.

Welcome spring!