6th Grade Radial Symmetry with Foam "Plates"

I love printmaking--especially with easy supplies that are on hand--and this project was perfect for my 6th grade students! We used foam trays from the supermarket as our "plates." The students carved them with dull pencils. 

The project is easy to do and the results are pretty fantastic (lots and "ooh's" and "ahh's" from the students!). Every student was required to create one composition on watercolor paper that had four prints on it. Students who finished quickly and/or who were motivated, could continue on to make a 16-print composition. Either way, they came out beautiful!

The same 3 1/2" printing plate was rotated and repeatedly printed four times
onto the same paper to create a radial print (drawing guide lines lightly in pencil helps to keep things straight).

Objective: Students will create a relief printing plate from foam and use printmaking ink to create a print that has a verity of lines and demonstrates radial symmetry.

Standards of Achievement: Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Carving

Subject Integration: Math

Vocab: radial, linear, symmetry, line, quadrants, print, printmaking, plate, relief, pressure, ink, brayer, construction lines, repetition, relief, styrofoam, transfer

Duration: 4 class (45 minutes each)

Additional references:

This lesson is based on a lesson from Art With Mrs. Nguyen (formally Ms. Graham). She did this project with 4th grade students, but I felt it was just right for my 6th graders as well. I also showed the students the video on Buddhist sand art Mrs. Nguyen suggests on her site, as well as some images of Spanish tiles and Islamic art.

Definitely a keeper! Enjoy!

The completed bulletin board display.  We had our final debrief in from of this display
and added the vocabulary words you see as part of the debrief.

This student created their design a little differently, but it works.

Neatly done!

Look at that detail--from a foam printing plate--AMAZING!

Lovely!

This design is a little off, but created a nice spiral effect.
The success rate on this project was very high for all students.

Here you can see how the 16 mini prints can be combined into
a larger composition. This student wanted to use four different inks
in their work (I hadn't thought of that!). The students are so creative!

This design is great too. Doing the 16 print compositions definitely require
more fortitude from the students, but are truly stunning when done.

REPOST: Symmetrical Paper and Clay Butterflies

It's been a long summer here in New Hampshire--my kiddos have been on break since June 10th and don't start school again until September 8th--WOW! So, the long and lazy days of summer need some crafting with mom time. Here's a butterfly that Little Miss did today. This is a post from back in September of 2012, but it's a good one--very fun (and shhh....educational too!). ENJOY!

And here's the original post:

Do you know some students who are studying butterflies? This is a great project for children in Kindergarten and elementary school. You can work in so many great concepts with this project: parts of an insect, symmetry, pattern, and more.

I started by having my students cut out the wings and design them and then I walked them through the making of the butterfly body. We finished up by adding the details such as antennae and legs. I really enjoyed this project because it taught science and art concepts, but it also because it allowed the students some self expression; a win/win in my book!

Clay Butterfly With Paper Wings

Supplies Needed:

• One 6" x 9" piece of construction paper for the wings (light color)
• Pencil with eraser
• Scissors
• Assorted markers
• Model Magic by Crayola (about the size of a chicken egg), whatever color you want
• 3 pipe cleaners (chenille stems), whatever color you want

Directions:

1. Fold the construction paper in half the short way (hamburger or taco fold).

2. Arrange the construction paper so the fold is on the left. Draw a capital letter "B" on the paper extending it so the top and bottom of the "B" touch the top and bottom of the paper.

3. Cut out the "B" shape, but don't cut the middle line (in between the upper and bottom bumps). Write your name on the paper and open it up so your name is face down. These are your butterfly wings.

4. Decorate the wings with whatever designs you would like: big dots, little dots, lines, etc. I showed a couple of butterfly books to the children before they started drawing. I asked them to make their designs symmetrical, or the same on both wings.

5. I then gave each child a ball of Model Magic the size of a chicken egg. I had them pull off a piece and roll it into a 3/4-1" ball. This is the butterfly's head. Place this ball of dough at the top of your butterfly's wings and press down slightly.

6. Divide the remainder of the dough in half (two equal parts). Form he first into a ball. This is the thorax for your butterfly. Place this ball of dough below your butterfly's head on the wings and press down slightly.

7. Roll the remainder of the dough into a hot dog shape about 3" long or so. This is the abdomen of your butterfly. Place this ball of dough below your butterfly's thorax on the wings and press down slightly.

8. Use scissors to cut each pipe cleaner into three equal sections. Poke 2 pipe cleaner pieces into the butterfly's head as his antennae. Wrap another pipe cleaner piece into a coil and poke it into the head for the butterfly's proboscis.

9. Poke the remaining 6 pipe cleaner pieces into the butterfly's thorax (3 on one side, 3 on the other). These are the butterfly's legs.

You're done! Enjoy your colorful butterfly!

Last Minute Fall Projects For Older Children

I've been traveling all over these last couple of weeks enjoying some time with kids of all ages! I have been carrying around a couple of projects for my older students to do once their class projects have been completed. Two of these projects are self-directed and able to be set-up, executed, and cleaned-up by the children themselves. Love that!

Both projects are VERY much worth trying. Take a few minutes and try them out yourself!

Leaf prints: a great project I saw online and tried with my older kids this week was one I saw on the blog Deep Space Sparkle. Paint leaves white and print on black paper. Use a sponge to print colors such as red, green, brown, yellow and orange in the negative space around the leaves. This is an easy, but striking, piece. For more info, check out her post here.

Here are some of my students working on the Leaf Print project
from Deep Space Sparkle--they all loved how they came out. Me too!

Symmetrical Leaves: I had a big bag of leaves I carried around with me these last two weeks. I used them for the preschoolers to observe and match, the Kinders made leaf rubbings from them, the Elementary students used them in the leaf printing project above, and my private art students drew them. We cut the leaves down the middle using scissors, glued the half leaves to paper and drew the missing half back in with pencil. This is harder than it looks! It was a great project to do during that transition time between projects or while another project dried.

The drawing on the right were done by my 9-year-old student.

Enjoy these easy projects that celebrate Autumn!

Clay and Paper Butterflies

Do you know some students who are studying butterflies? This is a great project for children in Kindergarten and elementary school. You can work in so many great concepts with this project: parts of an insect, symmetry, pattern, and more.

I started by having my students cut out the wings and design them and then I walked them through the making of the butterfly body. We finished up by adding the details such as antennae and legs. I really enjoyed this project because it taught science and art concepts, but it also because it allowed the students some self expression; a win/win in my book!

Clay Butterfly With Paper Wings

Supplies Needed:

• One 6" x 9" piece of construction paper for the wings (light color)
• Pencil with eraser
• Scissors
• Assorted markers
• Model Magic by Crayola (about the size of a chicken egg), whatever color you want
• 3 pipe cleaners (chenille stems), whatever color you want

Directions:

1. Fold the construction paper in half the short way (hamburger or taco fold).

2. Arrange the construction paper so the fold is on the left. Draw a capital letter "B" on the paper extending it so the top and bottom of the "B" touch the top and bottom of the paper.

3. Cut out the "B" shape, but don't cut the middle line (in between the upper and bottom bumps). Write your name on the paper and open it up so your name is face down. These are your butterfly wings.

4. Decorate the wings with whatever designs you would like: big dots, little dots, lines, etc. I showed a couple of butterfly books to the children before they started drawing. I asked them to make their designs symmetrical, or the same on both wings.

5. I then gave each child a ball of Model Magic the size of a chicken egg. I had them pull off a piece and roll it into a 3/4-1" ball. This is the butterfly's head. Place this ball of dough at the top of your butterfly's wings and press down slightly.

6. Divide the remainder of the dough in half (two equal parts). Form he first into a ball. This is the thorax for your butterfly. Place this ball of dough below your butterfly's head on the wings and press down slightly.

7. Roll the remainder of the dough into a hot dog shape about 3" long or so. This is the abdomen of your butterfly. Place this ball of dough below your butterfly's thorax on the wings and press down slightly.

8. Use scissors to cut each pipe cleaner into three equal sections. Poke 2 pipe cleaner pieces into the butterfly's head as his antennae. Wrap another pipe cleaner piece into a coil and poke it into the head for the butterfly's proboscis.

9. Poke the remaining 6 pipe cleaner pieces into the butterfly's thorax (3 on one side, 3 on the other). These are the butterfly's legs.

You're done! Enjoy your colorful butterfly!

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!

Last Minute Valentine: "I Love U"

This is a nice project to teach positive and negative space and symmetry and makes a cute last-minute Valentine for the wall or as a bookmark. It is super-inexpensive and pretty darn easy. Make one of these for your Valentine today!

Positive/Negative "I Love U" Valentine

Supplies Needed For The Wall Art:

• Piece of black construction paper (9" x 12") in black
• Pieces of red and pink construction paper (the red sections are 3" tall and the pink sections are 2 1/4" tall)
• Pencil
• Glue stick
• Scissors

Supplies Needed For The Bookmark: 

• Piece of white posterboard (2" x 5") in white
• Pieces of red and pink construction paper (1" square)
• Pencil
• Glue stick
• Scissors
• Clear packing tape (2" wide)
• Hole punch
• 8" of ribbon

Directions:

1. Decide on the order of your colored paper pieces.

2. For the first section, the heart, draw a half a heart shape onto the first piece of colored paper. Cut it out. Glue the outside of the heart shape onto the backing of your piece (either the posterboard if you are making a bookmark or the black construction paper if you are making a larger piece). Line up the cut edge the square with the center of your backing paper.

3. Glue the corresponding half heart shape along the center line, "flipped out" from the square it came from. Hmmm....sounds confusing, but look at the picture for a guide.

4. Continue down the column, cutting out half an uppercase "I" another half heart and half an uppercase "U." Finish with another heart, if desired.

5. If you are making the wall art, you are done! If you are making a bookmark, put a strip of clear of packing tape over your design to protect it. Punch a hole in the top edge of the bookmark and add a ribbon, if desired.

Sealed with a kiss! ENJOY!

Springtime Still life

Whew! It's been a busy couple of weeks for me! I've been applying for a teaching job for next year and finishing up my current art class with the home school cooperative. In just a couple of days the co-op will have its Grand Finale and the children from my art class will showcase their artwork! I can't wait! I am so proud of them!


I thought that I'd put a project on here from last year's art class that is perfect for celebrating Spring and Mother's Day: Spring Still life pictures featuring forsythia blossoms. This project can be done by a variety of ages, although little ones might need some grown-up help. This project is from the book, "Kids Art Works," by Sandi Henry--an awesome book. Enjoy!

Just one example of a beautiful forsythia still life!

Background Info:
When I teach this class, I start by having a beautiful arrangement of forsythia blossoms in a vase available in the classroom for the children to look at and touch. I have the children notice how a forsythia blossom is constructed and how it looks up close and far way.

I also like to have a couple of postcards or pictures of still lifes from art history for us to look at and discuss what makes a still life--a type of painting that has as its subject inanimate objects such as fruit, flowers, dishes or food.

Materials Needed:

• 1 9x12" sheet of construction paper either white or light blue for background
• Scissors
• Pencil and eraser
• Glue stick
• Markers, brown for stems and other colors to decorate vase
• Small piece of construction paper for vase (maybe 4x6")
• Yellow tempura paint
• Paper Plate for palette
• Kitchen sponge cut to about 1" long by 1/4" wide

Directions:

1. Cut the vase out of the smaller piece of the construction paper (you can do this by folding the paper and cutting through 2 layers of the paper--good introduction to symmetry). Glue the vase to the along the bottom edge of the larger piece of construction paper so that you have lots of space above the vase for your blossoms.

2. Using the brown marker, draw some stems from your vase into the space above.

3. Place some yellow tempura paint on the tray. Dip your sponge piece into the paint and stamp it gently onto the paper along the stems, creating the forsythia blossoms.

4. If you'd like, use the markers to decorate the vase with designs such as lines, dots, etc.

Voila! A spring still life to brighten up a rainy spring day!