Islamic art: Painting Eid Mubarak signs, Kaabas

We decided this year to spend November focusing on Islamic art with the kids. The first week we made folded Kaabas in the 1st & 2nd grades and a flat picture in Kindergarten. The students had the opportunity to talk about this symbol while making it. We used black poster board which did not glue as well as I had hoped, necessitating taping. We also used gold curling ribbon which needed a bit of tape but the results were quite nice.
Our second project was to paint a sign in Arabic saying Eid Mubarak. It also gave them a chance to use the metalic pastel tempera paints. Although we used a computer template for the phrase, all the classes were encouraged to decorate the remainder of the page. Some added their names, various symbols, and a few even painted a mosque or kabba on their page. The kids had a fun project to top off their Eid parties and managed to get a little skill work in too painting inside lines.

Painting fruits and vegetable in vivid color

These paintings gave us a great way to talk about colors and use the primary and secondary colors while tying to some of the 1st grade lessons. We discussed making the secondary colors then had to paint a red fruit, an orange one, etc. They did an great job on them too once they thought about what could be which color. I did not get any purple carrots or other odd things this time.

Learning about artists and artwork @ school

All of the classes worked the last 2 weeks on learning about artists then producing an art project like that artist. The 1st week we studied Vincent VanGogh and his work. The 2nd grade made a windsock and were asked to create a scene that showed the wind blowing like the swirls in his "starry, starry night" painting. Some did day scenes and some did night scenes but all of them had great swirls and clouds. Some included trees or people and some did not. We did not get pictures of these but they seemed to enjoy doing it. The 1st grade also made a windsock using the sunflowers theme. I brought library books about VanGogh to use for reference and to give them a story. Both groups were able to demonstrate how the windsocks worked at the end of class.
The kidergardeners drew and colored a pot of sunflowers. It was a good lesson on size in drawing and what a pot looks like.

The second artist we studied was Eric Carle and his tissue paper creations. The 1st and 2nd grade each got 7-8 different pieces of painted tissue paper and a drawing from A House for Hermit Crab so they got lots of practice using his construction technique. we discussed how he painted the papers and cut the pieces to create the illustrations for his books.  

The kindergarten got to use Draw me a star as their project and had to cut the tissue into several different shapes to do the project.  This was a great way to end the month of paper projects. The afterschool art club made painted tissue paper too. It is a great technique to learn and fun to work with the papers.

Columbus ships from cardboard egg cartons

In keeping with our theme this month of doing paper projects, the Columbus day ships fit the bill. The 2nd grade had to cut the cartons a bit and shape them to form the bow, add a back deck, then add the masts and sails cut  from paper and mounted on BBQ sticks. Of course they had to decorate them so he must have had a very colorful armada of ships to discover America.








The 1st graders made all 3 ships using the cup part of the egg carton and BBQ sticks for the large mast with wood axles for the small mast and styrofoam "S" peanuts for the sails.  We used homemade clay to secure the masts. We wrapped strips of paper around each cup to make it look more like wood. This was a bit challenging for the group but we were able to complete them with beaming faces by the end of the class.

Using paper to create trees and other plants

The 2nd grade got to make fall trees from brown paper bags and tissue paper and what great trees they turned out to be! They had to follow rather complex instructions and get their tree branches in balance but it worked out well. We tried this with younger groups before and it was very difficult for them. It is great when the kids feel accomplished at the end of their projects.










The 1st grade was studying plants so we used paper strips, tissue paper and a bit of fuzzy yarn to create a flowering plant complete with seed pods and seeds (fennel) worked great and were visible. We practiced twisting the paper to make a "squashy blossom" and a few buds. Interestingly, critters also appeared in the form of bees, caterpillars and what seems to be ants. Never know where paper will lead a creative mind.






The kindergarden group got to draw a tree then fill it in with paper strips and tissue paper leaves. Of course giving them colored paper punch got lots more color into our trees. We have been working on cutting and gluing skills this month with most of the projects while trying to make the skills interesting to practice. Not sure what fall tree has pink leaves but she was very precise in the design with a dot in the center of each tissue piece.

Kindergarteners create colorful leaf people

Making leaf people is a great way to encourage creativity but the leaves this year are just plain dull. I figured I would take a chance with the kindergarden as I have lots of help and let them paint the leaves once the picture was completed. It was great fun and watercolors & tempera are good to work with as they are color dense but don't stain the kids.

Working with paper brings out the creativity in everyone

I wanted the kids to use a variety of textures to create a design of their own choosing. 2nd & 3rd grade was given cardstock, bubble wrap, sandpaper, corrugated cardboard, foam, fuzzy yarn, felt, glitter square, foil, paper plate edge, glass& plastic beads, wood shapes, scrapbook paper, curling ribbon, and paper shred to work with. It was a bit slow at first but once they "got" what they were supposed to do, there was no stopping them. There were a number of 3D designs too.

For the younger groups I limited the materials a little and had them do a quilt type design and identify each texture. Probably not as much fun but they did not seem to mind at all.