Collages-Alma Woodsey Thomas Style

Cut or torn-Alma Woodsey Thomas Collages...always a hit in 3rd grade and a super way to use up the scrap box that is overflowing this time of year.
Original post HERE

Up Up and Away...

After seeing something similar on Pinterest, where else, I decided to have 3rd graders create these balloons. They did trace around a template I had made and then I let them choose a pattern for their balloon after looking a several different designs. They drew in pencil, painted line in black paint for the first class. Day 2 they used oil pastels to color in their designs, cut and glued onto black construction paper. The balloons were drawn on 12X18 and the large paper was 18X24. Original Balloon Idea Here

Oil Pastel Still Life-Grade 3

I started this lesson by talking about a still life and showing a few examples a still life from artist like: Van Gogh, HenriRousseou, and Rachel Ruysch. I would normally set up a still life but it's one less thing I need to manage on a cart (back in the classroom next year! woohoo!). I demonstrated several ways to draw a vase and also showed ways to draw different types of flower. The students were supposed to show balance with their flowers, add a light and dark tone to each color and color with the shape. The only coloring that could be straight was the table which is flat. We were trying to show dimension with the two colors (ex: light green and dark green for the stem). I was excited with the results! They look amazing hanging in the hall! The black construction paper worked well with the oil pastels too!

Alma Woodsey Thomas Collages 3rd Grade

Inspiration:

The Eclipse-Alma Woodsey Thomas

Cheetahs!

In 3rd grade we talked about a cheetah and what makes them so different from a leopard and jaguar. I told my story about when I went to the zoo last summer and thought I was looking at a cheetah but it was actually a jaguar. So we found that cheetah are have 'tear marks' that make them stand apart from the other two cats. Cheetahs of course run faster and have solid spots where a leopard and jaguar have rosette type spots. Anyways, really cool info. Kids were into it. We did a cheetah drawing in black crayon on day one and painted with a yellow-orange color. Day to we used a variety of greens to create a grassy area and if time the students cut little black dots and glued around as a frame. Kids did an amazing job! Love these!

Pumpkins with lights and darks

http://artolazzi.blogspot.com/2011/09/pumpkin-drawings.html

Here's the link above where I saw the original idea. The 3rd graders really enjoyed this project and it make them think about light and shadows. LOVE the construction paper crayons and really wish I would have ordered two big boxes this year!

Roosters

I found this at the wonderful Blue Moon Palette blog, her instructions are below:

http://bluemoonpalette.blogspot.com/search/label/rooster

Results were AWESOME!

Warm-Cool Fish

Here's an oldie but goodie! These grid fish are a super project to start off the year by reviewing colors, drawing and using a ruler. Students used a large variety of cool colors and then used markers for the fish. The students could choose which color of construction paper to mount their project on. Nice work 3rd Grade!

Jackson Pollock Weavings

This is something I saw over there at 'Dali'sMoustache.' I thought it looked like a great way to do splatter type painting without having the custodial staff giving me the stink eye for the rest of the year! I used squirt bottles and had the students drip their paint (3 color limit to avoid mud) on and use toothpicks to spread it out more. Day 2 we created our loom and used the same 3 colors we painted with to weave with. Super great job 3rd grade and super thanks to Dali's Moustache!

Ted Harrison Landscapes

This super idea came from Gail over at 'That Artist Woman.' She has an awesome site and here's the info on the Ted Harrison Project! http://thatartistwoman.blogspot.com/2011/02/painting-in-style-of-ted-harrison.html
Thanks Gail!

Aboriginal Hands

This was a hit with some kids and a miss with others. The concentration and patience it took to fill in the dots either seemed like a big accomplishment for some students or a waste of time for others. We talked about Aboriginal people and culture then traced our hand added a simple back ground and used the handle of our paintbrushes to add the detail dots. I was pretty happy with the results! May take another approach to this next year and try a symbol instead of the hand.

Wolf Kahn Tree Resist

I saw the Wolf Kahn idea from another blog, I don't have my plans at home but will credit you as soon as I get there! I changed a bit and did a resist with the oil pastels and watercolors. Day 1 we looked at art by Wolf Kahn, discussed a resist, blending and analogous color schemes. Day 2 the students choose 3 analogous colors from the wheel and we used a wet-on-wet watercolor technique to get blending results. These are two student examples and they turned out pretty good. Any oil pastel color could have been used, just making sure it wasn't part of their analogous color scheme.

PS-Just found where I got the original idea: http://onecrayolashort.blogspot.com/search/label/Artist%3A%20Wolf%20Kahn

which I notice is way different than they way I did it. That's why I love the art blogs because we each see an idea and make it in our own way!

Model Magic Snowmen

After 3rd grade completed the off-center snowman painting we started with a 3-D clay snowman. Model magic is great for this project. This took us two 60 minute classes, one to make the snowman and the second to color in with markers. Makes great little Christmas gifts for the kids to take home!

Off Center Snowman

I've seen this project floating around the blogs for a year or two now. It's a great way to help students understand that art doesn't always have to be straight and in the middle. We did a simple drawing with pencil, painted everything in & dotted the snow with q-tips. We also added a little glitter just for fun!

Paul Klee Castle & Sun

My third grade students enjoyed learning about Paul Klee and his abstract style art. We learned about geometric shapes, looked at several Paul Klee paintings and started our own. We used rulers, made rectangles, closed the top with triangles and then made all kinds of shapes inside the castle. We used a little circle to trace the top. Students used crayons to color in the shapes and then watercolor in opposite colors to color over shapes. I think I will skip the watercolor step if I do this again. Lots of kids got too heavy on the color and almost ruined their picture.

String Print

3rd graders make this neat-o print project. We talked about raised surfaces and additive printmaking, also the primary colors. The first part is gluing the string on. I usually have the kids do this towards the end of the first class, then the next time they come to class it's dry and ready to print. We talk about brayers since it's a new tool for the kids. Basically students choose 2 primary colors, roll on the paint, print and do again with the second color. Results are great!