Love is in the air

One of the largest differences between teaching elementary and high school is the dominance of seasonal art at the elementary level. I frequently hear the kids complain that we don't do anything "special" at this level for holidays. This year I may try slipping in some seasonal-ish work with my older students and see how it's received. It would be interesting to simply include some love themed works with my samples but not necessarily pitch them as "valentine" projects and see if the kids run with it. When I look through my curriculum there are already many assignments that could fit the bill. 

First up we have the composite shape lesson. This is a budget friendly lesson that can be completed with ball point pen on any type of paper. I normally give my students free reign to use idioms, oxymorons and metaphors to create a visual pun. With a little tweaking, the shapes or puns could be love themed. Here are two examples:

"Sweetheart"

"Change of Heart"

This next lesson is already a favorite because it checks so many boxes. Color theory, paintbrush practice and control. Symbolism. Abstraction. Students normally pick a lyric from a song. Simple enough to change it to be a love song.

This lesson was done with my 5th grade students and is a great one for middle school. Another low budget option. This was an old dictionary that was sitting on my shelf for ages. Students illustrate a quote on top. A great intro to design concepts, symbolism, calligraphy and/or typography.

And of course the pop art word sculpture, which is always a crowd pleaser with my art 1 students. What if they redesigned the Robert Indiana Sculpture instead?

What would you add to the list? Could you see your students having an interest in holiday / seasonal themed work?