Snowflake Challenge

One of my favorite early finisher activities for elementary students is making paper snowflakes. It's such a great reinforcer of symmetry and design principles. I usually start with recycled paper and direct teach the activity as a "challenge."  Here is what I find make students successful.

Have them fold the paper at least twice. A 3rd fold can be hard for younger grades. I tell students to keep track of the center of the paper. Always keep that corner / point closest to your body.

Show them a bone folder (or introduce the concept from origami) and let them use their scissors, a ruler or even pencil to make the folds razor sharp. When the folded paper lays flat it's easier to cut.

Demonstrate cutting really big shapes and then open it up. Many students will think this is amazing. Tell them we can make this even better.

I compare the folded up shape to a slice of pizza. The first step is to make your "crust" an interesting shape so let's go ahead and do that. Remind them they can't cut "across" the slice of pizza. The point of the pizza should always be facing your body. This is the center of the paper when we open the snowflake.

Next we want to think about the flake like a maze. We want to use small shapes to carve our way into the center. It's better to make lots of tiny cuts that build, than a few giant cuts.

Let them know it's ok to open it up, take a look at it, then carefully refold and make more cuts. They can't always visualize the inside.

Talk about organic and geometric shapes. Challenge them to cut both kinds of shapes.

Challenge them to make 10+ cuts. I tell them to count in their head as they go. 

Afterward I ask them to hold up their flake if they made 3+ cuts

Then 5+ cuts

10+ cuts

The most cuts I had from a student was over 25 (and it was a super cool design)

Once they have practiced with their recycled paper, they are free to access the art center all winter long to make snowflakes. I staple those with 10+ cuts all over the school as accents to our bulletin boards.

Here's a visual to go along with the instructions:

Earth Day Art Lessons Your Students Will Love

For art teachers, it's a happy coincidence that Earth Day happens in late spring. The time of year when the tiny scraps of recycled paper are overflowing. You may have a mound of them sitting to the side of your paper cutter right now. Here are some of my favorite ways to recycle every last bit. Let's face it, with our budgets, we can't afford to toss any scraps.

PAPER POTTERY / MAGAZINE BOWLS

Is your librarian ready to toss this year''s magazines? You can make bowls, dishes or vases using nothing more than tape. Bowls can be permanently sealed into position with mod podge. Original post here. I have a recorded video lesson for students working from home here.

PULP PAINTING & PAPERMAKING

When the pile of scrap next to your paper cutter is overflowing, it's time to make paper! Two fun ways to do that are traditional papermaking and pulp painting.

  

PAPER WEAVING

Those long 1" strips are just perfect for tiny fingers to practice their weaving skills. In spring time, a woven sheet of 9x12 or 12x18 becomes the perfect picnic blanket background. I like to talk about geometric vs organic shapes as they add items onto their plate.

PAPER MOSAICS

When those weavings are done, go ahead and trim those 1" paper strips into squares (or better yet, let your early finishers do it for you) and start paper mosaics. I'm serious about using every last bit of paper. This project is loved by children of all ages, and I find the sweet spot to be grade 2.

For a quick organizing tip, I use small containers and sort the paper by color. During the pandemic you could have students cut their own paper strips into squares and keep them in a baggie.

PROFILE PENDANTS

Invite your artists to bring recycled plastic to class. These Arcimboldo inspired pendants would make an amazing Mother's Day gift. Original post with more info here. This could also be done at home with the help of an adult for shrinking the plastic in the oven. Only sharpies are needed.

PAPER COLLABORATIONS

Put those 1" leftover weaving strips to use with this Suzan Shutan inspired paper sculpture. Students can practice folding, curling, gluing and stapling.

 I have kinders add a dot of glue, pinch the loop and count to ten. I show them how not holding it tight for 10 seconds will cause the loop to open up. They can bring their loop forward, point to where they want it added and you can hand over hand help them learn to staple it to join the collaborative sculpture. 

They love to "find" their loop in the larger work. Original post about kindergarten paper collaborations may be found here.

MARKER PRINTS

If you're a fan of The Speckled Sink, then you already know how I feel about marker prints. This year, most students can successfully wrestle up a piece of foam and either a marker for printing or maybe a crayon to do a rubbing.  I have successfully done this with K-12 (yup, all the ages) and it never fails to delight. Corn, Gingerbread, Surrealism, Snowflakes, Fish. It really doesn't matter what you choose. They will love it!

ROBOT DESIGN

Put all the things you're trying to get rid of and let the students go to town. Can they make a robot? A shoe? A utensil? Can they build a bridge? Great steam integration.

What is your favorite lesson for Earth Day? Here's a bundle of some of my favorites.

Distance Learning Week 5

This week we took on art history via our choiceboard.

We provided 12 images, but students were allowed to use other works if desired.
Our media options for recreating the masters included:
1. Fabric
2. Self-portraits (photos) with symbolic objects
3. Legos / Blocks
4. Food
5. Found objects/Collage
6. Drawing toys (magnadoodle, etch-a-sketch, spirograph, aquadoodle)


Some of my favorite works included students in costume with their families becoming the paintings.

Distance Learning Week 4

This week we are exploring with Paper, Pencils and Pixels. While many of my students may not have paint and other art supplies, every student in grade 3-5 was offered an ipad with procreate loaded onto it. Having a digital option for students each week ensures that these students can engage beyond a basic pencil and paper activity. It's only been two days and already some amazing results have been rolling in. Take a peek:

Our choiceboard this week included:
Cartooning


Hybrid animal drawing using switchzoo

This has clearly been a favorite across grade levels





Paper Airplane Challenge Inspired by Teach Outside the Box

Origami


Victor Nunez inspired doodles

Mask Making


Which activities are your students loving?

Make One Take One

Each month I swap out the items in the art center. This time students can make a drawing using black sharpie and leave it behind for someone. Then they may take someone else's drawing to color and keep. I put some inspirational quotes in their to get them started.

Art Center for Early Finishers

As I was answering a post on an art teacher Facebook group, I realized that I never shared my new art center from this past year. I've always had a free draw situation, but wanted to link my early finisher activities to a classroom management system. And so my art center was born.

I use a point system for students to earn and track points to "unlock" more shelves. If you've been wanting to try something similar, check out this resource to create an art center in any space...even when you share a room or are teaching on a cart. There is a video about how that works on my instagram highlight.

My complete set up guide with walk you through the questions you need to ask yourself to make the art center of your dreams. It's jam packed with photos of many different set ups as well as samples of my point tracking system to maximize student buy in.

New to teaching? This is part of the ultimate guide for new art teachers. Check that out here.

Stop, Collaborate and Animate

Third grade is having the best time with our Crayola grant this year.


The librarian and I teamed up to offer them a stop motion animation lesson. In library they are looking at simple machines and doing a storyboard. In art they learned about the history of animation by making thaumatropes and roll ups in centers. We honestly could have stopped there*. They were so engaged and delighted to make something that worked.

Last week they worked on a title sequence using dry erase boards to animate their video title.



One student discovered that by placing two ipads on the table, they had a perfect parallel to film the dry erase board. So clever!

This week we started bringing the storyboard to life with claymation. They are working within the confines of a shoebox to keep it simple. At the end of each class they can put all their items inside and I stack the boxes out of the way.

I have to admit it's been especially fun for me. We started spring break today and I came home and kept working on some ideas that I want to share with them next class based on some of our conversations today. 

My lesson plan and all the supporting details are being offered on Teachers Pay Teachers. Did you know that TpT now has a "school" option? Let your district pay for the art resources you want and need for your classroom. I know paying for lessons isn't an option for some of my readers, but this little side hustle gives me the extra inspiration to keep posting and sharing. So if you're just here for the pictures and ideas, no worries :)

What's your favorite animation to do with elementary?

*If you don't have technology, my historical animation lesson is available here. It's a no-prep, no-tech alternative if that's your speed.

Free Choice Centers

The following are essential items for running a successful "Free Choice" day in my art room. While the systems and procedures for how students can earn a free choice day have varied over the past six years, these are my tried and true favorite things to include, many of which lend themselves to steam activities.

Most of the games above are used with 3rd-5th only due to complexity or amount of time to set up.
Castle logic, brain builder junior and the puzzle could be used for any of my classes.

These items are good K-5. The bag in the bottom right is playfoam and lemme tell ya. They love it. If you haven't tried it before, it's like a cross between model magic and rice krispie treats. You can pull it apart and put it back together. I've had this bag over a year and used it 3x per year with 30 classes per week. Still works.

Original post on games here and here. Older posts about earning Free Choice day here and here.

A New Throne For Yertle

Kindergarten and 1st grade designed and built a new throne for Yertle the Turtle. After reading the story and discussing the characteristics of good leadership, we decided Yertle needed a new throne, so he would stop standing on all his friends. Students visited three centers where they designed with marker, built individually with play-doh and worked in teams building with blocks.

Lesson plans available here.

Full STEAM Ahead

This year our school is combining our annual science fair with "Math & Literacy Night" to create a new event called "STEAM Night." Students can bring in traditional science projects or artworks and teachers will host stations integrating different elements of the curriculum. Since this is the first year art has been included I am very excited to participate. I thought that pendulum painting would be a fun idea to demonstrate for the kids.

To get started you need to make a pendulum.

I recycled an empty contact solution container because I wanted to be able to quickly and easily stop the flow. I cut off the bottom and reinforced that area with duct tape. Next I drilled three equidistant holes about .5" from the bottom of the bottle. If using a plastic water bottle, a hole puncher will work. 

Next loop about 1 yard of string or twine through each hole. Connect the three lengths at the top. I used a tripod we had at home, but you could also place a broom handle across two chairs. 

Tempera paint that has been thinned two parts to one part water is added tot he container with the hold plugged. Place paper under the tripod, remove the plug and let it go.

Games in the art room

Once per trimester my classes can earn a "Free Choice Day" which I mentioned here. Since that post, I've accumulated some new games and favorites that I wanted to share. 

Zany Chain - Summary: It's like win, lose or draw. They pick a card and read the clue. There are three ideas on the card and they choose one to draw with a metail chain (like a long necklace) on the table. 

Playfoam - Oh, my gracious. This is the coolest stuff ever. The students were so excited to work with it. The best I can describe it, is if playdoh and a rice krispie treat had a baby, it would be this stuff. It doesn't stick to the table. If you seal it in a bag it stays good for over a year. It's pricey, but worth the splurge. 

Magna Doodle - Available at a yard sale near you

Block Buddies - Like tangrams, but for younger kids. Making picture mosaics to match a picture card

Drawering - This year I had four ipads available as a station. I limited them to this app, no selfies, etc. I think the novelty worked, because they didn't fool around at all. They get very zen and relaxed with this. It's like a spirograph without the little circle, wheels where your pen pops out of the space every 3 minutes.

Rubik's Race - Match the pattern by sliding the tiles. Square Up is another version, which I prefer because they each get a separate board and don't have to be seated across from one another. It allows for solo play and includes two shakers.

Scratch Art Anything - I've had them do trees, mittens, bookmarks. Anything to use up the scraps or colors no one wants. 

Many of these items would also be good year round in an art center for early finishers.

Anti-Bullying Art Lesson Using Centers

After the kindergarten students read Yertle the Turtle and completed the three design centers, the following week we began our paintings. We discussed what we learned about building. We decided that Yertle would stand on the bottom, and we would add the turtles on top, each one getting smaller than the one before and facing opposite directions to balance the pile. We gave each shell a different pattern with black crayon and then used watered down tempera on top to do a wax resist.

Finished works

The lesson plan is available on TpT.