Lei's

 

For this activity,we learned the history of a lei and then we cut out flowers out of construction paper, and then out of paper that we had painted using watercolors.  We strung the flowers on a piece of yarn and alternated the flowers with a cut up straw. 

For an extension activity, students could have a Hawaiian party and wear their lei's!

 Coil Pot

This was a coil pot activity.  We first took clay and worked with it to get all the air bubbles, we then created a flat circular bottom and then rolled the clay to start making the pot.  We had to score each layer so they it would stick together.  We then stacked the coiled clay to start creating a pot.  Once the pots were dry, we had to paint them using a secondary color and a primary color.  We also had to include a symbol that was important to us.  I chose to draw a cross to symbolize my faith.  

For an extension activity, students could create another clay object of their choice. 

3-D Art

The was a 3D art project that we did.  We took different sizes of construction paper and twisted them, and folded them.  You then put a dot of glue on each end and it creates a 3D looking image.  This project was based off of the book Oh, the Places You'll Go.  

For an extension activity, students could write a short story describing their village! 

Marbling

For this marbling activity, we used shaving cream and dropped paint into the shaving cream. We used differnt ojects such as a hair pick and our hands to blend the paint. We then pressed our drawing firmly into the shaving cream and scraped off the extra shaving cream.  My drawing is of the Taj Mahoi in Agra India.  

For an extension activity, students could research 3 different interesting facts about their drawing.   

Print Making

For this activity, we created a South Dakota scene out of railroad cars.  The railroad cars were made with a technique called printmaking.  First you start with a foam square and then put the paint on the foam and press it onto your paper.  Once the cars were made, we had to finish it by creating a scene from South Dakota and inside the cars had to be a resource that was in South Dakota. 

For an extension activity, the students could research history about the resource in their car.

Macrame

 For this activity, we were introduce to the history of Macrame and then were taught the techniques of creating a macreme.  The type of macreme that I made was a keychain.  The keychain is made out of hemp and then we added 3 beads to it.  The keychain needed to be 3 inches and contain at least 3 beads. 

For an extension activity, students could create a necklace or larger item made out of hemp.

  Warm and Cool Color Puzzle Pieces

For this project, we split into two groups.  A warm color group and a cool color group.  The warm colors drew animals that were warm colors such as a duck, and the cool color group drew cool color animals such as a fish.  Once the animal was drawn, we had to give it texture by drawing lines, shapes, and patterns. 

An extension activity would be for the students to research the animal they drew, and give 3 interesting facts about it.

Plaid Bunnies

This was an art project where we created bunnies with complementary colors.  I used purple and yellow for complementary colors.  The paint that was used was watered down tempera paint.  It was important to use different thicknesses of lines.  An extensioin activity that could be used would be to have the students go on a scavenger hunt and look for different plaids with complementary colors.  They could also bring in items with complementary colors.

Spring Into Drawing - Blind Coutour Drawing

This was a project that my group presented.  We used white crayons/oil pastels to draw spring flowers on the white sheet of paper.  While drawing the students had to use blinders so they couldn't see what they were drawing!  After that, we sprinkled water onto the paper and then painted over the drawings with watercolor paints.  This lesson was designed for first grade, but could be adapted for any grade level. 

An extension activity for this project would be to have the first graders write a paragraph about their springtime scene. 

Hidden Safari

For this lesson, we made animals that you may see on a safari, but we made the animals look hidden. First to start the project I made red glasses with a red film on them which will help us see the animals. Next, I selected an animal to draw. I turned the image of the animal upside down in order to draw it on a sheet of white paper. By having it upside-down it was easier to focus on the lines of the animal. It was easier to start from the bottom of the animal and draw up to the head. I used a sky blue colored pencil to outline the animal- you have to use a cool color to draw it in order for the project to work. Sky blue works the best in order to catch the full effect. After I had the animal drawn out, I used red, yellow, and orange crayons and created a pattern over top the image of the animal. The crayons are warm colors, so they hid the blue outline. 

An extension activity that could be used would be to incorporate this activity into other subjects.  You could do math problems and put the answers on another sheet of paper, and the students would have to use their glasses to see the answers.

This week, we discussed the work of Eric Carle.  We created work similar to Carle's by first taking big sheets of blank white paper and swirled, mixed, and textured the paper with paint.  we then cut shapes out of the colored paper to make our storybook scene.  This scene is out of one of my favorite books as a child, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! 
An extension activity that could be done in a classroom, would encourage students to create their own storybook by using the technique that Eric Carle used.