Mother's Day Scratch Art

This particular project was very fun and different from other projects I had ever done in elementary school. It was called "scratch art," and with this technique the class made Mother's Day cards. We began by coloring a half sheet of paper entirely using crayons, making sure to color as firmly and dark as possible so none of the paper was showing beneath the crayon. Then, we painted over the paper with black paint until it was completely smooth and dried. Next, we took our other half sheet of paper, folded it, and labeled the front and the back to avoid confusion. We drew pictures and/or words that relate to Mother's Day, as discussed at the beginning of the lesson, to create the front and back of our card. Then, we rubbed the lead from our pencils on the back side of the cards just drawn on. Lastly, the class traced their drawings onto the dry, painted black paper and used the wooden stick provided to scratch away the paint and reveal the crayon colors below until the card was completely decorated. This was to be done using cross-hatching, stippling, and other techniques learned at the beginning of the lesson. For a final touch, we glued a small piece of paper to the inside of the card and wrote a Mother's Day message.

 

For the extension activity in my own classroom, I would this technique as a fun game or instructional tool for studying, picking the order of students for various activities, or stations. I would do this by having a picture, word, name, etc. written below the paint, depending on what particular activity I would use it for. Let's say, for example, I was teaching students about the parts of a flower in science class. I could have a picture of a flower and next to it, the labels covered in the black paint. Students would have to scratch away the paint to reveal the names of the flower parts. It would be fun for them but still a useful study guide for future tests. I could also use this same technique for say, lining up at the door. Students could be given a small square and have to scratch off or write their name into it, revealing which color is below. Those with red could line up, then blue, etc. It would be much more fun and interesting for the students than a printed worksheet or calling off names.

 

Culture Masks

The culture masks lesson was started out with a brief introduction on culture and different masks for varying groups of people. The class received a paper plate and was to cut out eyes and then paint it any color they wanted, between orange, red, peach, or brown. Once they were painted and out to dry, we used pipe cleaners, construction paper, foam sheets, and yarn to create whatever wacky hair we wanted to. The hair was then applied to the dry paper plates and we could add glitter, a nose, stickers, foam pieces, beads, or any other materials we wanted to finish the mask.

 

 

As an extension activity, I would have my class create masks that relate and follow characteristics of an actual culture or group of people, such as Native American, Aztec, ancient Egypt, etc. This would help reiterate the different cultures and how they are integrated in their masks, rather than just making masks that look crazy and silly. It would also be fun to see how the students integrate what they have learned from each culture and apply it to their masks.

Holiday Printmaking

This group's project was based on printmaking. We began by brainstorming some of our favorite holidays and the drawings that could go along with them. Then, the class drew a scene or picture that represented a holiday of their choice onto the provided foam trays with a pencil. We were to draw large, simple pictures and shapes so they would show up once "printed" with ink. We then got to draw another design on another foam tray using geometric or organic shapes. I drew my holiday tray as the 4th of July with a lake and a large firework for emphasis. My second tray used organic shapes to make a design. Lastly, we rolled different colors of ink onto five copies of our drawings to dry, and wrote on a note card why we picked the holiday drawn.

 

As an extension activity, I would have the students draw one picture that they were able to spend more time on perfecting and getting just right; even if that meant starting over more than once. This way, students can focus on one picture and be able to pick their favorites out of five prints. When there are two pictures, there are only two to three tries to get a color and quality print made of one picture. I also found it time consuming to have to wash off two separate pictures to make more than one copy. This would allow for fewer rinses and more focus on one quality picture.

Imagination Line Drawing

 

The next group in the class to present did a lesson on using your imagination to create a drawing from a random line on a piece of paper. At first, they showed us different pieces of art done by artists who used shapes, line, colors, and other elements to create their masterpiece. Then, we drew any type of line we wanted to on a sheet of paper and switched with our neighbor. We had to try and create a picture out of the line two different times, then had to pick which one we liked best to color and add at least two types of media to. I drew an ocean scene with a shark and a large wave that utilized a squiggly line that runs from the base of the shark fin to the tip of the wave. Lastly,we created a border for our picture and wrote a short story to go along with our picture to incorporate language arts into the art lesson.

 

As an extension activity, I would draw a random line myself and give each student a copy of the same paper. I would tell them that no one could have the same drawing and would have to come up with several different ways to make the line into a picture. This would challenge the students and it would be fun to see the handful of different ideas that could come from the same line! It would also be neat to hang them all up next to each other to see the variety the class came up with.

Easter Egg Fun

The first peer group to present to the class did an activity called "Easter Egg Fun" where we learned about color, shape, and line. We began by doing some practice on scratch paper of using markers, colored pencils, or crayons to draw in Easter eggs using the three elements of design that were focused on. Then, we cut out three larger eggs on construction paper and used paint to design one egg using color, one using line, and one using shape. One egg had to incorporate the color of paper inside the Easter egg we found on a hunt at the beginning of class; mine was pink, so I devoted my egg on color to different shades of pink. The egg with line included zig zags, wavy, straight, round, and diagonal lines. My final shape egg used varieties of circles.

 

As an extension activity, I would have the students cut out one giant egg and have them incorporate all three elements to create a detailed and unique Easter egg. Students would enjoy the large space to paint on and could use a variety of colors, shapes, and lines to create a very intricate egg.

Hidden Safari Project

 The hidden safari project was one that not only kids would enjoy, but clearly college age students as well because I thought it was so cool! We began by practicing to draw parts of animals upside down; a technique that helps to draw more realistically than if it you were to draw looking at a drawing right-side up. Then, the class traced the red glasses cutout (picture shown above) and glued the other red transparent film behind to make 3D-like glasses. After this, we were to pick a safari animal to draw upside down in a light blue colored pencil, then fill the page over the top of the pencil with warm colored crayons (red, orange, and yellows) of different designs. Now, our original safari animal could not be seen with the naked eye...until we put the red glasses on! This project is neat because it shows how the warm and cool colors work to trick our eyes and it almost seems like magic to kids. It would be something that they would love to take home and try out with their friends and family.

An an extension activity, I would have students make several smaller pages of the same activity to create a book. This way, they would be able to practice more drawing of animals and not have to cover such a large space with the warm colors. Then, their book could be used to see a variety of safari animals with the special glasses on. They would have a lot of fun trading books with other students to try and determine all the animals they created rather than just one. This extension would also provide the opportunity to try different design making with the crayons and more fun with the cool glasses they make!

Eric Carle Inspired Story Collage

This particular project was inspired by the work of Eric Carle. He uses many cutouts of painted paper to create characters, scenes, and pictures for children's books to create a story. For my own project, I was to first paint several large sheets of paper using any colors, textures, and designs I wanted to without any story or certain character in mind. Then, once they all had dried, I drew out the scene (resembling a page in a book) of two tucans, a palm tree, the sunset, sand, and the ocean. Next, I used an Exacto knife to cut out different shapes that made up each part of my drawing on all the colorful pages I had painted earlier. Lastly, I glued them down on brown construction paper and added the text for the "page" of the story: "The lonely tucan realized that tucan doesn't have near as much fun as "two-can!"

I enjoyed this project for several reasons. It was challenging enough that it made me have to plan out how I wanted it to look and all come together with the saying. I LOVE how coloful these pictures become and can easily see why kids love Eric Carle's books for that aspect. I am also extremely pleased with how mine turned out; it's fun, colorful, and was done in the similar fashion that Eric Carle completes his pages.

As an extension activity, I would have students think of the character they want to do, the scene, and colors needed beforehand. This would make it much easier and prepare students better to complete their project because I had only a few colors that I needed for my page since I didn't know what I was going to create when I started painting. I didn't have the dark blue for the ocean, no browns for the sand or tree trunk, and had to use scrap pieces from past students that luckily worked with my project. I would also have students create a little book instead of one page. I would be fun to see the actual story they could come up with like Eric Carle and also work on a smaller scale.