Rice snowmen ...

Grade Level : Kindergartners (but it can be adapted to older children) .

WARNING : There will be small pieces (like buttons , pompoms ,etc ) Thoses pieces could cause a choking hazard ! So this craft is NOT suitable for children under 3 or any children who are still putting things in their mouth !!!

Motivation : Living in Southern California , we have no snow ...so turning to white socks to make a snowman is a great alternative ! Also with the cold weather and winter just around the corner , it is just the perfect art lesson for the season . With the holidays approaching , it will keep the children entertained and busy ....

Material :

* white sock (1 per student ) Tube socks are the best , but they may be hard to find . Adult crew socks will fine .

* white yarn

* uncooked rice for filling the socks

* pompoms ( 1 for the hat . Some smaller ones can be used for buttons , eyes and nose if you wish )

* Some orange clay or orange play dough ( to make a carrot for the nose )

* Some felt of various color for scarves , mouth , mittens , skis , etc ,

* 1 white chenille for arms (you can use a brown one if you want the arms to look like branches )

* sharpies to print details on scarves or/and hat

* any other small items from the craft store that you want to use for decoration such as fake berries , tiny pine cones , fake pine branches ,cinnamon sticks , etc .

* hot glue or super glue

Activity :

1. Give each student one white sock .

2. Have each student fill the bottom of their sock with 3/4 of a cup to 1 cup of rice depending of the size of the sock .

3. Once the rice is inside the sock ,toss it around a little to make a round shape . Then have the student tie a knot with white yarn .

4. Have the students add another 1/2 cup of rice to the sock to make the head . Shape it so it is round and tie a knot with white yarn at the top .

5. To create the hat , ask the student to turn over the reminder of the sock . They can have the choice to tie the top of their hat with another piece of white yarn , glue a pompom or cut the top to make fringes . Whatever they prefer .

6. They can now start decorating their snowman . To make a scarf , they should cut a long rectangle of felt and glue it to the neck area of the snowman .

7. They can glue buttons or small pompoms for the eyes and the buttons of the snowman .

8. They can also cut small circles of black felt with a whole puncher to make the mouth .

9. They should then take a small amount of orange clay or play dough and make a carrot for the nose . Glue it to the snowman's face .

10. They should shape the chenille around the snowman body and glue it . It will be the arms . They can also glue some small berries or flowers , or cinnamon sticks to the arms if they wish to .

11. With a Sharpie , the students can finally add the last details to their cute little snowman .

I hope you will enjoy this project as it is a fun one for the students !

Examples :

Artists paint food .

Grade level : 3rd grade ...but as most art lessons in this blog , this project can be easily be adapted for any grade level .

Motivation : Did you notice the different fruits and vegetables at the supermarket ? Did you notice the different shape and texture they have ? Carrots are long triangles . Potatoes are lumpy ovals . Green beans are long and thin . Tomatoes are circular . What shape are pineapples ? Artichokes ? Radishes ? Pears ? Strawberries ?

Materials : * colored paper
* a variety of colored tissue paper
* white glue (or paste mixed with liquid cornstarch if dealing with small kids )
* brush for applying glue mixture (if dealing with small children )
* white manila paper
* scissors
* black felt pens
*crayons

Vocabulary :

Collage : a picture made by fixing different thing onto a surface , such as a piece of cloth onto paper .

Multiple : more than one .

Arrangement : the way you place things so they look attractive , as in a flower arrangement .

Resources : this project was inspired by a lesson plan of my son's school art docent program . However I applied a few modifications .

You may want to have pictures of fruits and vegetables available (or waxed or real things .)

Here are the artists and the paintings that we are going to look at today :

(1) Walter Williams : (1920- ) He is a painter , print-maker and sculptor . He was born in Brooklyn in 1920 . Maybe he wanted to show us a place where his mom shopped when he was a little boy .
Poultry Market : This painting shows us a portion of a market . Supermarkets have now replaced a number of small stores that specialize in meat and poultry . (Poultry = chickens and turkeys .) It's a bright colorful picture . We see two figures on the right (one of them with the hair repeating the pattern of the rooster's tail .) We also see eggs for sale . The rooster is brightly colored . Can you see the scale ? Can you see several chickens hanging up ready to be sold ?

(2) George Braque : (1882-1963) He was a French artist . His father gave him his first art lesson . With Picasso he founded cubism .
Still Life With Purple Plums : Here we have to look harder to find the food because it is painted in a style called "Cubism" . It is very different from Cezanne's painting "the kitchen table" (see # 4) . It appear to have flatness . It could almost be made of pieces of paper cut and pasted down . The different pieces interlocked each other like a jigsaw puzzle . The top of the table is seen and it almost look like an object could slide off . What shapes are repeated to make a pattern ? Do you see any outlines ? What do you see in the background ?

(3) Romare Bearden : (1914 - ) He was born in North Carolina . He served in the army in WWI and began to paint very flatly . He is an African-American artist .
Summertime : The artist created this composition combining paper and fabric with painted areas to create the mood of summer in a crowded city . Does it remind you of Braque cubism style ? The figure eating ice cream is centered to attract attention . The overall arrangement is in rectangular shapes and strong vertical forms .

(4) Paul Cezanne : (1839 - 1906) he was a French artist . Cezanne was a great artist and was called the "father of modern art" because he changed the direction the painters were going . He was interested in the basic form and structure of things ...
Kitchen Table : Cezanne loved to paint food . In fact , when he did paint people he told them to "sit like an apple" . (He didn't want them to move !) He took a long time to paint his pictures . Sometimes the food would get spoiled before he was finished , so he started using waxed fruits . Here we see fruits , a sugar bowl , and a teapot , in the foreground , and a basket filled with fruits in the middle ground . The table is crooked and the teapot stand at an angle . He distorted (changed) things in order to increase the decorative aspect of his work . The colors are warm , homier , of beauty in everybody's life .

(5) Nicholas Maes : (1632 - 1693) He was a Dutch artist . He was born in the 17th century . He was the son of a well-to-do soap manufacturer . He studied Rembrandt in Amsterdam when he was 16 .
An Old Woman Praying : This old woman is seen praying before she eats the food on the table . The light strikes the head and hands of the old woman who is so absorbed in her prayer that she is unaware of something happening . What is it ? (The kitten is pulling the tablecloth trying to reach the fish on the table .

(6) Johannes Vermeer : (1632 - 1675 ) Vermeer was a Dutch artist . He was born in Delft in 1632 .
The Milkmaid : This milkmaid is seen pouring milk . Other things that you can see are the bread , the jugs , the baskets , the brass pots . The warm yellow along with the warm of the red of her dress is balanced by the cool blues and greens . The repetition of colors helps to tie a painting together .

(7) Harold R. Stevenson : (1929 )
After School : Here we see a little girl having a snack after school . She is dressed in a blue dress with a white apron . We see her in profile . The artist painted many clear and realistic details to tell us about the room . (We see the wooden floor , rug , high-backed chair , flowers in the window , etc .) He even tells us what time it is .

(8) Pieter Brueghel the younger : ( 1564 - 1637 ) He was born in Brussels , Belgium . He liked to paint pictures with pheasants in their daily lives . His dad and his brother were also artists .
Harvest Meal : This pleasant landscape is filled with figures , some eating and some harvesting grain (which will be used to grind and make bread . Noontime . They hurry for more work to be done (no machine yet !)

Activity : 1. Select a piece of paper : white manila paper for the background .
2. Decide which fruits and/or vegetables you'll display in your collage market .Using the colored tissue paper , make multiple cuts , so that you can make a large number of tomatoes , bananas and apples , ... To do this fold the paper several times and cut through several thickness at once .
3. Use glue (or starch mixture ) to adhere neatly each pieces of tissue paper to the white paper . You'll need to plan your arrangement to include bins , racks , trays of vegetables , or baskets . You may even wish to include the grocer , the scale for weighing the fruits or vegetables and the shoppers and shopping carts . What else ?
4. Try to fill the entire space of your paper with cut pieces of paper . You can use colored paper for the bins , etc . You can also use the felt pen and the crayons to add other minor details .

Examples :
© 2010 © 2010

Birds Mosaics

Grade level: 2nd grade , but as all my projects , it can be adapted for any grade level.

Art Concept and Skills : Artists have painted pictures of various kind of birds , both realistic and imaginary . They used oil . watercolor , prints to tell us how they feel about birds .

Color tissue paper can be adhered with starch to white paper to make a collage , showing the feather patterns of birds' wings and tails .

Material : *white paper (9" x 11")
* tissue paper of many different colors
* Vano liquid starch and small containers
* brushes
* photos of all sorts of birds

Resources : the lesson plan idea was inspired by a lesson plan from my child school district.

There are many kind of birds in the world , and the way the artists paint them are just as varied . Some of the birds are easily recognized and others are products of the artists imagination . Birds have been painted by artists in every land in every age . Here are the paintings we are going to look at today :
(1) Feathers in Bloom by Marc Chagall (1887-1985) . This painting shows a pale blue and white hen with her head turned around looking at a blue horse . The horse is somewhat of a fairy tale figure because it has human feet . They are set off by the dark background of a sky at night . What is unusual about the moon ? (Seen low in the picture .) The most important element of this work is its dreamlike fantasy atmosphere . The animal seem to be floating through the sky and talking to each other .
Marc Chagall was born in Russia . He studied art in St-Petersburg , then went to Paris where he was influenced by the cubist style .

(2) Happy Family by Nathaniel Currier and James Ives (1875-1907) . Nathaniel Currier and James Ives were partners in printing business since 1857 . They produced not only news items scenes but also pictures of everyday life . This lithograph was made by Currier and Ives from a drawing by F.F. Palmer . It shows a family of turkey in the woods. The father is spreading his wings while the mother watches her chicks eating . They are protected by the forest and surrounded by a strawberry patch . The birds are drawn accurately with every feathers shown realistically . The warm browns and greens and the attention to the details show the artist's love for the woods . The bird family seems protected and safe and happy in their natural setting .
(3) Flying Geese by Max Ernst (1891-1976) . Flying Geese shows geese flying over the desert and Grand Canyon of Arizona . A cactus bush is also seen in the middle of the painting superimposed on the Grand Canyon walls . Can you see it ? What give the mountains their texture ? Ernst placed his paper over a piece of wood so that the wood's grain would show in the design . The gold tones , the gray , whites and dark areas along with the wood's grain truly suggest the Arizona desert landscape . What color is the sky ? Does it make you think of the hot desert and colorful sunset ?
Max Ernst was a German surrealist painter and sculptor . He had no formal art education . He was influenced by Picasso and the art of insane people .

(4) Child with Dove by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) . This painting shows a child with red hair in a bluish-white dress holding a white dove . The background seems to be the walls and floor of a room in red , yellow , and blue . These colors are repeated in the ball on the floor . Can you see the clean large masses of colors ? The paint was put on with heavy strong brushstrokes . The child is tenderly holding the dove . Do you think it could be her pet ?
Pablo Picasso was a Spanish artists . He is considered as the most prolific painter ever , producing paintings , prints , engravings , book illustrations and sculptures . He was known to push the envelope .
Motivation : Birds have different body shapes . Some have crests , some have long tails . They may have different colors . Feathers overlap and create beautiful pattern .
Vocabulary :
Imaginary : existing in the imagination and not in the real world .

Foliage : leaves .

Crest : a comb or tuft of feathers on a bird's head .

Claws : a hard , curved nail on the foot of a animal or bird .

Collage : a picture made by fixing different things on a surface , such as pieces of cloth onto paper .

Overlap : to cover part of something .
Mosaic : a pattern of picture made up of small pieces of colored stone , tile or glass . ( In this case of colored tissue paper .)

Pattern : a repeating arrangement of colors , shapes , and figures .

Crumple : if you crumple a piece of paper , you crush it into wrinkles and folds .

Fantasy : something you imagine happening that is not likely to happen in real life .
Texture : the look and feel of something , especially its roughness or smoothness .
Wood's grain : small particules of the wood .

Activity :
(1) Think about the real or imaginary birds you want to make . Close your eyes and imagine your picture large on your paper .

(2) Choose several colors of tissue paper . Place tissue paper and cut or tear pieces for each part of the birds' body . Make multiple cuts to make a lot of feathers at one time . To do this , cut several thickness of paper at once .

(3) Brush starch on white paper . Place tissue paper onto starch area and brush on a little more starch , to hold it flat . Too much brushing will cause some colors to "bleed".

(4) Add more pieces of tissue overlapping the shapes .The overlapped areas make different darken colors .

(5) For a variety of texture try crumpling some of the paper before adhering it .
(6) Exaggerate the tail feathers . Think about the bird gesture or movement .
(7) Fill in the background with small pieces of tissue paper in a mosaic-like fashion .

(8) Let dry .

Examples :

Winter wonderland.

Grade level : This project was done with fourth graders , but it can easily be adapted for any grade level !

Objectives : This is just a project for the students to really have fun .

Materials : * 9' x 11' black paper

* crayons

* Epsom salt

* warm water

* Paint brushes and cups

Resources : www.theideabox.com (snow crystal picture) .

Motivations : Show the children different landscapes and scenes during winter . (Snow should be present .) For example children doing any winter sport such as skiing , ice skating , sledding , etc. Or kids having a snowball fight , etc .

Activity : 1. Ask the children to think about a scene during winter .

2. Ask the children to draw this winter landscape or scene with crayons (with the exception of the snow !!!)

3. Once the drawing is complete , they can paint the water and Epsom salt mixture over it . It will give the drawing a frosty , snowy cool look .

P.S. : Note for teachers : Once a student is ready you should make a mixture of Epsom salt and warm water . The proportion are about 1 cup of salt for 1 cup of water .

Here are some examples :

© 2010

Artists paint horses .

This is an art lesson from the La Mesa-Spring Valley art docent program .

grade level : 3rd graders

Material : * 9" x 11" white paper

* color pencils or crayons

* horses templates (from coloring books , etc.)


Introduction : Through history the horse has been a subject which has attracted the artist . Early men depicted the horse on the wall of their caves some 20,000 years ago . The Egyptians , Greeks and Romans all made sculptures of horses . The horse has been painted , sculpted and drawn - either alone , in groups or in activities related to human beings .


Resources : Here are some paintings from different historical periods in which the artist has represented one or more horses .

(1) " Before the Start " by Charles Lapique (1898 - 1988 ) . The French artist Charles Lapique was a soldier and received The Croix de Guerre . He became interested in horses while he was in the army . Later he studied engineering , but then gave it up to become a painter . The French government hired him as a camouflage expert because he has made scientific studies of the harmonies and dynamics of colors .

Charles Lapique used brilliant and intense colors to paint these horses ! What clues tell us what kind of horses they are and where the scene is ? (#1 on the side of the horse , jockey caps , spectators , all tell us it is a race track .) We can feel the tense excitement as the horses get ready for the starting gun . Are the color realistic ? Do you get a feeling of movement ? Do some of the horses overlap others ? How many horses can you find ? Do horses and jockeys seem camouflaged ?

(2) "Prince Balthazar-Carlos on Pony "by Diego Velasquez (1599 - 1660) . Diego Velasquez was a Spanish painter . When he was 24 years old he was invited to Madrid by the Spanish King Philip IV . He has painted a portrait of the king and the king was so pleased that he appointed Velasquez a Court Painter , gave him a regular salary , a studio in the palace and even a private house in the city . He became close friend to the king . ( The king had a chair in Velasquez studio as he liked to watch him work .) Diego Velasquez died at 61 .

In this portrait , Velasquez introduces us to King Philip IV's first son who was said to be a fine rider . How old do you think the prince is in this portrait ? ( ~ 5 years old ) Notice how Velasquez draws our attention to the young prince's face . The bright pink sash catches our eye and draws it to his face ; the face is also framed by the black hat , and our eyes are drawn to this area of contrast (light face , dark hat) . Velasquez repeats many of the colors in both the horse and the prince . Is the color of the horse repeated anywhere else in the painting ? (Ground) . Repetition of colors help tie the painting together . Does the horse look real ? ( The belly appears bloated .) This painting was meant to hang high over a doorway . When the painting is seen from below as originally intended , the horse seems less distorted and unusual .

(3) "Frightened horse " by Eugene Delacroix ( 1798 - 1863 ). Eugene Delacroix was born near Paris (he was the son of a diplomat ). In his school , he showed talent on the violin and all through his life he was attracted by music , but he also loved to draw . His new style called Romantic , was full of very strong feelings . His pictures show acts of heroism and heat trending tragedies . His figure appear to burn with inner fire .

Because Delacroix loved the movements of animals , he spent a lot of time at the zoo and traveling sketching lions , tigers , horses and other animals . What is the focus of the painting ? (The horse .) Where is the horse standing ? (On the stretch of beach .) can you tell what is behind the horse ? ( The ocean .) What is happening in the sky ? ( A storm rages , lightning streaks in part of the sky .) The title of this painting is "Frightened horse" . Why is the horse frightened ? Do the action of the horse , in response to the storm seem real ? The white horse is contrasted with the dark stormy sky and sea . Such strong contrast of color (white against dark , deep blue , almost black ) adds to the drama of the event . It is a dramatic painting . (Main color is blue except for a little pink , white and light brown .)

(4) " The Race Track " by Raoul Dufy (1877 -1953 ). Raoul Dufy was born in Le Havre , France . at 15 years old he began to study art at night while working during the day . Beside being a painter , he also was an illustrator , a stage designer and a fabric designer .

One of Dufy's passion was fast motion and he was a frequent spectator at boating and horse races. The title of his painting is "Race Track" . What do you see in the foreground ? ( Horses and jockeys , elegantly dressed ladies and gentlemen .) What makes up in the middle ground in this painting ? ( The race track. ) What is in the background ? ( A row of trees , a city on a hill .) what is the color Dufy used the most ? ( The green of the race track .) He uses his color freely like a wash and does not confine it within strict boundary lines . Look at the city , for example , the green of the hillside extended to the area of the sky . Red is the complimentary color of green . ( A complementary color is the opposite color on the color wheel .) an artist uses complementary colors for exciting effects . Where does the artist use the red color ?

(5) " Neigh of an Iron Horse " by A. Tapy (ca 1859) . Do you know what an iron horse is ? when train became popular as a mode of transportation during the 19th century instead of horses , people called them " iron horses " because they were made of iron and they were taking the place of horses . Here we see the dominant figure in a landscape - a large , very frightened horse - with his mane flying , fleeing from the sound of a train coming around abound and shrieking its way across the quiet countryside . A late autumn haze covers the scene . The sky and land seem to fuse or melt together at the horizon . The normal quiet has been harshly broken .
Do you know what a neigh is ? Perhaps the horse has never seen or heard a train before ! The color is mostly golden and green with few touches of white and pink in the flowers in the foreground . The horse is large and the train appears small . This picture was painted ~ 1859 and we don't have a lot of information about the artist . The artist had a fine sense of colors and a love and understanding of nature .

(6) "Central Park " by Maurice Prendergast ( 1859 - 1924 ) . Maurice Prendergast was born in Newfoundland , but his family moved to Massachusetts when he and his brother were still boys . His favorite medium was watercolor , but when he became too old to work outdoors , he turned to painting oils. He was not recognized by the public until he won a major award one year before his death .

This painting of Central Park was done in watercolor . Where is Central Park ? (New York.) what is going on in this painting ? (People seated on benches are watching the horse-drawn carriages pass by . Cars had not yet been invented .) There are horizontal elements . Find them . ( The benches , the narrow strip of ground at the bottom , the horses and the carriages.) Find the vertical elements . ( The trees , the individual figures , etc.)Find shapes . (Circles of the carriage wheels , small rectangles which form the benches , etc.) Maurice Prendergast has based his painting on repetition of similar elements . what has he repeated ? (People sitting , the horses and carriages , the trees .) this repetition creates a pattern . Has Maurice Prendergast used mainly warm (reds , yellows and oranges ) or cool (greens and blues ) colors in his painting ?

(7) " The Apache " by Frederic Remington ( 1861 -1909 ) . Frederic Remongton was an American painter , illustrator and sculptor . He was born in Canton , New York in 1861 , as the civil war was starting . As a boy he loved horses and outdoors . He studied art at Yale University and New York City . He died of appendicitis in 1909 .

"The Apache" shows an Indian hiding behind a rock waiting to shoot at a covered wagon . The subject is drawn with such realism that it is possible to tell which tribe he belongs to and what kind of plants to and what kind of plants grow in the area . Frederic Remington often painted scenes of danger . can you see the details Remington loved to paint ? Look at the Indian and the horse and see how accurately they are shown . Many of these paintings of the plains show the history of the Indians once the white man started west .


Vocabulary : contrast , boundary lines , complementary colors , dominant , horizontal , vertical , repetition , warm colors , cool colors .

Activity : Ask the children to draw a picture including one or more horses . They should also include a background and other details letting us know where their(s) horse(s) . You can let children use horse template if they have a hard time to draw a horse .

example :

Artists paint people

Grade Level : 2nd graders

Objectives : Students will look at the work of five different artists and then they will create a picture of someone today to show people -200years from now - how people used to dress in 2009 .

Material : * 9" x 12" white paper
* felt or fabric scraps
* pattern gift wrap paper or paper napkins
* wall paper scrap
* oil pastel or crayons
* glue

Resources : (1) "Women in a Garden" by the French impressionist Claude Monet (November 14,1840-December 5,1926)
(2) "Women in Blue" by the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer (October 1632-December 1675)
(3) "Presentation in the Temple" by the Flemish painter Hans Memling (1430-1494)
(4) "The Pantry" by another Dutch painter Pieter de Hooch (1629-1688)
(5) "Don Manuel Osario" by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya (March 30, 1746-April 16,1828)

Ask students to look at all the paintings and ask them what they have in common ?
They were all painted between 1400 and 1800.
By looking at the paintings , what do the students see that is different from people living back then and people living now ?


Motivation :Artists' pictures tell us how people dressed a long time ago . They included many details. Can you do the same ?

Vocabulary : collage / details / figure / mixed-media / fabric

Activity : The students will make a collage of a person living today .For that they will use :
1. the white paper as the background .
2. the felt or gift paper wrap for clothing (pants , shirt , dress , blouse , sweater , etc) They may wish to draw it first on a piece of paper and use their drawing as a pattern for cutting the felt or fabric .
3. the glue to paste the clothing to the white paper .
4. the oil pastels or crayons to draw the rest of the figure . (head , arms , hands , feet , and other details )
The students should try to draw a figure big enough to fill out the paper and they should add as much details as possible .
(you can also add some cotton for extra texture for the clothing .)

Here are some examples :



Please remember that every image on this site is protected by copyright laws and can only be used as examples and for personnal use . Thank you !

Pop Art Andy Warhol Style !

Grade Level : 5th graders ( but it can easily be adapted to any grade level ! )

Objectives : Students will take a brief look at Pop Art through the eyes of Andy Warhol and then they will make their own interpretation of pop art .

Materials : * Index cards

* 9 x 11' white paper with four identical rectangles on them

* one HB pencil

* color pencils or crayons

* scissors


Resources : * juvenile book : Andy Warhol by Linda Bolton (publisher :Franklin Watts , 2002 .
* websites : factmonster.com , cybermuse.gallery.com
Biography : * Andy Warhol was born in Pennsylvania in 1928 .
* He studied art at the Canergie Institute of Technology , where he graduate in June 1949 .
* After moving to New York , he quickly became a successful commercial artist . He created advertisements for magazines , window displays for department stores , illustrations for record companies , ...During that time , he won several awards for his designs .
* Towards the end of the 1950s he decided to become a serious artist , not just a commercial artist . He started painting things that were popular at the time and that were important to him . He painted dollar bills over and over , as well as canned soups , famous people (like Marilyn Monroe ) bottles of soda ,...
* Warhol used a method of silk screening used in commercial art . It allowed him to produce and reproduce his work , using different colors .
* He died unexpectedly in New York following surgery for a routine gallbladder operation . He was 58 .

Motivation : Show different painting from Andy Warhol and ask questions about them . I personally chose those ones :
* Canned soup
* Bottle of coke
*Four Pandas
* Four monkeys
* Cars
* Marilyn Monroe
All those paintings show how Warhol chose simple and popular subjects and made several prints of them using different colors .

Vocabulary : Pop Art / Contrast / Color wheel / Silk-screen printing .

Activity : 1. Tell the students to choose a simple popular object (or item) .For example an ice cream , a snowman , a toy , a guitar , etc.
2. The student will draw the item (without the details ) on an index card .
3. They will cut around the item , drawn on the index card.
4. The students will trace around the cut index card to transfer the item four time (once on each rectangle ) on the white paper . They will now have four identical drawing (one on each rectangle ).
5. The students will add details on the object .
6. Color the four items in four different colors using contrast.

Examples :