Mondrian Umbrellas

This lesson was inspired by a lesson I saw on Art Projects For Kids, posted from Blue Moon Palette, http://bluemoonpalette.blogspot.com/2010/09/mondrian-umbrella.html


We looked at clothing inspired by Piet Mondrian. Next we drew our umbrellas, no stencils. We divided up the space and colored with color pencil. My other school used markers.

We decorated a craft stick for the pole of the umbrella. I thought these made for some very striking work!

Third Grade efforts:

Warhol Hands

I've done this project with cut paper, and I found this way much easier.

Students first paint their background with water color. They then print one hand four times with white tempera paint.

For the next lesson, students print over the white print with a black hand print. I was planning on having the children do a drawing lesson after they printed, but by the time we got on our smocks, printed, and washed hands, it was time to pack up!

Second grade results:

Ink Elephants

I saw this lesson on Deep Space Sparkle. It looked difficult on first glance but I realized that the children would just draw with regular old black Crayola markers and then paint with water. Easy!

This lesson took less than 40 minutes to complete. We drew the elephant together. That was the most intimidating part for the children but they all had very elephant-looking critters on their papers. They drew in the folds. We did it all in marker, no pencil. The children then added their own background and painted with water.

I stressed the importance of knowing when an artwork is complete and stopping. I would recommend having an elephant story to read to the children after they finish their artwork because this lesson is pretty short.

Third grade results: