Marbling

Today's activity was all about Marbling, and no we did not use marbles. Marbling is the designs that you find in older style books on the inside cover.  What we did was use shaving cream and squirt paint into the cream.  After that you could use your hands or other tools to create different designs you wanted.  Then we were able to use our own drawings of different landmarks in the world to press firmly down into the paint-cream.  You then pick up your drawing and scrape off the extra shaving cream.  I had the Colosseum that is located in Rome, Italy.

**An extension activity for this project could be used in science.  Students would be able to use different colors to create camouflage of animals in the wild.

Train Printmaking

This week we discussed printmaking.  We were able to design our own sheet using Styrofoam and carving utensil.  We then had to use the printmaking supplies to create a train-cart.  Our instructions were to be inspired by South Dakota designs and also to use a back ground featuring South Dakota. I used "Z" Grain for my design and my carts are hauling corn, while traveling through the countryside of South Dakota.

*An extension activity would be in the Language Arts subject.  Here teachers would talk about the printmaking process and how they used in earlier times to write letters and publish books.

Macrame Madness

This project is done to introduce students to the art of Macrame. There are many different types of Macrame. This project we made key chains out of hemp. We each were suppose to put at least three beads on the key chain and have it at least three inches long, or the length of your middle finger. 

**An extension activity for this would be doing a presentation about how Macrame has developed throughout the years for social studies. 

Warm & Cool Colors Puzzle Pieces

To start off this project the class was split into to sections, warm and cool colors. The warm colors could choose to draw a duck or fox and the cool colors could choose to draw a fish or frog. Once we drew our animal, we had to give it texture of some sort.  For the background, we either had to do lines, patterns, or shapes.
I was assigned warm colors, so I drew a duck.  For my background I drew 'lines,' so i drew all different kinds of lines. 

*An extension activity for this project could be for the subject of Science.  Since we discuss "warm and cool colors" a teacher can discuss "warm and cold-blooded" animals and their characteristics.

Plaid Bunny

 Plaid Bunny

This week we were able to work on complimentary colors---green with red, yellow with purple, and red and green.  We were able to discuss how "plaid" is made up of horizontal and vertical lines.  After our painting of our complimentary colors, vertical and horizontal lines were dried, we were able to draw out a bunny pattern out of it.  

An extension activity for this lesson could be using the bunnies to act out a reading/language arts play.  Or a classroom could use the bunnies as a counting method in math too!

Blind Contour Drawing/Bulletin Board

Contour Blind Drawings

This was my group's lesson for art.  We used white crayon/light colored oil pastel to draw flowers on the sheets of paper with blinders. After that we flicked the paper with some water, and then painted over the top of our drawings.   This art lesson was geared towards 1st graders.

An extension activity for this lesson could be in social studies.  They could use the same idea, but instead of drawing flowers, they draw hieroglyphics that mean a certain message for others to figure out.

*Our Bulletin Board*

~Spring into Drawing~

Hidden Safari

This project was done to introduce students to warm and cool colors.  This is a hidden safari picture that I did in class.  It is called "hidden" because you need special glasses to see the underlying picture.  The project is done by drawing a picture in a light cool color.  I used a light sky blue colored pencil to draw my animal and then used warm colors to draw shapes and swirls over top of my animal. We then wrote three clues to be displayed with our animals for others to guess what kind of animal it was.

An extension activity would be used in a science classroom talking about animals camouflaging themselves in their environments. Students will be able to design different animals such as butterflies, frogs, and bugs!