First grade students created a simple abstract/non-objective painting using geometric and organic shapes (one student had an abstract birthday cake with candles). Color pallet was kept simple (using mainly primary colors). 

Students brainstormed a list of words that were important to them. Each table had a recorder and a speaker. The recorder wrote down the words (pick your best spellers for this) and the speaker read the list to the class. 

The teacher prints off the words and places the words at each table for the next session. Students select the words they want - cut them out and glue to the painting. For technology integration, have students type up words and print them.

This was a 5th grade lesson relating to math concepts of concentric circles and radial design. Students selected a limited color pallet - using contrasting colors for each radiating design. Design is started with a dot then dots added around to make a circle.  Students need to decide which circles will be in front and complete those first.

This is a lesson I did with kids from 6 to 10, and it has worked every time. They asked to did it several times. I call it "feeling just like a painter" because I invented it with that objective in mind: make them experience the sensations of being a painter.

Material:

• leftover of mat boards (you can ask in framing shops) or rectangular
  pieces of cardboard (recycled corrugated cardboard will do)
• sturdy flat brushes
• liquid poster paint, tempera or gouache (has to be liquid)
• fine sand
• small containers for paint

(Note: the kids use only the primary colors plus white. I almost never give them black, unless the project requires it, because they will tend to draw in black and then color inside the lines. )

How to:

• Mix sand into the paint, enough sand so it will be quite thick but still creamy... Now that's why they need sturdy brushes: the sand tends to "eat" the brushes..
• Explain to the kids that they must mix the colors on their painting, while the paint is still wet , just like true painters might do...
• Give each kid a mat or a cardboard rectangle (bigger then A4 if possible) and let them paint away!

Let them explore the medium. Explain that they need to mix the paint in the pot each time they put the brush into it, because the sand tends to go to the bottom...

They have to paint all the area of their painting, they cannot leave any area unpainted. Some kids didn't feel comfortable painting without  drawing first, so I let the draw a little with a pencil and then paint. But explain that they have to draw big, because the brushes are big.

Submitted by Denise Pannell, Defiance
Lesson: Impasto Painting - Van Gogh Sunflowers

"Pudding" Paint - for Impasto - from the book "Art Fun!" by Kim Solga 

Mix 5 cups water, 2 cups white flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and 3 Tablespoons salt. 
Pour into saucepan and cook over medium heat until thick and bubbling (about 7 minutes) Cool well. This can be stored in the refrigerator in covered containers for several weeks. Spoon cooled "pudding" into containers and mix with 1/8 to 1/4 cup powdered or liquid tempera paint. 

Use a craft stick or palette knife to apply. Use heavy tagboard or cardboard, as it will curl. Maybe try on corrugated cardboard (recycled) for extra strength.

Submitted by MaryAnn Kohl
Egg Tempera with Chalk Powder
Giotto di Bondone/Egg Paint - from Discovering Great Artists by MaryAnn Kohl

Giotto's (ZHEE-O-TO) paints were made from egg yolks mixed with clay, minerals, berries, or even ground insects to make colored pigments.

Giotto di Bondone - When Giotto was a young boy tending sheep in the mountains of northern Italy, he drew pictures to help pass the time. A traveling artist discovered Giotto's drawings and offered him an apprenticeship. There Giotto learned how to make paintbrushes and art tools, which minerals could be used to create different colors of paint, and worked on drawings and small parts of paintings. Eventually Giotto left to find work on his own. He became the chief master of cathedral building and public art in Florence, Italy. Giotto is best known for painting people who appeared three-dimensional rather than flat.

Many paintings of Giotto's time were made with egg tempera paint on special panels of wood. There were no art stores, so each artist had to make paint by grinding minerals, clay, berries, or even insects into fine powder and mixing this pigment with egg yolk and water. Egg tempera makes a thin, fast drying coat of bright color. The paint is very strong and long lasting. Giotto's beautiful egg tempera paintings are over 700 years old!

Young artists explore Giotto's technique of painting with egg tempera with a homemade recipe made with crushed chalk or powdered tempera

Materials

• colored chalk (bright pastel chalk works best) - or powdered tempera
• muffin tin, plastic egg carton, or paint palette for mixing
• egg and some water
• spoon and a fork
• old bowl
• round rock
• paintbrush and paper

Process

1. Break off small pieces of colored chalk and grind them into powder in an old bowl with a round rock. NOTE: Avoid breathing the chalk powder. OR use powdered tempera
2. Put the colored powders into the cups of a muffin tin, egg carton or paint palette.
3. Crack the egg and separate the yellow yoke from the clear egg white.
4. Put the yolk in a clean bowl and mix it with 2 teaspoons of water. Whip it with a fork until the mixture is froth yellow.
5. Add spoons of egg-water to the powdered chalk and stir with a paintbrush until you make a smooth, runny paint.
6. Now use the egg tempera paint to make a painting!

Students use tempera to paint in flat areas of color. Dots are painted over to add dimension and shading. Complimentary pairs of colors are the lesson being used.
Ken's student used fruits and vegetables from life. Negative space was painted with choice of colors.

Students select an object or objects for study. They focus on interesting parts of the object/objects and create an abstracted composition. Sketches on newsprint are combined and traced onto Rail Road board. The painting is rendered a range of values - using all one color - all grays - or gray scale with monochromatic color accent (or visa versa). Musical instruments were a popular theme - along with bicycle parts. I liked this Ford theme.

Students drew pictures of our mascot, a bruin. The best one was chosen, scanned, printed and gridded.  The math classes determined how much paint would be needed for each square and laid out the grid on the lawn. (16x20feet).  Students were given 2 inch squares from the picture to paint into the 2 foot squares on the lawn. We saved a square for the principal. It even made the local paper.

The process took most of the school day. The kids and all the teachers had a ball.  It really brought art into the spotlight and was perfect for a crazy homecoming week.

Lawn Painting Success from Ann Ayers

We did Lawn Painting last year (Mona, The Scream, American Gothic) just before the students had to choose classes for this school year.  What a recruiting event! We were outside working all day with our various classes, filling the courtyard with art. Along with the lawn painting, we also had a group of kids painting enlarged masterpieces on the sidewalk. It was a wonderful day! The administration loved it because it was integrating art with other subject areas and teaching the kids proportion and graphing skills. We'll be doing it again, once each semester, so that more kids get involved. To get the flour, last year, we had each student bring in 2- 5lb bags. We had enough left so that this year, each student only had to bring in one bag. Note from Judy: Surplus flour can always be used for paper maché paste.

Students studied art of India. They were attracted to the Madhubani folk art paintings. Women paint on walls and on handmade bark paper. Grace's student worked in groups to paint large paintings on roll paper. Younger students could work on the natural brownish craft paper leaving the color of the paper showing in areas. Another idea would be to paint on handmade paper (recycling brown grocery bags - with some Abaca pulp added). An easier lesson would be to paint on tan construction paper or brown paper bags.