Grades: K - 5th grades
Materials: crayons, tape, prints of Cézanne, prints of Michelangelo's
Sistine Chapel, colored paper, glue, and scissors.
Procedure:
I teach art at our community college each summer to 3 ages of children.
Children going into K,1st grade, children going into 2nd and 3rd grade and
children going into 4th and 5th grades. I usually keep the same theme for
all levels with changes in some projects and difficulty levels. I teach for
3 weeks and the theme changes each week.
The most successful unit I ever did was one I called "Art Of The Masters".
Each day we studied a different famous artist. I tried to involve the
children in the history, style and life of the artist. We studied Michelangelo and I showed the
Sistine Chapel and explained how he painted on a scaffold for 5 years. Their project was to tape their
paper under the desk and draw a crayon angel while lying on their backs. (Note:
Michelangelo did not paint flat on his back. He designed his scaffold and
painted standing up with his head turned upward.) This really made an impression on them. I chose artists with very
distinctive styles. We did torn paper drawings like Cézanne. We attempted
Cubist Collage with chalk and colored paper. Each day I showed them works
of the selected artists and told them something about the artists
childhood. This seems to reach them and help them to really recall who is
who. Doing the work in a style and material similar to the artist also
helps really connect with the artist.
My point in this is that many lessons for older children can be pared down
for the younger children. I also like the idea of teaching them basics like
in the "snips" lesson. Many of the children that I taught couldn't do
simple things like squeeze glue and cut with scissors. Being very animated and almost silly and keeping things concise is also helpful with the
smaller children. Often I'd read a book about our subject (space travel and
the planets is a really good subject also) and do a short project followed
by some moving around or singing a song, them another short art activity.
Keep them busy and don't let them get bored. Keep things moving fast.
This is a great web site. I'm getting some wonderful ideas for this summer.
Elementary Art Lessons
