Tips Archive » Content » Art

• Color Theory (1 tip)
• Design Principles (2 tips)
• Techniques (9 tips)
• Encouraging Creativity (4 tips)

Color Theory

Color Mixing with Frosting

From Suzanne Nayback, a second grade teacher at Central Elementary School in Petoskey, Michigan:

"For a fun, hands-on activity on the subject of color mixing, I divide a can of vanilla frosting into three containers and then mix each with one of the three primary colors (red, blue, yellow). Then I give each child a full graham cracker. On one end I place a large dab of each of the three colors, to make three piles. On the other end of the cracker the students combine colors using their fingers. I ask them to combine yellow with blue, yellow with red, and blue with red. This gives them the new colors of green, orange and purple. After the oohs and ahs, I let them eat their crackers and frosting. Then we fill in a color wheel together. Two books I find particularly enjoyable for this subject are: 'Little Blue and Little Yellow' by Leo Lionni and 'Mouse Paint' by Ellen Stoll Walsh."

Design Principles

Making Bookmarks

From Sandy Curtis, a librarian at Cottonwood Elementary and Fernley Elementary in Fernley, Nevada:

"As a librarian, I am often asked for bookmarks. I shop for on sale wrapping paper with a small all over design and then laminate it. I cut strips of bookmarks with those spiffy designer scissors for students. Seasonal ones are always in demand but, just attractive ordinary ones are popular too. As gifts for teachers, a hole punch in one end with a yarn tassel is much appreciated."

Accidental Art

From Marie Snavely, an art teacher at Bowman and Rhame high schools, Bowman, North Dakota:

"I call this accidental art. It's suitable for any age from about fourth grade through adult. Students take any color water color except brown and black. They cover their paper with shapes of color, with no colors overlapping or touching. They repeat colors and shapes as they wish. They wash their brushes between colors so each color remains true. Then they let their creations dry for one day. On the second day they use a black fine tip marker and decide a different texture to put in each color -- little crosses, circles, lines, etc. Filling the colors with these textures creates an attractive piece of art and teaches them about unity and variety and pattern and texture."

Techniques

Flaking Paint

From Sheila Shearer:

"Here's a way to keep paint from flaking off of milk cartons. An art teacher once told me to add liquid dish detergent to the paint. I'm not sure exactly how much. I just squeeze in a generous amount. I've used several brands and they've all worked. Using detergent is a bonus when it comes to washing paint out of clothes too."

Tempera Paint Secret

From Vera Crisafulli, a kindergarten teacher at Jefferson School in Glendive, Montana:

"Here's a secret I found when using tempera paint on things other than paper. When we make turkeys or rabbits from milk cartons, I found that tempera paint often flakes off the waxy milk cartons after they've been painted. Now I mix white glue in the paint so that about 1/8 of the paint is glue. When the paint dries, it does not flake off. This method also helps paint stick to glass bottles, jars or plastic containers."

Waxed Strings

From Vera Crisafulli, a kindergarten teacher at Jefferson School in Glendive, Montana:

"I often use lacing strings in my class for art projects and lacing boards. When I need new ones, I cut pieces of yarn to the desired length and dip them all at one time into melted wax. After they've hardened, I break them apart and they all have stiff ends to start lacing. A fast way to cut several pieces of yarn or string at the same time is to find something in the room that is the right size to wrap the yarn around and then cut all the yarn at one time. Yarn wrapped around the back of a chair is just the right size for making necklaces."

Greek Drama Masks

From Carrie Ciofani, an Education Associate at Perry High School in Perry, Ohio:

"My students staged a production of Antigone and made Greek masks from Plaster of Paris. We used Plastercraft and Plaster of Paris impregnated gauze cut into strips. We wet the strips and applied them to our faces where it hardened. We painted the dried masks with exaggerated facial expressions to convey the emotion depicted by the characters according to the conventions of Greek drama."

Pumpkin Geography

From Cherise Croff, a third grade teacher at Perry Elementary School in Perry, Ohio:

"During the month of October, I take advantage of the pumpkin harvest to bring hands-on geography to my students. After spending a month becoming familiar with the location of the seven continents and the major bodies of water, each student is given a pumpkin to turn into a globe. Students paint the entire surface of the pumpkin blue to represent water. Next, they use pushpins to position and trace the outline of each continent onto their pumpkins. They use actual globes as models and are careful to place the continents in the correct hemisphere. Then, they paint and label each continent a different color. They label the major bodies of water and use white paint to represent the North and South Poles. While they work on their globes, I take pictures using the digital camera. We complete this project by importing the pictures and adding text on the computer to make a class book titled 'Pumpkin Geography', which we all enjoy enormously." (If you want to see the finished products, Click Here.)

Fiber Art Project

From Annemarie Comes, an art teacher at Perry Middle School in Perry, Ohio:

"I save all my old glue bottles or use empty hair dye application bottles to fill with an alum/flour mixture for a resist application on fabric. This is a great way to store the paste for a few days in the refrigerator. In addition, they have enough paste in them to last students for a while. The glue bottle is something they are familiar with for the application process and students can control the paste with little mess. The same method can be used for tempera paint with primary children. This is a great way to introduce line and familiarize students with glue lines."

Children's Handprints

From Sally Murphy, a kindergarten teacher at Perry Elementary School in Perry, Ohio:

"I use children's handprints each month for a different activity. The handprints can be used for monthly calendar tops, keepsake books, etc. We all know about the hand turkey, but how about a hand ghost or a hand Santa? To make a ghost, have the children put their hand upside down with the three middle fingers together and their pinky and thumb out for hands. To make a hand Santa, they put their hand upside down, spread their fingers for the beard and use their thumb to make the tassel of the hat. During my ocean unit, I paint their hand but not their thumb and do two prints on top of each other to make an octopus. The children come up with their own fun and creative handprint ideas, too!"

Self Portraits

From Gail Sellers, an art teacher at Perry Middle School in Perry, Ohio:

"When students do a self portrait they should be able to look in a mirror, so I asked my students and colleagues for old mirror tiles. I had 1/8 inch maysonite cut into 12"x12" backing boards which I attached to the mirror tiles by taping down all the edges with three layers of one inch masking tape. Our shop class made stands for me by putting an angled slot in blocks of wood. Now each student has their own mirror to use during class. This is a great way to do a self portrait because the students can really study their facial features and expressions."

Tissue Paper Bleeds

From Darlene Roker, a fifth grade teacher at Vermont Avenue Elementary School in Los Angeles, California:

"I found this art project when I worked as a volunteer teacher's aide for the Hopi Headstart program on the Hopi Reservation. It's easy enough for headstarters, but my 5th graders and I have enjoyed doing it too. Materials needed are colored tissue paper, plain white vinegar, brushes, scissors (optional), and semi-porous white drawing paper. We begin by cutting or tearing the tissue paper into either design shapes or parts of a whole picture, such as green paper for leaves and pink paper for flowers. Once the paper cut-outs are laid in place on the white drawing paper, students dip their brushes into the white vinegar and (lightly) brush it on to the tissue paper. This causes the color in the tissue paper to 'bleed' on to the drawing paper and the moisture holds the tissue in place for a few minutes. Warning: not all tissue bleeds. If in doubt, test a small piece first. In a few minutes, after the tissue is dry, gently shake off the pieces, and you will find a design or 'painting', something akin to sponge or block painting. This project makes great covers for holiday and birthday cards or for framed prints."

Encouraging Creativity

Summer Sketch

From Gail Rutherford, an art teacher at Lincoln High School in Portland, Oregon:

"As an alternative to the often assigned essay on 'What I Did Last Summer', I provide students with a 4 inch square in which to draw a sketch of a summer memory. The results are so delightful that some appear in our student published newspaper as cartoons."

Milk Carton Creations

From Vera Crisafulli, a kindergarten teacher at Jefferson School in Glendive, Montana:

"I save empty milk cartons to use for other projects. When Easter comes, I cut the top off the box, cover it with a strip of colored paper that is 2" x 11", attach a handle made from a pipe cleaner and it becomes an Easter basket. On May Day, it can become a May basket. In the spring, I use them to have the children plant seeds in so they can take them home when the seeds have started to grow. Milk cartons are cheap to use and great to recycle."

I Spy Collages

From Tasha Stielstra, a kindergarten teacher at Kenwood Edison Charter School in Duluth, Minnesota:

"My students love the "I Spy" books by Walter Wick. They've nearly worn out the pages from many of the books! As a result of their interest in reading and in searching for the hidden objects in these books, we decided to make our own 'I Spy' collages. The students worked in groups of four to six and created little collages around the room with our own little toys, magnets, games, blocks and anything small that they could find. Students can also create collages based on specific themes. I used a digital camera to take the pictures for the book and then the students wrote their own riddles at the bottom of the page. Older students could make more difficult riddles. We put our kindergarten "I Spy" pictures on the TV to look at and we also have our own I Spy book in the room. It was great fun and the kids have been asking to make another book soon!"

Inventors' Center

From Lisa Weight, a kindergarten teacher at Ravenwood Elementary in Eagle River, Alaska:

"To encourage budding artisans, scientists and inventors in my classroom I have a book shelf designated 'The Invention Center.' On one shelf I keep basic tools such as scissors, pencils, markers, a hole punch, tape, glue and a stapler. The other shelves are filled with cast-off boxes, paper towel rolls, washed out milk cartons, plastic lids, pieces of cardboard, construction paper scraps, straws, pipe cleaners and craft sticks. I invite parents to help me keep our center well-stocked by sending in their old boxes, clean socks, egg cartons, etc. Students may use the center during free-choice time. I am often amazed at the variety of inventions, my students come up with. They have created puppets, vehicles, baskets, robots, jewelry, buildings and more!"