Boo!

Halloween is such a great time of year. 

If you asked my second graders they would agree!

 I have never done "Halloween" projects in the past 
but when I found this book

 "Inside a House that is Haunted" 
I knew I could have some fun creating projects with my students.

 I have to give Ginger over at Paintbrush Rocket props for her fun Frankenstein project. 

From there we took off making some other characters from the book!

"who spooked the mummy who ran with a shriek"

that frightened the ghost who awoke and cried, "BOO!"

surprising the cat that jumped and screeched, "MEW!"

that shook up the bats that swooped through the air 

and jolted the owl that called, "Who-Who's there?"

Bats with Crazy, Silly Eyes!

 I hope you have a Boo-tiful Halloween too!

Painted Paper Trees

Loving all the beautiful colors all around us!  My students are so excited for this time of year. Pumpkins, beautiful changing leaves, apple cider and field trips to the local apple orchard and grist mill. Students have been creating projects based upon this beautiful time of year.  

Painted Paper Trees

One project that I did was to discuss the fall trees and 

how tree branches are formed. 

Students created painted paper tree tops, then added the trunks and twisted branches with tempera paints.  Next, we discussed how leaves blow and travel in the wind.  Students used the warm color tempera paints and added dots to represent leaves on their paper.

 In the hallway I displayed the vivid painted trees along with real tree branches hanging from the ceilings. (Another class added liquid watercolor painted paper leaves to the branches.) These were a hit at the school.

Materials:  

12 x 18 construction paper

Painted Paper -various shades for tree tops and ground

Tempera Paint- Warm color Palette and Large and Small brushes

Glue and scissors.

Fall Sunflowers

My post at Pre-K and K Sharing.

In my primary classes we have been looking at the beauty of Autumn. We are so blessed to have the four seasons in Ohio and experience the cycles of life.  This year the fall colors were spectacular! In Art class we discussed the beautiful colors that you see in the fall and the foliage and flowers in bloom.  One fabulous flower is the Sunflower. 

 The children delighted in created their personal flowers. 

First, we painted various shades of fall colors on construction paper. 

 After our painted papers were drying,  I read the book The Sun Seed by author Jan Schubert.

This is a lovely book for children to view before creating their personal artwork.

 We looked at the shapes of sunflower petals, then the students created their own petal shape, traced more petals from the original one, then glued the petals to a circle center. 

 Lastly, students created seeds from oil pastels and tissue paper.

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When students were done creating their special sunflower stems were painted on a background then the flower tops were added to the finished mural. I hope you have a wonderful fall season as well!

Materials:

Construction Paper

Tempera Paint

brushes

Oil Pastels

Tissue Paper

Glue

Laura is an elementary art teacher and the author of the blog Painted Paper. She has presented her thematic units nationally at the National Art Education Association and Ohio Art Education Association Conferences. You can follow her updates on fun and creative projects for kids here.

Whoo, Whooo, loves Owls?

I am totally smitten with Owls lately. I would create owls all day long if I could! 

3rd graders created these large owls inspired by Ginger over at Paintbrush Rocket.  

I love these and wanted to put my own spin on her fun project.

 Class One:

First, students used a tracer to create the owl. I know some people don't like using the tracers but this class needed the shape to get them started. 

Next we discussed how to create patterned lines using our scissors. Zig-Zag, Wavy, Straight etc., and then students glued them into the owl's stomach area.

Class 2:

Students created large eyes and placed them on the 

head of the Owl. Next came the beak and claws.

We discussed briefly, the texture found on Owls- feathers.

Using oil pastels, students drew short marks 

resembling the feathers. 

Lastly, students used paint and the dry brush technique.  

I stressed to keep their paint on the tip of the brush to

 create the feather look. 

Some students really loved mixing colors on their owl's wings. 

Overall, I loved seeing these big-eyed guys hanging around!