Hidden Animals

 Can you find the hidden animal? Probably not, especially over a computer screen, but a hidden animal is drawn in light blue underneath the chaotic scene of warm colored shapes. This project allows students to practice making patterns and using warm colors. The procedure to make this project starts with students creating special superhero glasses. A red graphic overlay film is glued to construction paper cut in the shape of glasses or goggles. This will allow students to see the hidden animal after the project is completed. Why the glasses are drying, students move on to the actual drawing part. They start by using a light blue colored pencil to draw an animal on a plain white piece of paper. Then the students use warm colored crayons to make lots of patterned shapes to hide their animal. After the students complete this step, they finish up by writing three clues on the bottom of the frame that gives hints as to what the animal is. After the project is complete students can put on their goggles to view the now hidden animal. 

As an extension activity, you could have students subtract the number of one shape by the number of a different shape. For successful answers, you could reveal a hint to the students so they can slowly guess what the animal is. 

International Dot Day

 

This image is from a project celebrating International Dot Day. This day was formed based off of the book, "The Dot" by Peter Reynolds, a book that celebrates the art of everyone no matter how big, small, realistic, or abstract it is. This project features a dot in the center and colors are put radially around the dot. Students also can be given the freedom to make multiple dots, or use any type of drawing or coloring utensil. 

As an extension activity you could definitely have students use just warm or cool colors to color around their dot, they would still have the freedom to use any type of utensil or use multiple dots, but if you have them use only warm or cool colors, you can talk more about color theory. 

Elements and Principles of Art

This project tasks students with finding pictures that represent each of the elements and principles of design. Below are five examples of some pictures I took.

 This picture is a zoomed in photo of my backpack. The repeating hexagons represents pattern. 

The crayons in this crayon box represent unity and variety. Every crayon has the same shape and the Crayola name on their label. However, there is variety among the crayons because each is a different color. 

This picture comes from the NSU Library. It represents value. There are whites, blacks, and many grays in-between. 

This picture comes from a library wall, but you can find a wall like this in just about any school building. It represents texture, kids love to run their hand or finger along the wall to feel the texture in the wall. 

This picture comes from the Miranda Cemetery in Miranda, SD. It represents Asymmetrical Balance. There is a dividing line down the middle, starting with the title stone and going down towards the bell and in-between the trees at the back of the cemetery. There are the same number of trees on either side of the dividing line, and about the same number of headstones on both sides. 

As an extension activity, you could have each student take at least one close up picture, like the first one in this post. Then, you could have a guessing game with the class to see if they can figure out what the close up picture is. Students may guess what the close up picture is, but it will likely be difficult. This is a great opportunity to talk about perspective. You could explain to students that when they are in the middle of something, it's like they are looking at a close up picture. It can be hard to understand what is really going on because you can't see the big picture. However, if you take a step back, and change your perspective you can get a clearer view. In life, this means you can know that the tough things will end, and it will get better. For example, in the pandemic we face now, we know it is not going to go on forever, we know the pandemic will end. 

Project 1- Footprints

 

My first project was an introduction/get to know you project. Each of the objects, pictures, or drawings represent something about me. For example, the bottom left picture is a cutout from a brochure I picked up from my favorite vacation to the Rapid City Founding Fathers museum. The Monopoly money represents my love for board games and my competitive spirit. In this project, I had to use at least three different mediums. Anything from drawing to painting, to pasting 3D objects was allowed. A variety of size and color was encouraged.

As an extension to this project, you could teach older elementary grades how to translate what size a picture will be when printed versus how it looks on a word document or google docs. I know I have found the ruler tool on word and google docs very useful or this project. I first measured the space I want a printed picture to take up on my footprint, and then I adjusted the picture on a word document to match my measurements. By teaching students how to use the ruler tool, you are providing them with a useful computer skill, but you are also having students practice measuring with a ruler.