Kindergarten
Kindergarden – is the place where children are introduced to the social and cultural elements of school/society as well as the foundational knowledge on which their education and future will be built – language, reading, math, science, social studies….and ART! Drawing, painting and the processes of making art are a human right that lend themselves to the study of almost every curriculum area.
One of the approaches I take with kinder-artists is to provide guided drawing experiences. As we learn to draw a variety of objects, especially animals, we talk through the process of seeing. The goal is for each of them to become their own art coach.
Antarctic & Arctic Animals
These creatures are the result of a guided drawing project. I use good nature photos. The teachers pre-teach the kids using a variety of children’s books that feature the animals as characters. They are all quite proud of their finished work.
Winter Sleep
Kangaroo Rats are profuse in this area and they have a great latin name – dipidomys. To connect with their winter study of hibernation I found a picture of one sleeping in its den. Before we drew we mimicked it sleeping by curling up on the floor, then laying like we did in our beds then curling up tight again to experience the heat transfer that keeps them warm. The steps to drawing it started with making an oval and then spotting the nose, ears, eyes, wrap around tail and a back leg. Once we drew it and colored it we glued a nest around it by tearing up bits of paper and fabric.
Big Flowers
When spring lands it’s time for flowers. It was decided that we’d decorate the kindergarten hall with large flowers for graduation. On 18x24” pieces of paper we drew close-up views of simple flowers from pictures. The children then chose 3 colors and were given white to paint with. They were briefly shown how to make lighter values. Cardboard scraps were cut into long stems and the kids made construction paper leave that were hot glue on. The larger than them flowers were a hit.
Insects
Of course flowers require insects. Using industrial aluminum foil as the base we constructed large insects. Pipe cleaners made lets and antennae while curved wire covered with colored coffee filters made wings. Google eyes were glued on to animate the fun creatures. The insects were installed among the flowers.
Mini-Matisse
Students are inspired by photos of Matisse’s collages, but mostly by pictures of him in bed, while elderly and sick with cancer, making art. He could not paint any more but he could make paper, cut and direct their placement all over the walls of his villa. They were encouraged to find useful shapes in another student’s discard.
