Art 'Hacks'

After this photo created such a storm on my facebook page I decided to see if I could find some more useful 'hacks' for making art lesson organisation seamless!

This photo is from Greann sa Rang's blog (http://greannsarang.blogspot.ie/)  she uses paper bun cases in her paint trays so there's no washing up! 

Here are some more ideas I found:

Using rice to clean dirty chalk pastels

http://artprojectgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/tuesdays-tip-how-to-get-dirty-pastels.html

Clean brushes with conditioner:

http://www.scholastic.com

This keeps them nice and soft.

Keep wool in zip lock bags:

http://www.scholastic.com

Cutting sandpaper will resharpen scissors:

http://www.scholastic.com

Hanging Art:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/

Storing Drawing Materials:

http://mycasestudies.blogspot.ie/2008/06/copic-stuff.html

There are some ideas for bulletin boards here:

http://www.theappliciousteacher.com/2015/09/bulletin-board-hacks-to-save-your-sanity.html

I always use latex gloves when cutting clay. If there are no wire clay cutters in your school- use a wire hanger!

http://www.wirehanger.us/images/wire_hanger.jpg

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year will fall on February 9th 2016. It will be the year of the monkey.

Chinese Dragon Story

Chinese Dragons:

These were made with two paper plates. Cut one in half and then stick onto the other- so that you can slide your hand inside and use as a puppet.

Use egg cartons for the eyes.

Decorate with colourful feathers and tissue paper.

Chinese Lanterns:

Chinese Drums:

Two paper plates stuck together, lollipop stick for handle and beads tied onto a string to create the drum!

Rice Paper and Bamboo Sticks:

I ordered Rice Paper from eBay and carved bamboo to a point. Dip in ink and create in a traditional Chinese way! The children enjoy the process of this. You can also use watery paint and brushes. 

St. Valentine's Day

Love it or hate it- St. Valentine's Day art is here! 

This is such a lovely idea to remind children to express gratitude to their loved ones. 3 years ago, my sister's husband passed away (January 12th 2013), it was such a tragic time for her and her two children. In the darkest hour, she arrived home to a St. Valentine's Day card from her 6 year old son- I remember the bit of joy and love it brought to her. So love or hate the idea, I always like to send something home- and the children love it too!

Here are some ideas I did last year:

Coiled paper hearts:

So simple and so beautiful.

Cut strips of pink and red paper.
Roll into coils.

Using plenty of PVA glue to stick down.

I'd use this idea with 3rd class upwards.

Plaster of Paris Plant Pots:

You can buy rolls of plaster of paris on Cork Art Supplies.

Cut into strips and dip in water.
Stick on to a plastic cup that has been layered in Vaseline to stop it sticking.

Paint and varnish.

Footprint/ finger print art:

Great for younger years, so many ideas on Pinterest around this.

(Print hand with fingers spread apart to create bunny ears)

Sweet Tubs:

"I Chews You"

Print:

Print using foam- remind them that letters will be backwards!

Foam boards can be purchased from Art suppliers, or using foam plates from a euro shop!
-Using a sharp pencil, etch out the design.
-Roll some printing ink or acrylic paint on a tray with a print roller until it makes a 'sticky' sound.
-Roll the paint onto the foam.
-Place the paper on top and roll with a clean roller to press it. Peel off!

Otherwise acetate can be used to print. Roll on the paint first- draw the design with a cotton bud and print. 

Heart Teddy Bear:

A quick simple idea, draw different shaped hearts, color and cut and create their own heart shaped bear. 

The Poinsettia Story

Print: Sponge printing

I always love reading the story of the Poinsettia to my class at Christmas. Last year a TP student used Print as a response to the story. I recreated it again this year- it was just so effective! :) 

Cut sponges to shape and use cotton buds to print the small yellow buds. 

Christmas Tag!

Thank you to Ms Forde's Classroom for the tag! :) What a fun idea!
http://msfordesclassroom.blogspot.ie/2015/12/christmas-tag.html

1. What's your favourite Christmas movie? It has to be 'Elf', never gets old!

2. Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? Presents have to be hidden on me...I have no self restraint, I WILL PEEK! So to answer the question, until I am given them!

3. Do you have a favourite Christmas memory? Lots, but the most recent has to be my eldest brother's 40th birthday, December 2012. We lost a family member (brother in law) after so it always holds a very special place in our hearts, it was the last time we were all together and it was a brilliant night.

4. Favourite festive food? Chocolate...All the chocolate!

5. Favourite Christmas gift? So hard to choose- I love when someone surprises you by picking that random thing that you had in mind and you wonder 'how did they know?'.

6. Favourite Christmas scent? That mulled wine smell... ;)

7. Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions? They are changing with each year, we used to all go out on Christmas Eve, but I have 6 nieces and nephews so we tend to go for dinner now. This year I am going to England to my sister for Christmas so that'll be new again!

8. What tops your tree? A red star. My parent's tree has a porcelain angel that I just adored as a child.

9. As a kid, what was the one gift you asked for but never received? Baby Newborn. My friend Susan got one, I went to her house every day and played with it!! :D

10. What's the best part about Christmas for you? Having family together, it just doesn't happen at any other time of the year.

Merry Christmas, and a healthy, Happy New Year!

Colour Mixing with Paint

Using oranges, we mixed colours to find the closest shades as possible. There were great discussions as to whether to add white or yellow to the orange. 

We then drew the outline of our oranges with chalk pastels. Sometimes you can still see pencil lines through the paint, chalk is a way around this!

They turned out really well!! Fair play to them! :)

Kandinsky, Emotions, Colours and Shapes

http://www.wikiart.org/en/wassily-kandinsky/color-study-squares-with-concentric-circles-1913

http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/2013/11/14/kandinsky-and-the-rainbow-art-project/

I found this really interesting lesson on Deep Space Sparkle

"Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky’s paintings use color to show emotions rather than painting an object to look real. This concept is particularly intriguing to young children as they generally strive to make all their drawings look as real as possible. Introducing young children to Kandinsky’s abstract artwork encourages them to see that art is created many ways."

It is approached on this blog as a fabric and fibre lesson, but I think it would also work really well as a paint or pastels lesson.

Children find circles very difficult to cut out- so great for fine motor skills also.

I'd like to do this lesson when I'm covering 2D shapes in maths, it would be a fantastic group work project- a table for triangles/ squares/ circles etc and creating the different shapes.

Also- in my MA course, one of my colleagues created colour studies using circles like this. They were amazing. She looked at flowers and them picked the colours in the flowers and arranged them in Kandinsky like circles. This would be a fantastic way of looking at the colours and colour mixing in older years.