3-D Paper Rainbows

Is this not THE MOST ADORABLE art project you have EVER seen?  (Ok, I get a bit overly excited about rainbows, lol).  This was a project I did with my Kinders yesterday.  We sorted the paper strips, compared the sizes, ordered them from least to greatest, and used patterning.  Whew!  Let me say, it did take the entire hour of art class for these creations, but it was worth it!  You start with an 18" red strip and decrease the size by 1.5" for each color until you end with the pink strip.  Doing this, it causes the paper to bend into that fabulous arc.  You should definitely give this project a try!

Dubuffet Sculptures

Today in Art, the 6th Graders learned about the abstract art of Jean Dubuffet.  He is an interesting artist to study because kids can relate to his simple, graphic, bold artwork.  I also emphasize that Dubuffet was inspired by the simplicity and immaturity of children's artwork (& the art of the criminally insane, but I leave that out of my introduction).  I really love teaching this lesson because it gives students the chance to create a paper sculpture, use what they know about free-form shapes, and the end result is quite beautiful.  Here are three great examples from my 6th grade class:

Carson's Sculpture 

Celeste's Sculpture 

Brea's Sculpture

Cube Sculptures

3rd graders last week worked on folding paper cubes in Art Class.  It took 2 weeks of folding cubes before students were ready to create something interesting out of them.  I encouraged students to have a collection of 5 or more cubes to work with.  Some students created alphabet letters, robots, rockets, and other objects.  But this student created an adorable little building and attached it to a scrap paper, colored it, and added details.  I thought she did a fantastic job!

Construction Paper Owls

For second grade art today, we made owls using different sizes of pre-cut squares.  I showed them how to cut a triangle out of a square by tilting their scissors from the bottom corners and cutting to the top of the square.  This was a VERY difficult task for 2nd graders, so I had to draw the diagram on the board so they could use a crayon to draw the lines and then cut out the triangles.

We started with one triangle pointing up at the bottom and overlapping each row of triangles as we added more to shape the body of the owl.  Next, I showed them how to cut circles from squares by cutting off the corners until they have a circle.  We cut out three different sizes of circles and overlapped them to make the eyes.

I had planned on doing this with my Kg. class as well, but after seeing how difficult this was for 2nd graders, I changed my plans!  

Amauria's Owl

Aliyah L.'s Owl

Rodney's Owl