Monday, October 25, 2010

Positive/Negative Pumpkins


This jack-o-lantern lesson can be used with any grade level and the results are so much fun.  The students really got into thinking about what types of shapes they could cut-out to make the most interesting jack-o-lanterns.  We discussed positive and negative space, symmetry,  and reversed images.  First, we started with the orange paper, folded it and drew only half of a pumpkin, added the features and cut them out (while the paper was still folded). Next, the students cut all of the pieces of paper that had a folded edge in half.  Then, students put their jack-o-lanterns back together using only half of the pieces.  To add some artistic flair to their work, students added line and shape designs to the orange paper with a black marker, and green or yellow designs to the black paper with a GelFx marker.





For students who do not celebrate Halloween, they can do the same project but instead of the jack-o-lantern, they can use random geometric and free-form shapes.

5 comments :

  1. I know you said any grade can do this, but what grade did you teach it to??

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  2. That was my 6th grade class from last year. I think that grades 3-6 will be able to do it just fine. Now, the 3rd graders will probably need the step-by-step directions, "Draw a triangle here...now draw a line here...cut on the line..."etc.

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  3. Thank you for sharing! I have done positive/negative space pumpkin project before but I like how you have added using patterns to fill in! Nice twist on what I've done before so students who have taken my class before are doing something new too :)

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  4. I love this idea! I noticed the pattern sheets they seem to be referencing, did Students fill in blank pattern sheets first, or did you provide them with sheets that had different patterns on it?

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  5. Your students are so creative! I've link to you from my blog post http://expressivemonkey.blogspot.com/2014/10/my-top-5-pumpkin-pins.html

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