It's Raining Cats and Dogs!

Fifth graders looked at the art of Laurel Burch and George Rodrigue before beginning their own wacky pet painting. We talked about using, color, space, and line creatively to help capture the personality of their cats and dogs :) I gave the kids jumbo sized paper and let them go wild! They results are bright, humorous, and full of life!

Whimsical Clay Birds

Fifth graders created whimsical clay bird sculptures using tissue paper, wire, pipe cleaners, beads, and of course... clay! The kids loved loved loved the creative freedom of this project and of course, getting their hands DIRTY!

Chalk Pastel Iguanas

I stole this lesson from Deep Space Sparkle, and it's a new favorite! I used it as an excuse to review warm and cool colors with my fifth graders, as well as a great opportunity to use teach blending with chalk pastels. All kids will find success with this project!

Tropical Birds

Using a recent fifth grade field trip and science curriculum as inspiration, students created these wild and wonderful paintings of toucans and parrots!

Before we begin, we look at the art of Henri Rousseau and discuss how he overlapped plants and trees to show space. Then students look at photos of tropical birds and begin drawing out their picture using a black crayon. This is great advice from the art ed blog, Deep Space Sparkle.

Using a crayon helps eliminate "mistakes" and the constant erasing! Plus, the drawings end up much more free and full of personality.

Students use tempera paint, and outline finished artworks with a thick black Sharpie.

It's A Bug's Life!

I spend a lot of time with my fifth grade students introducing them to perspective. One of the "views" we discuss is a bug's! Students created watercolor resists of the world from a bug's point of view. They had so much doing this project!