Paper Sculptures

    Kindergartners made these beautiful paper sculptures using construction paper scraps and a lot of creativity!  Learning about shapes is basic to art and to math, and is something that kindergarten students are very familiar with.  Even geometric shapes are being taught at this grade level- cubes, prisms, etc.  The students have seen the shapes and even held them in their hands with models in their classrooms, built with them, done puzzles with them, cut them out of handouts, but, most have not constructed them with their own hands.  The students absolutely loved making circles, ovals, spirals, squares, arches, zig zags, overlapping and interconnected shapes, and even shapes that have no name!  As they cut, twisted, folded and glued, you could just see the wheels spinning in their heads!  One student told his classroom teacher in a soft voice, "I'm so excited".  She asked, "About what?"  He pointed to his art work and said, "About this".  He perfectly described the feeling in the room... one of excitement and joy as each child was discovering what they could create with their minds and their hands.  He perfectly described in his quiet little way, why I do art and why I am an art teacher.  When I see what I can make with my mind and my hands, when I see what my students can make, I feel so excited... oh, the possibilities!  If I can do this, what more can I do?!!!  Let's find out together...

Kindergarten Miro's

Kindergarteners learned about the art of Joan Miro.  His work lends itself so well to elementary art and children seem to really respond to Miro's style.  We talked about the way Miro used symbols instead of making his work look "real".  Each student saw something different in his work, but, to my surprise, there was always one student in each class who thought the above picture looked like a bumble bee!  I gave each of them a sheet of 12" x 18" tan construction paper and a big, fat, black crayon.  I told them to stretch their arms out so that their drawing hands rested at the top of their papers.  Then, with their eyes closed, to draw a big circle.  I didn't want them to look at their papers, because it seems when they do, they think so hard about making the "perfect" circle, their circles come out tight and small.  I wanted them to be very organic shapes, like Miro's.  Next, they were instructed to draw a shape for their body and then add arms and legs- as many as they wanted.  Some students did more than one figure on their paper.  We observed the various lines and shapes Miro made in his work, and I instructed the students to decorate their papers with these symbols, or to make up their own.  Students then painted inside their figures with black tempera paint.  In our next art class, students added details on top of their figures with white crayons, and further embellished their art work with chalk pastels and a few spritz's of watercolor spray.  I told the students I thought Miro was smiling on us and that he would be really proud of their work!