Scratch Art

This activity was a lot of fun! It was one of the first time I have worked with scratch art but I greatly enjoyed it. It was almost like magic starching the paint off and seeing the color underneath - kids would love this! This activity focused on the difference between foreground and background, as well as different scratch art techniques. I would use this activity as an introduction and "practice" for a larger art project. For the larger art project I would ask the students to choose an animal of their choosing with different values, such as light and dark. The students would then have to use the different scratch art techniques to demonstrate the different values on their animal. 

Watercolor Animal

I loved how this lesson was introduced with Finding Nemo! It got the entire class engaged and excited for the upcoming art activity. It was a lot of fun designing my own turtle and making it look like it was swimming underneath the water. The watercolor techniques I learned were very beneficial to making the water look real. If I were to extend this lesson into my classroom I would integrate it into a science lesson. This would be a great activity to use with students learning about animals and their different environments, especially ocean animals. Within our science class we can discuss the various animals that call the ocean their home. The students can then draw their favorite animal and the environment they live and complete the art activity with their water colors. 

Far Away Vs. Close Up

I found this project to be a lot of fun because I loved working with the different mediums. We were able to use almost any medium we please. I personally liked working with the oil pastels, they were extremely vibrant and blended together easily. The purpose of this art activity was to see the difference between a far away image and a close up image. If I were to use this activity in my classroom I would correlate it with a literature lesson. For this lesson the students would all read a book of their choosing. The students would be asked to pick an important object from their book and invasion how they perceive it to look like. The students would then have to draw that image from far away and then close up. 

Hidden Animals

I had a great time with this art activity! It was a project unlike any other I have ever done before, which made it a lot of fun. I would use this activity in my classroom is a variety of ways. This project allows students to experiment with the various art elements and color schemes. Therefore, this project could be used as the introduction to a larger art project asking the students to focus on the elements of art. I would also use this activity as an extension of a science lesson. Because this project highlights and reveals hidden animals I believe it would be a great activity to use when discussing camouflage animals or animals that have the ability to blend in with their environment. 

The Dot

I had a great time with this art project! This art activity was an extension from the book, The Dot, which is a great book to get children to fall in love with art. With this activity we were asked to create art from a single dot. I really enjoyed this activity because it made me think out of the box and us my creativity. I also enjoyed it because I had the opportunity to work with different mediums and see how the different mediums work with one another. 

This activity could be extended into various different lessons. I would use it as an extension into deeper art exploration, allowing the students to use multiple mediums within the same project. I would also extend this activity into a language arts lesson. The students would each have the opportunity to chose a book of their interest. Throughout the book the students would be asked to highlight one simple object and create an art project around it.