Pyramids

Okay, okay so I'm a huge liar. I did not post right away. Well I'm posting now! I recently finished up a unit on Ancient Egypt which the kids were really excited about. For my first graders we learned about the pyramids; how they were built, why and so on. We also looked at a lot of different pictures of the pyramids at Giza and talked about the art word perspective. I wanted them to understand the concept that when things are in perspective they get smaller the farther away they are and larger the closer they are. The three pyramids right in a row were a great example of this. After that we drew our three pyramids in perspective. We also included a camel and the Nile river.

The following week we outlined the drawings with permanent markers, and I'm proud to say no tables, clothes or hands were drawn on! Then we completed the pictures by painting them with watercolors. To make the sky different than the river we made it look like the sun was setting.

Fruits and Veggies

Miroco Machiko

 After seeing this project on several other blogs it looked like my kind of project. It is based off of the artist Miroco Machiko and her colorful painting of vegetables. So with this painting as a jumping off point I had the third graders create their own watercolor painting.
First students focused on creating observational drawing while looking at real fruits and vegetables. I had three or four fruits/veggies on each table and gave the students a set amount of time to draw them. After the time was up we rotated fruit, so students had a new set to draw. Students were particularly fascinated by the kiwano aka the horned melon. 

As students drew their fruits/veggies I had them outline each one with crayons and add crayon marks inside each  for texture.

After the drawings were complete the next step was to paint the fruit and veggies. For this we used good old water colors. Once the fruit had dried students simply had to paint the background black, for this we used tempra cakes. . . which I have to say I'm not a big fan of. This final step is what students struggled with the most, as they had a hard time painting around the fruits and vegetables. Overall I have mixed feelings about this one and would definitely change some things for the next go around.