Making Art with Children

Make a story

2008-02-23T12:43:00.000-08:00

Materials:
Pencils
Markers
Crayons
2 drawing papers for each student
Narrative art prints

1) Provide a narrative art print for each student.
2) Students decide whether it should go in the beginning, middle or at the end.
3) On two drawing papers students make up stories for two scenes that explain the art print.
4) Have students write a paragraph explaining their stories.

When drawing, have students look carefully at the art print so that they can carry same details and colors to their own drawings. Have them look at the backgrounds. Remind them all three scenes have to look like they are from the same story book.

Student examples

Scene 1:
"I will cast a spell on you."
"Oh, no!"

Scene 2:
"You look pretty."
"But my arms are tree branches."
"I will marry you anyway."

Websites - Art project ideas

2008-02-20T18:12:00.000-08:00

DIY Kids
Incredible Art Department
Art & Learning to Think and feel
Art 21 lesson library
Art Junctions
Brackett Arts Blog
Young Tate

Drawing Idea List

2008-02-02T21:21:00.000-08:00

1. Draw a vase and a beautiful arrangement of flowers
2. Draw a picture of the inside of your stomach and the food in it after a big meal
3. Draw your idea of Paradise
4. If animals could draw, what would their artwork look like? Draw their artwork.
5. Why are people afraid to visit cemeteries at night? Draw it.
6. Draw a necktie and design an interesting pattern on it.
7. Draw a medal for yourself. It must be designed for the thing you do best.
8. Draw a city on another planet.
9. You are a toy designer; draw your new toy.
10. Draw a logo for a t.v. show.
11. Draw a picture of yourself the way you will look 20 years from now.
12. Draw a picture of the perfect garden for your house.
13. Draw a scene from your early childhood.
14. Draw a parade.
15. Draw a picture of someone you would like to punch in the nose.
16. Draw a picture of where you would like to fly to.
17. Draw a poster to advertise your favorite movie.
18. Draw a kite.
19. Draw your view from an airplane window.
20. Draw a scene on another planet and include another kind of being.
21. Draw a picture of an ideal wedding ceremony.
22. Draw a picture of someone you would like to visit.
23. Draw what you think a garden would look like from the view of an insect.
24. Draw a sandcastle.
25. Draw a house built underground.
26. Draw what a spaceship commander would see on his video screen.
27. Design a new video game.
28. Draw a view under a magnifying glass (include the magnifying glass).
29. Draw the boat you would like to travel in around the world.
30. Draw a scientist's top secret project.
31. Draw a new piece of sculpture for the museum's sculpture garden.
32. Draw a picture of yourself if you grew flowers instead of hair.
33. An imaginative architect has changed the look of the skyline with an innovative new building; draw the building.
34. Draw a modern house which would still look good in a neighborhood with older houses.
35. Draw an idea that came into your head by thinking of food.
36. Draw an idea that came into your head through your ears.
37. Draw an idea that came into your head through your fingers.
38. Draw an idea that came into your head through your feet.
39. Write a large number in the middle of a page. Turn it into a person/animal.
40. Combine a plant and an animal to create a new life form.
41. Add a machine to a shape (square, circle, etc.) to create a new invention.
42. Draw a picture. Cut your pictures into squares into squares. Past the squares into a new design.
43. Illustrate a famous saying/quotation.
44. Draw yourself in a mood.
45. Draw things that make noise and illustrate the sound.
46. Draw things that float.
47. Draw things with a flavor.
48. Draw your greatest fear.
49. Illustrate "the way things were".
50. Draw the world from the point of view of a frog.
51. Draw your own game board.
52. Draw a "how to" poster.
53. Draw yourself with wings.
54. Draw things hat come from eggs.
55. Draw a comic strip with your own characters.
56. Draw your dream room.
57. Design an advertisement for yourself.
58. Draw a business card for yourself or your future career.
59. Illustrate words such as up, upside down, apart, crazy, sane...
60. Design new methods of transportation.
61. Design an ad for your favorite music.
62. Design a new map.
63. Create an imaginary alphabet.
64. Design a costume for 2108.
65. Illustrate if you were the tallest person in the world.
66. Draw a view of the jungle.
67. Draw a log dog.
68. Draw how you would be if you were the last person on earth.
69. Design a new CD cover.
70. Draw your best friend.
71. Draw your birthday wish list.
72. Draw yourself in the style of your favorite artist.
73. Draw your "dream car".
74. Draw a "fantasy" house.
75. Draw a dream you had recently.

10 Things You really need to learn

2007-12-25T18:15:00.001-08:00

by Stephen Downes

1. How to predict consequences
2. How to read
3. How to distinguish truth from fiction
4. How to empathize
5. How to be creative
6. How to communicate clearly
7. How to Learn
8. How to stay healthy
9. How to value yourself
10. How to live meaningfully

Link to the Article

Art Criticism

2007-12-25T18:13:00.004-08:00

1. What's going on in this picture?
2. What do you see that makes you say that?
3. What else can you find?

Link to the Article (pdf)

Case for arts education

2007-12-25T18:04:00.000-08:00

The benefits of early arts education extend way beyond providing a creative outlet for children.

Arts education can help children develop --
- imagination
- cognitive skills
- creative abilities
- problem solving
- fine motor skills
- language
- social skills
- sense of time and place
- focusing
- listening
- risk taking
- tolerance
- uniqueness

Art is important to the development of all children. Here's why...

* Art is a link to the past. It provides an enjoyable perspective from which to examine history.
* Art helps students to understand and empathize with the living conditions people have endured at various times and places.
* Art encourages imagination. It shows students how they might express their own feelings and experiences through painting and drawing.
* Art provides children an opportunity to create and do, which can be a refreshing break from studying.
* Art teaches students how to interpret different forms of communication. It teaches them to understand figurative things like symbolism, metaphor, and the meanings of color.
* Art improves academic achievement. Evidence suggests that students who actively participate in some form of art — whether it be painting, acting, music, etc. — perform better in other subjects than students who don't participate in art.

Americansforthearts.org
Why Should Georgia’s Youth Receive Art Education?

Multicultural tip

2007-12-23T15:44:00.000-08:00

If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100
people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would
look something like this:

There would be:

57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and
all 6 would be from the US
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
2 would own a computer

When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for understanding of, acceptance of, and education about other cultures becomes glaringly apparent.

Questions to ask myself daily

2007-12-02T22:03:00.000-08:00

1. How can my questions trigger ideas and creativity from students?
Outcome of projects are determined by my questions.

2. Do I have a backup plan?

3. Project goals- 1) Instill vision for life 2) Boost creativity, 3) critical thinking skills, ask why 3) Fun and engaging, of course

4. How am I fostering confidence in each child? How can I motivate students?

Why Go To College? - Alice Freeman Palmer

2007-11-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

An excerpt from an address by Alice Freeman Parker, a president of Wellesley College, on the purpose and advantages of higher education for women. (c.1881)

"The good society of scholars and of libraries and laboratories has no place and no attraction for her who finds no message in Plato, no beauty in mathematical order, and who never longs to know the meaning of the stars over her head or the flowers under her feet. Neither will the finer opportunities of college life appeal to one,...who has felt no passion for the service of others, no desire to know if through history or philosophy, or any study of the laws of society, she can learn why the world is so sad, so hard, so selfish as she finds it, even when she looks upon it from the most sheltered life."