Shape Collage

This was a fun project I did with my Grade 1 students last month. I wanted to get them to practice their fine motor skills and my personal agenda was to use up all the painted paper scraps as I would hate to see all those beautiful markmaking techniques go to waste. 

Materials:
- painted paper
- glue
- scissors
- A3 black cardstock

Duration: 1 lesson of 80 minutes

1. First, we looked at the works of Paul Klee and discussed his use of shape. We brainstormed all the shapes we could think of and I showed students a finished example of the project so that get an idea of what is expected of them. We then identified which shapes they could find in my example.

The example I showed to students

2. I did a quick demonstration to show students how to cut and arrange all their shapes on paper and then glue them down properly. Have a look at some of the work in progress:

The results were fantastic!

Love the 3D effect on this one!

Abstract Tones

This is great lesson which allows Grade 3 students to practice and develop their skills to create and blend light, medium and dark tones using oil pastels.

Materials required:
- A3 black paper
- oil pastels

Duration: 2 lessons of 40 minutes each

1. Briefly recap different types of lines with the students and have them draw a variety of 6 - 8 lines on their paper. The lines may or may not be parallel to each other. 
2. Next, demonstrate to students how to select light, medium and dark colours for e.g. yellow, light green, dark green & blue. Have a handout of the colour wheel available for low ability students.

 

Step 1 & 2: Work in progress

Here are the finished pieces!