Op art cube

What do you need?

• white drawing sheet 21 by 29 cm
• pencil
• ruler
• markers
• scissors 
• glue

Give students a copied print of a cube or let them make their own. I did it with a guided instruction.

What do you need?

1. Lay the sheet in front of you with the small side up.
2. Draw dots on top and bottom of the sheet on 7 and 14 cm.
3. Connect the lines from top to bottom.
4. Draw dots on the left and right site of the sheet on 7, 14, 21 and 28 cm 

5. starting at the top of the sheet.

6. Connect the dots. You have 12 squares and 3 small rectangles on the bottom.

 

7. Number the squares from left to right. 
8. Draw a cross in square 1, 3, 4, 6, 10 en 12.

9. Draw strips of 1 cm on the sides of square 2 and 5. 

10. Draw strips on the 3 sides of square 11. 

11. Draw a cross in the remaining narrow strips at the bottom of the sheet. 

12. Draw optical illusions in square 2, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 11. 

13. Color with markers and outline with fine black marker.

14. Cut the cube and paste the sides together. 

All artworks made by students of grade 6.

Winter trees glimpse

What do you need?

• three colors cardboard 15 by 20 cm
• ruler
• pencil
• cutting blade
• cutting mat
• double sided foamtape

What should you do you?

1. Draw a rectangle on the three pieces of cardboard 2 cm from the edges. 
2. Draw wintertrees in the rectangles. The trunk on the bottom, the branches must reach the left, right or upper edge. 
3. Cut the parts between the branches/trunk and the frame. 
4. Use double sided foam tape to paste the three windows together. The lightest color in the front, the darkest color on the back.

Works of art are made by students of grade 6. 

Christmas carolers

What do you need? 

• green construction paper 
• scissors and glue
• leftovers paper or Christmas scrapbook paper
• fine markers in black and silver

Before:
Christmas carolers are individuals or groups who sing traditional holiday songs, known as carols, during the Christmas season, often traveling from house to house or performing in public spaces.

What should you do? 

1. Cut the parts of the singers: head with the nose up and open mouth, thin arms and legs, dress or suit and black shoes or boots.
2. Cut a music book and fold it. 
3. Draw the title on it: Christmas Carols.
4. Draw some staves with musical notes.
5. Glue the parts on a large green sheet. Paste three-dimensional if possible: paste the dress with folds; arms come out of sleeves holding the 3D pasted music book. 
6. Draw nostrils with a black marker and shoe laces with the silver one.
7. Make a large group work of these Christmas carolers!

Works of art made by students of grade 6. 

Tea light holder of paper, ink and oil!

These beautiful colored light holders are made of paper, ink and salad oil! 

What do  you need?

• sketch paper
• pattern (ask me in the comments)
• liquid watercolor paint
• brush
• scissors
• strong glue
• salad oil
• paper towels
• little glass jar + tea light

What should you do?

1. Print the pattern copy on scetch paper. 
2. Wet the paper and sprinkle with a big brush liquid water color on it. The drops will flow in the water. Fill the whole sheet with color. 
3. Let dry. 
4. Pour some salad oil on a plate. Use a big brush to paint the sheet with oil.  
5. Put the oily sheet between paper towels and let dry for one day.
6. Cut out the pattern. 
7. Fold the edges and stick the tea light holder together with strong glue.

Made by students of grade 6. 

Blue dotted paper mache plates and bowls

 

You need:

1. plate or bowl
2. newspaper strips
3. wallpaper paste
4. white wall paint
5. tempera paint
6. cotton swabs

Cover newspaper strips with wallpaper paste on bowl or plate. Be sure to have 6 layers. Let dry.

Remove the paper mache carefully. Paint it white with wall paint. Let dry.

Use cotton swabs to print patters of blue dots. 

Mondriaan: from 2D into 3D

You need:

1. white construction paper  A4 size
2. ruler
3. pencil
4. colored construction paper in yellow, blue and red
5. black marker
6. cutting mat and cutter 
7. glue

Show artworks of Piet Mondriaan and De Stijl and discuss them.

Fold the white sheet in 5 columns. The columns don't have the be the same width. Divide the sheet with pencil and ruler in three rows (thin, the lines have to be erased later).
Cut rectangle and squares out of colored paper. Make sure they are not wider as the columns. Paste  the rectangles and squares between the folded lines and outline them using a ruler and a black marker. Connect each one with its 'neighbour' with a marker. The lines should be horizontal or vertical.

Then cut two horizontal lines from the start of column 2 towards the end of column 4 (see picture).

Mondriaan cube

You need:

1. white cardboard
2. ruler
3. pencil
4. cutting mat and knife
5. markers
6. glue

After a lesson about the work of Piet Mondriaan, students draw a template of a cube (nice goal for the math lesson!). The surfaces are 8 by 8 cm, the stick edges are 1 cm.

Cut the template with a cutting knife. Use a black fine marker to draw squares at 1/2-1 cm from the edges. Within these squares you draw straight lines to get some rectangles and squares. Color these using Mondriaan colors: red, yellow and blue. Leave some surfaces white.

Fold the stick edges and paste them to get the Mondriaan cube!

Tea light holder The Style

Made by a student of grade 4

You need:

1. black construction paper  41 by 12 cm 
2. wax paper in red, blue and yellow
3. cutting mat and cutter
4. glue

Tell students about art the movement The Style and two of its most famous contributors Piet Mondriaan and Theo van Doesburg. 

Draw 4 lines with 10 cm between them from bottom to the top of the black sheet. The last strip (1 cm) is the glue strip. 

Draw four squares or rectangles on the black sheet. Then draw lines from about 1 cm wide. Cut the spaces between the lines and paste wax paper behind them. 

Finish the lantern by folding the four lines and pasting it. 

Melted clocks, Salvador Dalí

Made by students of grade 4

You need:

1. clay
2. clay plate
3. clay roller
4. knife
5. glaze
6. brush

More information about Salvador Dalí, see the lesson High legged elephant in the style of Salvador Dali.

Look at the painting The persistance of memory of Salvador Dali. You can read about this artwork on Wikipedia. Discuss the melted clocks and the symbolism.

Students make a melted clock of clay, like Dalí painted in his artwork. Roll sthin strips of clay for the numbers and hands of the clock.

Bake the clocks in a clay oven and glaze them. Bake again.

Thanks to Willem Wienholts 

Sculptures like Niki de Saint Phalle

You need:

1. newspapers torn in strips
2. wallpaper paste
3. paper towels
4. tempera paint
5. varnish
6. brushes
7. yarn
8. white wall paint

Niki de Saint Phalle (1930 - 2002) was a French painter and sculptor. She made reliefs in plaster and other materials. Especially her feminine 'Nana's' are famous. These large sculptures of women painted in bright expressive colours are world famous and to be seen in several major cities in the world.

Show some pictures of Niki de Saint Phalle on the digital board. Discuss the salient features: bright colours, black outlinesof the colour patches - including circles, often (thick) women without a clear face. Then show images of the sculptures in Paris (google Nikki de Saint Phalle and Paris). What is different about these images? Those sculptures are the famous female characters, but they do have the typical De Saint Phalle characteristics.erkingen ongedaan maken

 

Students are going to create an artwork of paper mache with at least one hole in it and two protruding parts. Provide at least eight layers of newspaper finish with paper towels.
Paint the sculpture after drying with white wall paint and let dry. Paint then in the style of Saint Phalle using bright colors.

Wait until the paint is dry and paint the black lines using a small brush or use a black marker. Paint with varnish. Pull a thread through the hole and hang the work.

 

Artworks made by students of grade 5

Henhouse

Made by students from kindergarten

You need:

1. box
2. brown tempera paint
3. brush
4. paper plate
5. white paper 
6. red paper
7. black marker
8. straw

Paint the outside of the box with brown tempera paint. Fold the plate. Outline your hand and cut it twice out of a white sheet. Paste the hands on both sides of the chicken. Cut a comb and a beak out of red paper and paste them. Paste some feathers for the tail. 
Put the box on its side. Put some straw in the box and put the chicken in it. Stack the boxes of several students for a big hen house!

Three owls of clay

Artworks are made by students of grade 5

You need:

1. clay
2. two beer coasters stapled together
3. clay plate
4. clay knife

In this lesson students will sculpt three massive forms together and then decorate them.
View pictures of owls and talk about the basic shapes: an oval for the body, round eye shapes, conical beak and plumes (note, these are not ears, because they are on the side of the head).

Students make three egg shapes in different sizes. The pointed end is the bottom of the owl. Modell these shapes together. Work out the shapes by attaching wings, beaks, plumes, eyes etc. The wings are made from flattened clay balls. To attach the wings, roughen the bonding side and press the wing firmly on the body.

Do the same with beak and plume using a conical shape. Make eyes by pressing the finger in the head. Apply texture to the wings, the body and around the eyes using a clay knife or little sticks.
Place the work on two stapled beer coasters. Let it dry for a few weeks before baking.

Plaster mask

Made by a student of grade 6

You need:

1. bandage plaster
2. vaseline
3. towel
4. jar with water
5. scissors
6. canvas
7. cloth tape
8. tempera paint
9. brush
10. stuff to decorate, like feathers, stones, shells, ribbons
11. glue

Work in groups of two students.

Show a You tube movie about making masks or read Wiki how manual. In brief students have to:

1. Put a towel around the shoulders and pull the hair off the face.

2. Coat the face well with vaseline, especially hair line, eyebrows and eyelashes.

 

3. Cut the bandage plaster in strips. Make the strips one by one wet and cover the face. Be sure the strips overlap a little. Leave the nose open.

4. Provide three layers plaster for a solid mask.

5. Remove the mask after 15 minutes.

6. Close the hole of the nose with a last plaster strip.

Outline the mask with a pencil on a canvas. Cut a hole in the canvas about 1 centimeter smaller than the mask. Push the mask through the hole from the back of the canvas and stick it to the front and back with cloth tape.

Paint the canvas and face with tempera. Decorate the artwork with feathers, ribbons, shells or strass stones.

Students of grade 6 with their masks

Wavy weaving

Made by students of grade 3

You need:

1. paper strips in two colours, 4 x about 50 cm
2. black cardbaord
3. scissors
4. glue
5. printed grid of 5 by 5 squares, each square is 4 by 4 cm

1. Give all students the printed grid. Cut it along the outside and paste it on black cardboard.

2. Cut 10 stripes in two colours, 4 x 50 cm. Fold the ends of the strips about one cm.

3. Paste the fold edges exactly along the lines of the squares. Use two different colours alternately. Paste the arcs from bottom to top and from left to right, alternately. Cut a piece of the strip if it's too long. You may paste small squares to the ends of the rows as a finishing touch.

 

5. Press the strips gently and your weaving will look great!

Christmas gift paper bag

You need:

1. brown paper bag
2. markers
3. scissors
4. ruler
5. glue
6. pattern gift bag
7. piece of rope of 25 cm
8. punch

Pattern: click and print.

Print the pattern. Let students copy the pattern on a paper bag. Cut it. Make a Christmas drawing on one or both sides of the bag and colour it with markers. The snow in the example is made with correction fluid. Or make a drawing on a white sheet and paste this one on the bag. Fold the lines. Paste the bag, starting with the side and finishing with the bottom. Use a punch to make holes in the bag. Pull a rope through the holes to get two rods and tie it.

Cool web, big spider

You need:

1. white drawing paper 20 by 20 cm
2. left overs of white drawing paper
3. yellow crayons
4. liquid watercolour
5. thick brush
6. jar with water
7. scissors
8. glue
9. black construction paper

Students draw a web with a yellow crayon. The easiest way is to first draw diagonal lines from the corners of the paper. Then draw more lines from top to bottom, left to right. The lines must all go through the center. After this draw circles around the center, until the sheet is full.

Paint the sheet using liquid watercolour ink in cold colours. Take two colours. Leave the work to dry.

Draw some leaves with a warm colour crayon on a white sheet. Draw the veins. Paint the leaves with warm colours liquid watercolour. Let the leaves dry.

Make a spider of black construction paper. In the example above, the spider is made of a circle with a diameter of about 4 cm. Cut the circle in to the center and stick the cutting edges on each other so the center rises. Draw a cross on the back if you want to. Cut a smaller circle for the head, draw eyes on it and paste it on the body of the spider. Cut the feet: 8 strips of 8 cm by 1/2 cm. Glue the legs on the underside of the body. Make a fold inwards on the mid of the strip, and 1 cm from the end a fold outwards.

When the work is completely dry, cut the leaves and paste them on the web. Put the spider in the web by pasting the lower parts of the legs and the head.

Paste the artwork on a black background. You may draw the spider web lines on the background too.