Neon leaves

You need:

1. black construction paper A3 size
2. pencil
3. coloured chalk pastel

Neon light tubes form coloured lines with which a text can be written or a picture drawn, including various decorations. Neon is often used in advertising and commercial signage. Show some neon advertising or ask children if they know some. Discuss the features of neon light and the restrictions you have to deal with when you use neon lights.

Draw the outlines of some leaves onto a dark paper using a pencil. Let some of the leaves overlap. Choose a colour chalk pastel and carefully go over the lines of one leave. Make nice thick lines that follow the original. Do the same with the other leaves, using different colours. Then carefully go over all the lines with your finger. Just follow the direction of the lines rubbing backwards and forwards. Try not to smudge the lines outwards!

Now to turn the neon lights on: take a white chalk and go over all the lines again with the sharp edge. Use the sharp edge just to create a thin bright white line down the middle of the existing lines. Fixate the drawing with hairspray, or laminate it to create your own neon placemat!

Ocean animals

You need:

1. black construction paper A4 size
2. chalk pastel
3. glue
4. hairspray
5. coloured paper for background

Which animals live in the ocean? These are not just fish! There also live mammals such as whales, walrus and seal. And what about jellyfish, crabs, octopuses, sea horses and sea turtles? The students make a choice for an ocean animal. They sketch the animal and his envorinmont with a pencil on black paper. Don''t draw too much detail, because the drawing has to be traced with glue. After sketching trace the lines with glue. Wood glue is very suitable. The glue is white, so visible during the drawing, and will turn transparent after drying. Practice drawing with glue first on another sheet: - Put the nozzle onto the paper; - Move the glue bottle away from you while you gently squeeze the bottle; - Don't get scared about stains, you won't see them later!

The glue is dry when it becomes transparent. This may take several hours. The drawing has to be coloured with chalk pastel. With a tissue the chalk can be wiped off the glue, so the black contours clearly remain. Finally, fix the drawing with hairspray. Do not panic if suddenly all the colour disappears, it will be back after the spray is dried (in seconds)! Paste the artwork on a coloured background.

All artwork is made by students of 11-12 years old

Daydream land!

By Kim and Carlos, 11 years old

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A3 size
2. colour markers
3. chalk pastel
4. hairspray
5. paper strips in the colour of the window frame

A familiar picture for the teacher: you do your best to teach an interesting lesson, while the students stare dreaming out the window. What they see might not be so interesting: a street where every now and again a car passes or some boring buildings. Use your imagination! What would you like to see when you look out the school window? What does your daydream land look like? Do you see flying pigs? Are there popstars waving at you? Is there an airplane flying through the streets? Draw it! Colour your drawing with markers and outline it with a fine black marker. Colour the background with chalk pastel and fix it with hairspray. Cut strips in the colours of the window frames of the school and paste them on your drawing. Hello, daydreamland!

Swinging snakes

Made by Bart, 12 years old

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size
2. colour pencils
3. chalk pastels
4. hairspray

Snakes swing themselves around branches of trees. In order not to fall, the snake has to swing alternately front and back along the branches. This is easy to be shown with a vacuum cleaner hose and a couple chair legs. Children draw three trunks with some branches. Around the trunks and branches they draw three or more snakes. Be careful with the principle of going for along and back along. The snakes have to be coloured firmly to highlight the contrast with the trees. Colour the trees. Colour the background with chalk pastel and fix the work with hairspray.

Winter scene

Made by Veerle, 10 years old

You need:

1. black paper A4 size
2. chalk pastels
3. hairspray
4. scissors
5. glitter
6. glue

Students draw a winter forest with snowy pine trees on a black background. The trees on the foreground must be lighter than those on the background.

When ready, put a flower pot on the drawing and draw a circle. Cut this circle. Fix your artwork with hairspray and let it dry for a few seconds. Then lay the circle face down on the table. Colour along the outer edge of the back of the circle a circle of about one centimeter. Put the circle in the middle of a new sheet of black paper. Smudge the chalk with your fingers on the new sheet, taking care the work won't move. Finally turn the circle and paste it in the black circle of your latest sheet. Sprinkle a little glitter in small dots of glue.

Christmas trees collage

By Silke, 10 years old

I found this idea on Artsonia a collage of Christmas trees coloured with different materials on music paper. You need:

1. white drawing paper A4 size
2. different colouring materials, like crayons, oilpastel, watercolour paint, tempera, colour pencils, markers, aquarelle pencils etc.
3. music paper
4. chalk pastel
5. green paper for background
6. scissors
7. glue
8. black marker

Divide different colour materials in your classroom. One place with paint (water paint and tempera paint), one place with crayons and oil pastel, one place with pencils and markers. Children draw three overlapping triangles on a white sheet, the Christmas trees. These trees have to be coloured with different materials and patterns. The only colour they may use is green, in all its nuances. To colour, children have to take place at the table where the material of their choice is. When finished, the trees and patterns have to be outlined with a black marker. The trees (with the black outline) must be cut out. Then kids have to tear pieces of music paper and paste them on a new white sheet. Colour the background with light blue chalk pastel. Do not colour the music paper, just rub the edges with the chalk pastel. Paste the trees on the blue sheet and paste this work on a green background.

This work can also be done as a group work. All trees (or groups of trees) have to be glued then on a large background of music paper.

By children of 10-11 years old

Wacky witches

You need:

1. charcoal
2. chalk pastels
3. white drawing paper A4 size
4. black construction paper for background
5. hairspray

How do you recognize a withc? What animals or things do you associate with a witch? What does an angry witch look like? Think of characteristis like mouth, eyes and eyebrows.

Tell children to practice first in drawing with charcoal. Explain how differences in colours have to be made. Tell them to use an eraser to erase the charcoal lines, and a tissue or your fingers to sweep out the colour.

The instruction is: draw an angry witch with charcoal and use a cold colour for the face. Draw the contours of the face first with charcoal. Then colour the face with chalk pastel. After this mouth, eyes and nose can be drawn with charcoal. Finish the drawing with charcoal. Make sure you add some typical witchy things like a cat, a bat, a spiderweb etc.

Ghosts in the air

You need:

1. black construction paper A4 size
2. leftover cardboard
3. scissors
4. white chalk pastel
5. hairspray
6. white pencil

Kids have to cut ghosts and trace the outlines of them with chalk pastels. The ghosts are haunting around a fence. The fence has to be cut from leftovers cardboard. It doesn't need to be as straight as a line, because it's an old fence, so it is crooked and broken. Then three ghosts have to be cut. The instruction is: one ghost is flying above, one behind and one before the fence. Children lay the fence and ghosts on the black paper.Then they scratch with white chalk around the cutout parts and wipe it out. Finally they have to cut a moon and do the same. Draw eyes and a mouht with a white pencil. Fix the work with hairspray.

Pumpkins in moonlight

You need:

1. black constructionpaper A4 format
2. pastel crayons
3. pumpkins or pictures of pumpkins
4. hairspray
5. papertowels
6. construction paper for background

Look with the kids to some brought pumpkins or pictures of them. Discuss shape, texture, size, colours, stem and leaves. Children have to draw at least two pumpkins, and one of them has to overlap another. Kids have to use pastel crayons on black construction paper. Tell them working with pastels will give a lot of smudge: be careful with smudgy fingers. Wipe them on a towell, and not on your artwork! Tell kids also to mix different colours. This will deepen the colours. Using brightr colours on dark ones will suggest the moonlight!

When the artworks are finished, you have to fix it with hairspray. Glue the work on a green or orange construction paper.

Made by students of 11-12 years old

Desert

You need:

1. brown construction paper A4 format
2. pastel crayons
3. hairspray
4. wood glue

Look with the students at photographs from deserts and discuss what they look like. What kind of plants do you see? What about the colours?

Sketch with a pencil a simple desert landscape with little details. Cover the lines with wood glue. Try this first on a another sheet. Wait until the glue is dry; it has to be transparant instead of white. Colour your drawing with pastel crayons. Use different colours together and make sure you blend them with your fingers. Fix your drawing with hairspray.