Colorful Christmas trees

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What do you need?

• two white drawing sheets A4 size
• water color paint
• brushes
• jar with water
• tissue paper
• scissors and glue
• ruler
• pencil
• gold or silver marker
• white correction marker
• glitter

What should you do?

1. Paint a background on the first white sheet with water color paint. Use different colors and let them blend into each other. Use plenty of water for nice bright colors.
2. Choose three colors tissue paper. Fold the sheets several times and cut triangles. 
3. Wet the second white sheet with a brush. 
4. Place the triangles on it and leave it to dry. 
5. Cut long triangles. You may use the schedule. Cut a piece from the bottom of the triangles if you want trees of various heights. Cut some smaller triangles from the left overs if you want more trees.
6. Paste the triangles with overlap on the colored background. 
7. Outline with silver or gold marker and draw a simple branche stucture.
8. Draw snowflakes with a white marker or use chips from the hole punch. 
9. Sprinkle some glitter on the forest floor.
10. Paste the artwork on a colored background.

Works of art made by students of grade 7. 

Autumn birches

You need: 

1. drawing sheets A3 size
2. painters tape in several widths
3. liquid watercolor paint in red, green and yellow 
4. brushes
5. tempera paint  
6. stipple brush
7. old shopping card/customer card
8. saucers and jars

Choose thick drawing paper,  to avoid ripping when you remove the tape . 

Look at birch trees. What do you see?   

 

• straight trunks
• trunks are white
• horizontal peeling bark
• autumn color leaves: orange, yellow, brown, red

What to do?
Step 1
Place the sheet on the table with the narrow site down.  Stick strips of tape from top to bottom. Wide for the trunks, narrower for the branches. Note: branches grow up! 

Step 2

Paint the background in strips with diluted liquid watercolor. Let dry. Peel off the tape carefully. 

Step 3

Put some black tempera paint on a saucer. Dip a customer card in the paint. Pull this in several places from left to right (or right to left!) to halfway up the trunk to make the black streaks.

Step 4

Spray some warm colors tempera + green on a saucer.  Stipple leaves at the top of the trees using the stipple brush. Do not mix the colors, but use several colors at the brush at the same time. 

Step 5

Hang up! 

Works of art are made by students of grade 1. 

Whirling leaves

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size
2. watercolor paint
3. brushes
4. jar with water
5. small and broad black marker
6. colored construction paper for background
7. glue

Ask students to take some flat dried leaves. Every student chooses one of his own leaves and outlines it several times with a pencil. Remember to draw not all the leaves in the same way on the paper, because they whirl down from the tree. Make sure some leaves go over the edge; these will later be finished on the background.

Paint the leaves with watercolor paint. Use water to dillute the paint less or more. Choose warm fall colors and try to make transitions in the colors by using wet in wet technique.

Paint the background blue. Use again the wet in wet technique, and/or choose for wet on dry. You don't have to paint exactly against the leaves, because they will be outlined later.

Leave the work to dry and paste in on a colored background. Outline the leaves with a thick black marker. Use a fine black marker for the veins, while observing carefully the real leaves. Don't stop with outlining and drawing veins when you reach the background, but go on with it there.

Works of arde made by students of grade 6.

It's warm blanket time!

Days are getting shorter, nights are getting colder. 

Time for a warm blanket!

What do you need:

1. colored paper for background
2. brown paper 
3. leftovers of colored and white paper 
4. quare white paper
5. watercolor paint + brushes
6. crayons
7. black marker
8. scissors and glue

Divide this lesson over more moments. Consider in advance whether you will give students a template of the bear's head or whether they' ll have to draw it themselves. 

Folding and painting: 

For the blanket: fold the white sheet into 16 squares. Paint each square in a different color. Let dry. Draw stripes with a crayon on the folds of the squares just like on a patchwork blanket. 

Cutting:

• draw a bear's head on brown  paper and cut out or trace the template and cut out. 
• legs: cut four ovals out of brown paper. 
• snout: cut a circle out of colored paper. 
• ears: cut two half circles out of colored paper. 
• eyes: cut two small circles out of white paper. 

Pasting and drawing:

• stick the hind legs on the colored sheet. 
• stick the blanket so that legs come out from underneath.
• stick the head halfway on the blanket and the front legs underneath.  
• stick snout, eyes and ears on the head.
• draw nose, whiskers and pupils with a black marker. 

Works of art made by students of grade 1.  

Techniques: folding 16 squares, cutting shapes, pasting. 

Elements of art: shape, color. 

Cat and bird, like Paul Klee

Paul Klee (1879 – 1940) is a German/Swiss artist. His work straddles the line between figurative and abstract. Klee painted landscapes, portraits, animals, mythology, mysterious machines. Does his work belong to cubism, expressionism or surrealism? He brought something from every art movement. Klee looked for patterns and motifs in all kind of art styles: African art, Islamic decorations, clothing and also form children's drawings. Klee left behind more than 9000 works of art.  

Cat and bird, Paul Klee, 1928

You need:

1. drawing sheet
2. pencil
3. black marker
4. watercolor paint
5. pencils

What do you see?

Discuss Klee's painting Cat and bird. 

• the head of a cat with a bird above his eyes. What would this mean? Does the cat dream of its prey? 
• left side of the head is wider than the right side
• large eyes with vertical pupils
• one eye is larger than the other
• warm colors, except the eyes
• bright pink nose in the shape of a heart

How to make it?  

Step 1: Fold the sheet in four. Scetch a W. 

Step 2: Put a dot on the fold and and draw a slightly curving line to it from both sides: the top of the head.  

Step 3: Continue the lines from step 2 downwards.  

Step 4: Draw the eyes from the center to the  side. Draw pupils.  

Step 5: Draw nose, whiskers and the little bird.  

Step 6: Color cat and background using water color paint. Trace the outlines with a black marker.  

Drawings made by students of grade 1, 2 and 3.  

Elements of art: color, line, shape.

Step by step idea: Blowing Rock Museum, NC. 

Summer memory

You need:

1. white drawing paper
2. watercolor paint
3. brushes
4. jar with water
5. glue
6. color pencils
7. grey or light brown cardboard

Passed holiday's are always full of memories. Sunset on the beach, a sunny afternoon in the woods or impressive clouds above the sea. What colors belong to that memory? What colors belong to a sunset, to the woods and what colors would you use for the upcoming thunderstorm?

Paint your sheet full with your holiday memories using watercolor paint. Paint strips in different colors. After drying, tear the sheet in strips while following the different colors. Glue your strips with a little space between them on the grey/light brown paperboard. Write a title and decorate the frame with little holiday memory doodles (shells, clouds, flowers etc).

Made by students of grade 5

Prisoners in World War II

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size
2. ribbed cardboard
3. pencil
4. watercolour paint
5. brushes
6. jar with water
7. black wool 
8. glue

In Holland we rembember the victims of World War II on the 4th of May. The 5th of May we celebrate the day of liberation. In schools World War II is an important part of the history lessons. Students are always very interested in this topic.

"We had to draw one or more people in a concentration camp. Our drawings should show the fear and powerlessness of the prisoners. Most of all did well and the artworks were really beautiful. When the drawing was finished, we had to paint it with watercolour paint, using sad colours. We used black wool to make barbed wire and pasted it in front of the drawing. Finally we pasted the artworks on ribbed cardboard. It was an intense task, and it made us really think about that terrible time."

Artworks are made by students of grade 6

Thanks to Sylvia Versteeg

Painting without using your hands

 

You need: 

1. big drawing sheets
2. brushes
3. tempera paint
4. liquid water color paint
5. tape

Painting without using your hands is quite a challenge! You can paint with your feet or mouth. We tried both. 

Painting with your feet
Put tables aside, newspapers on the floor and stick drawing sheets on top. Very important: take off the shoes in the hallway and leave them there 😀

Place a container with three colors tempera paint between two students. A beautiful portrait is too much, so ask them to paint simple lines or shapes. 

Painting with your mouth 
This is less difficult. Cover the tables with newspapers. Place jars with diluted water color paint and brushes. Students may paint what the want. You may also give them a simple goal: paint rectangles in different colors. 

April showers will bring us flowers

You need:

1. white drawing sheet
2. water colour paint
3. ruler
4. white crayon or oil pastel
5. paint brush
6. water

Characteristicly Dutch weather in spring is a weather type with showers, alternated with sunny periods. We call those typical spring showers 'Maartse buien' (March Showers), while English meteorologists speak about 'April showers who bring us flowers'. 

In this lesson children draw spring flowers (tulips, daffodils etc.) during a rain shower.

 
Sketch some spring flowers on a white sheet. Make sure your lines are extremely thin. Use your ruler to draw white crayon lines with one centimeter between them. Make sure your crayon has a sharp point. Paint your drawing with watercolour paint. Use a lot of water to make bright colours. The crayon will resist the water paint, so your shower will be very clear!

Patchwork landscape

by a student of grade 4

 You need:

1. white drawing sheets
2. water color paint
3. brushes
4. jar with water
5. crayons

Steps:

1.  Put the sheet in width for you.
2.  Draw a wavy line on 2/3 of the bottom using a crayon.
3. Divide this area in 12 of 15 surfaces by drawing 2 horizontal and 3 o4 r vertical lines. 
4. Draw with a crayon house and trees on the horizon line.
5. Draw patterns in the surfaces.
6. Paint the surfaces in differtent colors.  
7. Paint house, trees and  air. 

With this lesson you can also practice one-point perspective. Place a dot in the middle from the top of the sheet and draw vertical lines towards this dot. 

bij a student of grade 4

Robots rule

 You need:

1. drawing sheets
2. pencil
3. markers
4. water color paint
5. brush 
6. jar with water
7. chalk pastels 

Draw a robot. Trace all pencil lines with a black marker. Color the drawing with markers, except the parts that should become metallic look. 

Paint the body of the robot grey (metallic) with water color paint. 

Let dry and color the background with chalk pastels. 

by students of grade 3

One pumpkin, four materials

You need:

1. drawing sheet
2. color pencils
3. watercolor paint
4. oilpastels
5. soft pastels

Fold the sheet in four. Draw 4 pumpkins. Color them with different materials. 

3D winter or Christmas scene

made by students of grade 5/6

You need: 

1. white cardboard 21 by 21 cm
2. colored glace paper 14,5 by 14,5 cm
3. cutting knife 
4. cutting mat
5. glue

Too difficult or not enough time? Skip step 1 and 2. 

Step 1
Draw a square at 2 cm from the edges, this is the outside of the frame. 

Step 2
Draw in this square another square at 3 cm of the edges: this is the front of the frame.  

Step 3
Draw in the 15 by 15 cm square a simple winter or Christmas scene.  Make the lines 1 cm wide and make sure they are on 4 sides attached to the 1 cm wide frame. See pattern below. 

Step 4
Color the parts you have to cut out grey.  

Step 5
Cut out the grey parts. 

Step 6
Cut the corners diagonally, see pattern. 

Step 7
Fold the lines of the 15 by 15 square. 

Step 8
Stick the corners.

Step 9

Stick the glace paper in the frame. 

Elements of art: line, form, space.

 

Winter tree in warm-cool colors

 You need:

1. drawing sheets 25 x 32,5 cm
2. crayons
3. watercolor paint
4. black tempera 
5. brushes
6. jar with water

With crayon: draw a horizonline and a tree trunk from the bottom of the sheet. Draw branches that touch the edges of the sheet. Draw a pattern in the landscape below the horizon. 

With watercolor paint: paint the sky. Paint the surfaces between the branches in warm or cool colors. Paint the surfaces in the landscape: warm if you first chose cool, cool if you first chose warm. 

With tempera: paint the branches and trunk black. 

Elements of art: color (warm and cool), space, line (pattern)

artworks made by students of grade 4

Xmas angels

Made by students of grade 3

You need:

1. white drawing sheet
2. watercolour paint
3. brushes 
4. black marker
5. glitter 

Outline a saucer on a white sheet and cut it out. Draw an angel. Paint with watercolour paint. Outline with a fine glitter marker. 

Paste the artwork on another circle.