Redecorate your chair

You need:

1. wooden chair for each student or one chair for two students
2. water-based paint in various colours
3. paint trays
4. paint rollers
5. brushes
6. sandpaper
7. ammonia
8. newspapers

Redecorating chairs is a nice activity for older kids. Ask students to bring an old wooden chair or buy some old ones in a recycle store. Discuss how to redecorate a chair. How do you manage that? Do you choose a theme, for instance flowers or sports, or do you want to decorate it with motives? You can even choose an artist. How about a Keith Haring chair, or a Piet Mondrian table? What colours do you use? How do you draw the design on the chair? Just drawing or is it better to use a template?

Create a design on paper, on which you see colours and patterns / designs clearly. 

Put the chairs on newspapers. Sand the chair and make it completely greaseproof with a cloth and ammonia water. Let dry. Draw the design first with pencil and paint it. 

The table below is redecoratied by a group of students. For the tabletop they used chalkboard paint. This table is still in our classroom as an instruction table. Useful, because we can write on it!

All furniture is redecorated by students of 11-12 years old

Totem poles

You need:

1. large paper tube
2. egg cartons
3. toilet rolls
4. masking tape or duct tape
5. wallpaper paste
6. scissors
7. cardboard
8. newspapers
9. tempera paint
10. brushes
11. varnish spray

Totem poles are an important art form for the Pacific Coast people. They are made from the trunks of red cedar trees and often depict people, animals, birds and fish. These characters are frequently arranged to be used to explain a story.

Divide the class in groups of four students. Give each group a large paper tube (aks a poster shop), a jar with wallpaper paste, cardboard, masking tape, egg cartons, toilet rolls and a lot of newspapers.

First decide how many characters you will make on your totem pole. Use cardboard to make appendages such as wings. These are first drawn out with a marker and then cut out. The appendages are then taped onto the tube. Use egg cartons or toilet rolls to make eyes or a mouth. Cover the armature of your totem pole completely with strips of newspapers.

Let the totem pole dry, this may take some days. The totem pole is then painted with tempera paint in bright colours. Finally spray the totem pole with varnish, to be sure the colours will shine.

Totem poles, made by students of 10-11 years old

Tree of life, like Gustav Klimt

You need:

1. black construction paper A4 size
2. thick gold marker papier
3. fine gel pens in metallic colours

Gustav Klimt (Austria, 1862 – 1918) was born near Vienna in a poor family. His father was was a gold engraver. This may have influenced Klimt in his use of gold in his paintings. In 1876, Klimt was awarded a scholarship to the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts . His work consists of paintings of mostly women, but also wallpaintings , drawings and collages. Klimt is much praised for the use of gold in his paintings.

Show some artwork of Klimt, and especially the painting 'Tree of life'. Discuss the distinctive features in the work: use of gold colour, the spiral branches, the bird, circles that look like eyes. Tell students about the symbolic significance of these motifs: the tree of life curls, just like in paradise, in all directions. On the lush branches grow flowers with eyes of wisdom and the paradise bird underlines the enchanting impact.

Give students a black construction paper. Let them draw the trunk of a tree that leads to curling branches. Fill the whole sheet with branches, of choose, just like the artwork above, a round shape. Fill the spaces between the branches with different patterns in metallic-coloured gel pens or markers.

Both artworks are made by students of 12 years old

Me and my iPod

You need:

1. drawing sheet A4 size
2. compass
3. colour pencils
4. black print of a break dancer
5. white sewing thread
6. scraps of white paper
7. scissors
8. cutter and cutting mat
9. glue
10. coloured paper for background

After a dance project, students of our school made these break dancers, listening to their iPods while dancing. Use pencil and ruler to divide the sheet lenghtwise in five compartments. Draw two meandering lines from top to bottom. The sheet is divided in 15 compartments now. Use a compass to draw circles of different sizes at the intersections of the lines. Colour all compartments alternately using two colours. Work top to bottom , to avoid mistakes.

Search the web for a black picture of a breakdancer and print it. Enlarge it on the copymachine until it fits on the drawing sheet. Cut this dancer and paste in on the drawing sheet.

Draw a little rectangle with a circle in it on a scrap of white paper: the iPod. Cut it and paste it in the hand of the dancer. Cut two very tiny circles, the headphones, and paste them on the head.

Cut a piece of sewing thread and make a loop in it. Cut the loop at the top - see picture. Paste the thread around the dancer, leading the two separate pieces to the headphones and the long piece to the iPod. Finally paste the arwork on a coloured background.

Made by students of 11-12 years old

Sunglasses

You need:

1. black construction paper A4 size
2. white drawing sheet
3. colour pencils or markers
4. scissors
5. glue
6. silver and gold marker

Draw half sunglasses against the fold of a black sheet. Cut the glasses. Draw a summer scene on the white sheet. Colour it. Put the glasses on it and slide until you see the best part. Paste the glasses on the drawing and cut them again. Decorate the glasses with gold or silver marker.

Made by students of 12 years old

The most beautiful soccer ball!

Made by students of 9-10 years old

With the upcoming Worldcup final between Holland and Spain tonight, a nice lesson to draw your own most beautiful soccer ball. You need:

1. pattern soccer ball (download)
2. black pencil of black markers
3. ruler
4. scissors
5. glue
6. coloured paper for background

Most modern footballs are stitched from 32 panels of waterproofed leather or plastic: 12 regular pentagons and 20 regular hexagons. The pentagons are mostly black, the hexagons white.

Give students a copy of the soccer ball. Let them finish the lines using pencil and ruler. Then all surfaces have to be filled with patterns. Students of higher grades can be asked to draw dark patterns for the pentagons and lighter patters for the hexagons. In lower grades you can ask to colour the pentagon in the middle of the ball black, and draw patterns in the other hexagons and pentagons. Cut the ball and paste it on coloured paper. Of course we chose orange!

Tropical fish

You need: 1.white drawing sheet A3 size 2.tempera paint 3.brushes 4.saucers 5.jars with water 6.drawing sheet A4 size 7.markers 8.paper towels 9.pieces of sponge 10.magazines 11.scissors 12.glue After a visit to a marine aquarium, children of our school made their own ocean with tropical fish. Dilute tempera paint with water on a saucer. Paint the A3 sheet blue and leave it to dry. Stamp paper plants and corals on the sheet using a piece of sponge or a wad of paper. Use undiluted tempera for the stamping.

Draw a fish on a folded piece of drawing paper. Cut the fish, so you'll have two of them. Colour these two fish with bright colors, just like the tropical fish in the aquarium. Draw and cut a few more fish. Colour them like the first two; all fish must be the same color, they should only vary in size. Create a beautiful composition of the fish on the blue-painted sheet. Stamp some strings of aquatic plants before the fish. Or cut green strips from magazines and paste on the artwork.

All artworks are made by children of 10-12 years old

Desert sunset

Made by a student of 8 years old

You need:

1. coloured paper
2. black construction paper
3. scissors
4. glue

By tearing stripes of different colours of paper, children create a sunset. Draw a big cactus on black paper and cut it out. Paste the cactus on the sunset sheet.

Design your own board game

World Cup 2010 game

You need:

1. coloured cardboard
2. coloured paper
3. clay
4. scissors
5. glue
6. laminator
7. markers
8. various materials

Truth or dare

At the end of elementary school, in our Dutch group 8, when musical stress strikes (every group 8 in Holland ends its elementary school career by performing a musical) and motivation to learn decreases, making your own board game is a great job. In groups of two or three students invent a game , complete with all attributes and a set of rules.

CASH!

First, I let the children think about the basics of their game. Then I ask those groups to make a list of the materials they need. Cardboard? Paper? Colours? Sizes? The teacher ensures that all materials are in the group, as far as possible. Maybe children will also want to bring things from home.

Detail: pawns out of clay

After drawing, cutting, pasting, writing and colouring, question cards can be laminated. And if all games are ready and everybody's game has been admired, the games must be playedof! Always a successful lesson!

Op art cube

Made by students of 12 years old

You need:

1. white drawing sheet 21 by 29 cm
2. pencil
3. ruler
4. markers
5. glue

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

1. Lay the sheet in front of you with the small side up.
2. Draw a dot on top of the sheet on 7 and 14 cm.
3. Do the same on the bottom of the sheet.
4. Connect the lines from top to bottom.
5. Draw dots on the right site of the sheet on 7, 14, 21 and 28 cm starting at the top of the sheet.
6. Do the same on the left site of the sheet.
7. Connect the dots with lines. You have 12 squares on your sheet now, and three small rectangles on the bottom (picture 1).

Picture 1

8. Number the squares very thin with a pencil from left to right. 9. Draw a cross in square 1, 3, 4, 5, 10 en 12 (picture 2).

Picture 2

10. Draw edges to the sides of square 2 and 5. Draw this line 1 cm from the edges. 11. Draw edges to the three sides of square 11. 12. Draw a cross in the remaining narrow strips at the bottom of the sheet (picture 3).

Picture 3

Draw six different styles of optical illusions on the six sides of the cube. Colour them with markers and outline with fine black marker.

Cut the cube and paste the sides together.

I scream for ice cream

Made by students of grade 1

You need:

1. coloured cardboard A2 size
2. brown construction paper
3. white drawing paper A4 size
4. tempera paint
5. brushes
6. saucers
7. tissue paper
8. salt
9. scissors
10. gold markers
11. fiber fill or cotton wool

In this lesson, children use each other's work.

Divide the class into six groups. Give each group of children some white sheets, a saucer, one colour tempera paint, salt, brushes, a jar with water and blotting paper in a slightly darker colour than the paint. Mix tempera on a saucer with a lot of water to get a light (ice cream) colour. Each group paint a few sheets of drawing paper with this diluted tempera. Salt can be applied to create texture and small pieces of blotting paper with water will suggest chocolate chips or fruit in the ice. Be sure there are so many sheets of each colour that every student can get half a sheet of all six colours.

Hang the sheets outside to dry.

Cut the large sheets of coloured cardboard lengthwise into three, so you get three large strips of approximately 15 by 60 cm. Give each child a coloured strip and a sheet of brown construction paper. Each student cuts a cone out the brown craft paper by folding the paper and cutting a triangle from the fold . Then the draw a wafer pattern on the cone with a gold marker.

Give each student half sheet of painted paper of all six colours. Let them draw circles on the sheets by outlining a cup. Cut the circles. Paste the ice-cream cone on the large sheet of cardboard, and paste six different circles on it. Remember that the first scoop of ice cream has to be pasted partly in the cone. Finally cream may be added, by cutting half a circle out of fiberfill or some cotton wool.

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

Check this insect!

Made by children of 7-8 years old

You need:

1. drawing sheet A4 size
2. colour pencils
3. black marker
4. scissors
5. glue

Study the anatomy of insects using photographs. Insects have segmented bodies supported by an exoskeleton. The segments of the body are organized into three distinctive but interconnected units: a head, a thorax, and an abdomen. The head supports a pair of sensory antennae, a pair of eyes, and, if present, three sets of variously modified appendages that form the mouthparts. The thorax has six segmented legs and, if present, two or four wings. These characteristics of the insect must be processed in the drawing. For the rest it is free. Choose fancy colours and draw body or wings as you like.

Fold a sheet of A4 double the length. Sketch against the fold the half of a fantasy insect. If you're satisfied with your sketch, trace the lines thick using a pencil. Press firmly! Then fold your sheet and draw on the back half of what you just traced, your bug again. Press firmly again, to be sure the pencil lines will be visible on the other half.

Then fold the sheet open. You'll see that your bug is now very light on the other side of the sheet. Trace these thin lines with a pencil, pressing firmly. After this, your symmetric insect is ready to be coloured.

The colouring has to be symmetric too. Use colours you like, it doesn´t have to be realistic. Outline the drawing with a black marker. Then cut it out leaving about a half cm of white paper around. Paste the drawing on a coloured background. If you´re ready, show your drawing to your classmates: "Hey, check my insect!"

Liquorice Allsorts

Made by Malou, 11 years old

You need:

1. Liquorice Allsorts
2. grey construction paper A3 size
3. oil pastels

Liquorice allsorts consist of a variety of liquorice candies sold as a mixture. These confections are made of liquorice, sugar, coconut, aniseed jelly, fruit flavourings, and gelatine. They were first produced in Sheffield, England. Allsorts are produced by many companies around the world today, and are most popular in Britain, continental Europe, and North America. The Dutch name for liquorice allsorts is "Engelse drop", and in Finland they are called "Englannin lakritsi/laku"; both literally translate as "English liquorice."

Make groups of two children. Buy some bags of liquorice allsorts (I used one bag for six students). Divide the liquorice so so that each group can make a different composition of them.

Give the children a sheet of grey construction paper. I chose grey, because the oil pastels alle kinderen een grijs tekenvel. Grey, because the oil pastel colours will be slightly less bright, and the white of the liquorice allsorts will be clearly visible. Ask children to make a composition of the liquorice; they may be stacked also.

On the gray sheet students draw the liquorice extra large. The liquorice must really be blown up! Don't use pencils, draw directly with the oil pastel. The whole sheet have to be filled with liquorice allsorts, with parts of them on the edges of the sheet. Colour everything and look carefully to the light: which part of the liquorice has to be dark, and which part has to be coloured lighter? Vary in dark and light colours by pressing harder or softer.

And of course you may eat the liquorice after finishing your artwork!

Made by students of 10-11 years old

Op art line design 2: garlic cloves!

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A5 size
2. fine marker
3. coloured paper for background

Draw little dots on the sheet and link them together with curved lines. Draw more and more lines, following the first one. Looks like garlic cloves!

Op art line design

With colour pencils

All credits for this lesson are for Mr. Ted Edinger. He has a good description of this lesson on his artblog, so I need only to display the results of my students. You need:

1. drawing sheet A5 size
2. colour pencils
3. black fine marker

Please look at Art with Mr. E. for the full description of this lesson and a step by step guide to get these beautiful results!

Drawn and coloured with markers, by a student of 12 years old

Poppies in the wind

You need:

1. white drawing paper A4 size
2. tempera paint
3. puppies or pictures of puppies
4. brushes

Poppies are particularly in the United Kingdom, Canada and the U.S. symbol of the First World War because they flourished exuberantly on the battlefields of Flanders. In the famous poem 'In Flanders Fields' those poppies are mentioned. At the English National Remembrance Day, poppy wreaths are laid by the queen. Not real ones actually, because poppy petals fall very quickly. Poppies in the Netherlands have no symbolic value, but they are very nice to paint! View the brought poppies or pictures of them. Discuss the features of the flower: delicate satiny petals and a dark heart that shines through the petals. Because the flowers are very light, you see them always sway in the wind. Students paint some poppies on the upper half of their sheet. Paint the steels with black paint. Draw a frame with a red pencil about 1 cm from the edge. Paste the artwork on a black background.

Artwork made by students of 9-10 years old

A day at the beach

Made by students of 12 years old

You need:

1. white drawing paper A3 size
2. markers, aquarelle pencils or colour pencils
3. water paint
4. glue
5. coloured paper for background
6. brushes
7. jar with water

I'm going to the beach and I take …… Children draw themselves on a beach towel. On the towel are also the things that they are carrying when they go to the beach: sunblock, an Ipod, a book or magazin, a ball, a can of soda etc. The towel has bright colors and is recognizable for the person on it. Start colouring with the face and body. Use waterpaint or watercolour pencils to be sure to get a good skin colour. Colour the rest of the drawing with colour pencils (press firmly)or markers to make a colourful sunny artwork.

Connected fish

You need:

1. drawing paper A4 size
2. colour pencils
3. black fine maker
4. waterpaint
5. brushes

This task seemed easier than it was ... :) Draw some simple fish, consisting of only a body and tail. See example. Some fish must overlap. Then the contour lines of the fish have to be widened to one cm. Draw and erase the overlapping fish to make the lines go up and down. Colour the contour lines firmly and colour the inside of the fish lightly with the same colour. Draw patterns with a fineliner. Paint the background with dilluted waterpaint. You may also cut out the fish. Create a sea landscape on a blue sheet and paste the fish between water plants.

Made by students of 11 years old