Colourful dog

You need:

1. newspapers torn in strips
2. wallpaper paste
3. toilet paper or paper towels
4. tempera paint
5. brushes
6. black marker
7. varnish

There are many tutorials in the internet about paper mache. Search for 'how to make paper mache'. In this lesson we made doggies from paper mache. After drying the dogs are painted with tempera in bright colours. Use a black marker to outline the patterns. Finish the dog with transparent varnish.

Made by students from 10-11 years old

Thanks to Anne Steenbergen en Malou.

Printed penguins and polar bears

Made by Brittany, 11 years old

You need:

1. piece of linoleum from 12 x 12 cm
2. photograph form polar bear or penguin
3. carbon paper
4. lino knive
5. mat
6. black block printing ink
7. flat piece of glass
8. linoleum roller
9. white drawing paper A4 size
10. lino press
11. scissors and glue

Children take a picture from a penguin of polar bear. The animal must be complete, not only a part of it. Because of the fact the animals must be printed, contour lines are important. Each child gets a piece of linoleum from 12 by 12 cm. Use carbon paper to draw the contours of the animal on the linoleum. Use lino knives to cut the background away; the animal has to remain. From the penguins the white belly has to be cut away too. But: remember the contour line has to remain. Details such as eyes, lines that indicate legs etc. have to be cut away with a small lino knive. Shake the bottle of blockprint carefully to be sure oil will mix with the rest. Drip the paint on the glass and roll it out with the lino roller. Make several prints of your work. Choose the two best ones and paste them on a black background. By tearing the paper instead of cutting, you'll accentuate the effect of the winter. The torn paper suggests an ice floe. See the example above.

Made by children from 11-12 years old

Chilly penguin

You need:

1. grey construction paper A4 size
2. black shiny paper
3. white wallpaper
4. glue
5. white tempera
6. q-tips
7. leftovers of coloured paper
8. fleece fabric

Children cut a penguin body and wings out of black shiny paper. The belly has to be cut out of white textured wallpaper. The earmuffs and scarf are cut out of fleece fabric. Eyes and noses are cut out of coloured paper. Snowflakes are stamped with a q-tips and white tempera paint.

Made by children of grade 1.

This lesson is done by Lilia Bezemer and based on examples found on Artsonia.

Popart like Keith Haring

You need:

1. white drawing paper
2. markers
3. black construction paper

Haring's works originated from the graffiti art and is distinguished by tight lines and the use of bright colours. Haring also worked iti with chalk on black painted plates and vases and statues. Haring has developed his own distinctive artistic language of symbols, symbols that almost look like icons.

 

Show some works of Haring.. On http://www.haring.com/ you'll find everything.

Discuss the distinctive features of the drawings of Haring: cartoon-like people, little details, often thick black lines and outlines, bright colors and little stripes to symbolize movement. Let the children create a drawing in the style of Haring. They have to omit many details as possible, and yet convey a certain feeling. Children have to remain a lahf centimeter of white around their drawing, just like Haring did. Paste the drawings on black construction paper and make sure the works are signed by the artists. On http://www.haringkids.com/ you'll find more than 80 lesson ideas about Keith Haring.

All works of art are made by students of grade 6.

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.

Trees in the snow

Made by Kiki, 11 years old

You need:

1. blue cardboard
2. oil pastels
3. glitter
4. glue

Look what trees look like in winter: no leaves, just the trunk and branches. The trunk is wide and runs smaller to the top. Branches are getting smaller to the top also. Children sketch with pencil one or two trees. The trees have to be coloured with oil pastels. Use more colours then just brown: with black, green or blue you can suggest texture in the trunk. Colour snow on the branches with white oil pastels. Of course there will be no snow hanging below the branches, it would fall down!

Use glitter to light up the snow.

Skaters in Dutch landschape

Made by Brittany, 11 years old

You need:

1. light blue construction paper
2. dark transperant glossy paper
3. glue
4. flour
5. colour pencils
6. scissors

Beautiful photographs of Dutch landscapes and skaters on frozen water, are the inspiration for this lesson. There are many of these pictures on the internet (search for 'hollands landschap schaatsen'). Show some of these pictures and discuss them. Take a light blue sheet (or paint one) and paste and paste in the middle transparent dark, glossy paper on it; this is the ice. Cut a circle from a white sheet and paste in on the light blue sheet. Make the white streaks on the ice by drawing lines with a glue stick and sprinkling flour over it; shake the rest of. Draw a windmill or a landscape. Draw some skating people on another sheet and colour them with bright colours. Cut those skaters and paste them on the ice.

Made by students from 10-11 years old

Splattering fireworks

You need:

1. black construction paper
2. toothbrush
3. tempera paint
4. spoon
5. straw
6. photo of a building or skyline
7. scissors

Choose an internet photograph of a famous building or skyline. Print it and cut it out carefully. Put the picture or a black sheet of paper. Dilute white tempera paint with water so it is fluid. Dip the toothbrush in the paint and knock the adhering drops off. Take a teaspoon in your writing hand and the toothbrush in the other. Scrape with the spoon on the hairs of the toothbrush in your own direction. This way the hairs of the toothbrush will spring back, while they release splashes of paint. Practice this first on a scrap sheet. Now splash around your image. Near the image you splash closer, further away you splash thinner.

When you are finished, gently take the image away. You'll see the silhouette of the building.Let your work dry before you do the second step. Dilute some tempera paint on a saucer with water so it is thinner. Leave one or two drops of diluted tempera on your artwork, but not on the silhouette. drupjes verf op je werkstuk vallen, maar niet op het silhouet (put your image back to the sheet if necessary). Blow through the straw at the paint drops in different directions, so you'll get fireworks. Do this as often as you like. Be careful, there should not be coloured paint on your silhouette. Paste your work finally on a coloured background.

This lesson is origanally from Art Attack.

Fireworks over the city

Made by Oscar, 11 years old

You need:

1. white drawing paper A3 size
2. oil pastels
3. liquid water colour
4. brushes
5. coloured paper for background

Children draw a New Years eve in three sections: foreground, middleground and background. At the bottom of the sheet they draw a lot of backs of human heads; these are the people looking to the fireworks. In the middle they draw a street with houses. People are standing in front of those houses, so think about overlapping! The third section is above the houses: beautiful fireworks. Colour everything with oil pastels. Use bright colours for the fireworks, including white. Don't draw too many details, that isn't easy to colour because of the oilpastels. Whey ready, paint the whole drawing with dark liquid watercolour, because new years fireworks are at night! The oil pastels will resist the watercolour.

Fireworks rockets

Fireworks, by children from 11-12 years old

You need:

1. tubes from Pringles
2. long wooden stick
3. construction paper in different colours
4. scissors
5. glue
6. wide tape
7. wire

Paste black paper around the tube. Decorate the rocket with stars, dots etc. cut out of coloured paper. Make a cap from a circle and paste it on the rocket. Fix the stick in the tube with wide tape. Take small tape to fix a piece of wire in the tube; this is the sliver.

Polish folkart Christmas tree

What do you need?

• white, red and green sheet 
• scissors
• glue

What should you do?

1. Put the red and white sheet together and fold them lengthwise. 
2. Draw half a Christmas tree against the fold and cut out. 
3. Take the white tree and fold it again. 
4. Cut some of the edges and cut patterns from the fold towards the edges (just like snowflakes). 
5. Glue the white tree on the red one and glue the complete tree on a green sheet.

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

Christmas quilt

By Charmaine, 11 years old

You need:

1. white drawing sheet from 20 by 20 cm
2. ruler
3. pencil
4. finepointed black marker
5. red or green marker
6. black construction paper
7. white marker
8. glue

Children divide their sheet with ruler and pencil in 16 squares from 5 by 5 cm. In each square they draw a Christmas figure: tree, candy, snowman, skates, mitten, sock, candle etc. These figures have to be coloured , just like a checkerboard: alternately the background is red or the figure is red (or green). When ready, outline all figures, details and squares with a black finepointed marker. Paste the drawing on a black sheet and outline it with a white marker.

Cubist Christmas tree

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size
2. ruler
3. tempera paint
4. brushes
5. gold and silver marker

Children draw a simplified Christmas tree: a big triangle. Measure it from the middle line. After this, draw lines across the drawing sheet: from top to bottom, from left to right, from top or bottom to the sides etc.

The tree has to be painted with different green colours (mix them!). The background has to be painted with warm mixed colours. If dry, the lines in the tree have to be drawn with a silver marker, the lines from the background with a gold marker.

Stained glass in Mondriaan style

You need:

1. black construction paper 20 by 20 cm
2. tissue paper in green, red and white
3. white pencil
4. ruler
5. cutting blade
6. cutting mat
7. glue

Discuss stained glass. How did the craftspeople of yesterday make stained glass? How do they make it today? Show some paintings of Mondriaan. What colours did he use? What forms do you see? Children are going to make a little square or round stained glas window out of paper. The style must be like Mondriaan, colours must be like Christmas. Give each student one sheet of black construction paper. First children must choose their form. When they choose a round form, they have to draw a circle with compasses. Cut this out. Draw another circle about 1,5 cm out of the edges; this is the frame. Children who chose the square, draw also a line about 1,5 out of the edges. This is the frame. Draw squares and/or rectangles in your window using ruler and a white pencil. The lines must be 1 cm wide. When ready, draw crosses in the rectangles that have to be cut out.

Cut away the forms with the crosses. Cut carefully and use an iron ruler. Use your black window as a template to draw the forms of squares and rectangles on the three different colours of tissuepaper. Cut the forms out of the tissue paper with 0,5 cm extra for the adhesive border. Paste the colours alternately on the backside of your window.

Explosion at the bottle factory

This lesson is designed to help explain the idea of Abstract art. It is from an Arts and Activities magazine.

Paintings of trees by the Dutch painter Piet Mondriaan show the development of realistic painting to abstract painting clearly. The red tree (1908) is a realistic painting, Mondriaan painted what he saw.

The grey tree (1911) is more abstract, but the shape of the tree can still be seen.

The apple tree (1912) doesn't look like a tree anymore, unless you see this one together with the former paintings.

You need:

1. black construction paper
2. scissors and glue
3. coloured paper
4. ruler and pencil

After showing the paintings of Mondriaan, kids have to make their own abstract artwork out of a realistic one. Children draw a line halfway their black sheet. Then they have to cut three or four double bottles out of coloured paper. Glue the bottles on the top piece of the black sheet. Cut the remaining bottles into pieces and glue them on the bottom of the sheet.

The longest line

You need:

1. white drawing sheet 15 by 15 cm
2. black fineliner
3. markers

I found this lesson on Artsonia. Start in a corner and draw ONE line, the longest line: curved, straight, zigzag, with angles etc. The line has to fill the whole sheet and you may not pick up your marker from the sheet! The line may not hit or cross itself. And, the most important: the line has to end at the point it started. So be sure you're back in the beginning in time!

When ready, draw with a pencil three or four geometric shapes on your sheet. Choose three colours marker per shape and colour them. Outline your shapes with the black fineliner.

Greetings from ... Holland!

And this is Holland too ....

You need:

1. white drawing sheet from 20 by 10 cm
2. markers
3. fineliner
4. ruler
5. pencil

Draw a horizon line about 2 cm from the upper edge. Put a dot in the middle of this line, the vanishing point. Draw lines from the bottom and sides towards that vanishing point. Make six lanes or more - this is the highway. Colour the highway with gray marker, leaving out the white stripes. Colour agriculturul fields besides the highway. Colour the sky. Draw a cityscape with high buildings and houses on the horizon and colour them with black and grey markers. Together with the lesson about the bulb fields, we have a nice postcard! Greetings from Holland!

Find it!

Waterpaint with finepointed marker

You need:

1. white drawing paper A4 size
2. watercolour paint or tempera
3. marker or fineliner

Paint organic shapes on you sheet with different colours. Make sure the whole sheet is full. After drying, take a black fineliner or marker and search for faces, animals or objects in your shapes. Outline them and add details to recognize your object or face!

Tempera with marker

Leaves pattern

You need:

1. white drawing sheet 21 by 25 cm
2. markers

Draw lines around your sheet a half centimeter from the edges. Divide the remaining square in 16 compartments from 5 cm by 6 cm. Draw a leave on construction paper and cut it out. Trace the leave in the 16 rectangles. Draw patterns in the leaves: take a pair for each pattern. Colour them alternately with two colours. Outline all leaves with a black fineliner. Draw a square in two colours around your work.