The most beautiful fish in the sea

By children of 7-8 years old

You need:

1. white cardboard A1 size
2. tempera paint in blue, white and green
3. brushes
4. jar with water
5. salt
6. markers
7. picture of the rainbow fish
8. scissors
9. glue

The book 'Rainbow Fish' is translated in Dutch as 'The most beautiful fish in the sea'. That's why I called this lesson this way.

Ask two or three children to paint the background for this group project. In this project the backgrounds are painted by children of 12 years old. Paint one or two A1 sized sheets with diluted tempera paint in several colours blue and green. Sprinkle salt on it when the paint is still wet. Let dry. Staple the two sheets together.

Read or tell the story of the Rainbow Fish, written by Marcus Pfister. The story tells of a fish with shiny, multi-colored scales. He is always fond of his scales. But one day, a small fish asks him if he could have one. Rainbow Fish refuses in a very rude way. The other fish are really upset about his behaviour and don't want anymore to play with him. Feeling upset, his only friend left, the starfish, tells him to go visit the mysterious octopus for advice. Rainbow Fish finds the octopus and asks what he should do. The octopus tells him that he should share the beauty of his scales with his friends. When he encounters the small fish a second time, the Rainbow Fish gives him one of his precious scales. Seeing the joy of this little fish, Rainbow Fish feels immediately much better. Very soon Rainbow Fish is surrounded by other fish requesting scales and he gives to each of them one of his shiny scales.

Children get a copy of the Rainbow Fish; of course children can draw their own fishe too. After drawing scales in it, they have to colour their fish with markers. Tell them to leave one scale white: Rainbow Fish will give his scale, a beautiful glittered one.

Cut the fish. Paste all fishes on the blue painted cardboard.

Seeking the name

You need:

1. drawing sheet 20 by 20 cm
2. pencil
3. colour pencils or markers
4. black fine marker

With this project kids learn about radial design as well as symmetry. First fold the paper so you have eight equal triangles. Then write your name in bubble letters inside one triangle. Be sure to touch the top and bottom of the triangle. Outline the name with a black marker. Go to the window and trace the name with pencil in the seven resting sections. Outline the names with black marker. Colour the letters and spaces between them. You can do this in different ways: the letters with colour markers and the negative spaces with colour pencils (see example below), or negative and positive spaces both with markers (see example above). When ready, you've made an incredible symmetrical design! Seeing the name inside the drawing is very difficult ... you have to seek it!

Made by Danjel, 12 years old

Patterned chicken

Benodigdheden:

1. white drawing sheet
2. piece of cardboard
3. black fine marker
4. red marker
5. scissors and glue

Cut a piece of cardboard from 7 by 7 cm. Draw a chicken and cut it out. Draw six squares (or less or more) on the drawing sheet from 7 by 7 cm.

Trace the chicken within the six squares. Colour the chicken, wing and background with patterns in black. Colour the beak and comb with red. Paste the chickens on a red background and decorate the edges with white eggs.

From bone to bone

Made by Felix, 11 years old

You need:

1. black construction paper
2. white drawing paper A4 size
3. white and black tempera
4. brushes
5. pictures of animal skeletons
6. black fine marker

The children search the Internet for a picture of a skeleton of an animal. It has to be an image in which the various components are to be seen. The higher the resolution, the larger the picture is and clearer it will be. Print this pictures. Then the students search the Latin name of the animal and write it down.

Children draw the skeleton of the animal with a pencil on black paper. This requires them to study the skeleton carefully. Then the individual elements of the skeleton have to be painted with undiluted white paint and a small brush. Any errors can be corrected later with black paint. The Latin name next to it (with brush, or if this is to difficult with a white pencil), will make the artwork complete.

Paste the black sheet on a white background and let the students decorate the edges, for example with bones or footsteps.

Made by Tanita, 11 years old

Easter bunny window

You need:

1. cardboard A4 size
2. carbon paper
3. cutter
4. cutting mat
5. glue
6. tissue paper
7. pattern (download)

Use carbon paper to copy the pattern on the cardboard. Cut the grey parts away. Paste tissue paper on the backside. Hang your bunny in the window.

Chickens like Andy Warhol

You need:

1. white drawing paper 21 by 14 cm
2. markers
3. piece of cardboard
4. scissors
5. pencil

Tell about Andy Warhol and show some of his artwork. 

Divide the sheet in six rectangles from 7 by 7 cm. Draw a chicken on cardboard and cut it out. Trace it six times. Colour everyting with markers in bright colours. Outline tall parts with a fine black marker. Draw legs and eyes.

Easter bunny

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size
2. colour pencils
3. template for easter egg

Scetch an Easter bunny in the middle of the sheet. Cut an egg out of a piece of cardboard. Trace this egg so many times on your drawing sheet - also over the bunny - till it's competely full. Overlapping is required. Colour the bunny parts in warm colours, the background in cool colours.

A plumber's nightmare

Made by Sander, 12 years old

You need:

1. white drawing paper A4 size
2. colour pencils
3. pencil
4. fine black marker
5. coloured paper for background

Talk about the work of the plumber. View the pipes under a sink: how are the pipes connected, how are curves made? Talk about the horrible things a plumber may encounter: leaking pipes, filthy creatures, smelly sludge. Imagine with the class on a sewer pipe system which is inhabited by creepy creatures.

How do you draw a pipe? How can you show that a pipe is round? Where is the light part and where are the shadows? Show this on the blackboard. Children draw 'A plumber's nightmare' according to their own imagination. Leave the pipes white, make shadows with pencil lines. Outline evertything with a fine black marker. These drawing can also be done by a group. This requires the students to make agreements on connecting the pipes at each drawing.

It's raining cats and dogs

Made by students of 11-12 years old

You need:

1. two pieces of cardboard A1 size
2. tempera paint
3. brushes
4. jar with water
5. white oil pastel
6. white drawing sheets A5 size
7. markers
8. scissors
9. glue

Ask two or three students to make the background for this artwork. Draw on the cardboard raindrops with white oil pastel. Dilute blue tempera paint with lots of water and paint the cardboard. The oil pastel will resist the paint. Paste the sheets to each other on the short side. The other children draw one or more falling cats or dogs with umbrella's and colour them with bright colours. Cut all animals and paste them on the cardboard. It's raining cats and dogs!

Drawing with scissors, like Matisse

Mady by Evelina, 11 years old

You need:

1. white drawing paper A4 size
2. coloured paper
3. white sheet
4. scissors and glue

Henri Matisse was the most important French painter of the 20th century, rivaling Picasso in his influence. His background was diverse. He studied under Bouguereau and Gustave Moreau and experimented with pointillism, which he found rigidly confining. Later, building on the work of Cézanne and Gauguin, he and Andre Derain developed Fauvism, a much freer and more expressive style of painting which was in fact the forerunner of expressionism. In the last years of his life Matisse can't paint anymore, and he focuses on cutting out shapes from painted paper. Show some works by Matisse zien, especially his cutting works, and discuss them. Tje artwork for this lesson is 'Polynesie la mer', a underwater scene in white, light and dark blue. What do you see in this artwork? What shapes have been used? Show the organic shapes. Are there any geometric shapes? Look at the white framework, as part of the artwork. What kind of shapes do you see? Why did Matisse choose these shapes? Distribute the supplies. Every child gets a white sheet of drawing paper, tho halves of coloured paper in the colours they choose and a white sheet of copy paper. Divide the coloured paper in four pieces, cut them and paste them on the white drawing sheet. Fold the copy paper and cut a frame with organic shapes. Cut water animals and plants out of the rest of the copy paper. Do'n draw first, cut directly. Arrange the several parts on your coloured sheet and paste them. Paste the frame carefully.

Made by students from 10-11 years old

Flowers in fingerpaint

You need:

1. tempera paint
2. saucers
3. white drawing sheet A2 size cut in three
4. coloured paper for background
5. green crepe paper
6. scissors
7. glue

Give all students a saucer with tempera paint in blue, yellow, red and white. Let them experiment with mixing colours with their fingers. Show them that if they mix to many colours together, they'll get aa kind of brown. Mix blue and yellow to show this makes green. Show them to make colours lighter using white. Children can practice this on a scratch sheet.

Every child gets a strip white drawing paper (A2 size, cut lengthwise in three parts). Fingerpaint your own flower. Realistic or not, it's all right. The only restriction: the stalk and leaves must be green. The flower should be as high as the sheet.

Cut the flower leaving a white edge from about 0,5 cm. Paste all flowers on a coloured background. Cut a strip of grass from crepe paper and paste this in front of the flowers.

Calico cat

Made by students from 10-11 years old

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size
2. pencil
3. fine black marker or indian ink
4. coloured paper for background
5. glue
6. scissors

Children look at pictures of cats and then draw a cat with pencil; sitting or lying. After this the cat has to be divided in sections. Not just at random, but taking into account the recognizable parts of the body. The tail is a section, and so is the leg or the thigh. Take a fine marker or indian ink and trace the outlines. After this every section gets its own texture. The texture has to be as the cat himself: curved lines instead of crooked lines. The head of the cat is mostly white, to make sure eyes and whiskers stand out. When the drawing is ready, it has to be cut out and pasted on a background.

What's for supper tonight?

Made by Lotte, 10 years old

You need:

1. drawing paper A3 size
2. colour pencils
3. tempera and brushes
4. or coloured paper and glue

Talk about food. What do you like most? What is healthy food? Why do we have to eat vegetables and fruit? What about burgers and fries? Talk about china and cutlery and how a table has to be set.

Draw the meal you like most. Draw everything from above; so a glass is just a circle. Draw your plate with food, a saucer, a glass, knive, spoon, fork and colour everything with colour pencil. Then cut out all parts. Paint a sheet with a pattern and colours that fits to your china; your placemat. You may also use coloured paper and glue to decorate your placemat. When your placemat is ready, paste all cut-out parts on it.

Made by children from 10-11 years old

Inchies

Inchies are small matching artworks that make one artwork together. The name is derived from the original size of the inchie, one inch (2.54 cm). By choosing a theme, a material or a colour, you ensure that your inchies match nicely together. Inchies can also be used to learn certain skills, like embroidery or sew on a button. Variatons are endless.

The base is an MDF board or canvas on a frame. The inchies are cut (measure carefully) from a shoebox lid or other cardboard and then covered with coloured paper or fabric. Little things have to be pasted or sewn on these squares.The inchies are pasted on the background with double-sided tape.

Of course those squares don't really have to be an inch. Let the size depend from the size of the background. All examples in this lesson are made on a canvas frame from 20 by 20 cm with squares from 4 by 4 cm.

This artwork is made on a canvas frame. It is covered with white wallpaper. The squares are covered with different kinds of wallpaper too (ask for a pattern book in the wallpaper store). Different things in matching coloures are pasted on the inchies.

On the artwork above you'll see inchies that are covered with different materials: wallpaper, lunchbag paper, embroidery linen, rope and teddybear fabric. Skills that are practiced: embroidery, sewing a button and wire wrapping.

This artwork's theme is 'shells'. The variation lies in the background here: ribbed cardboard, painted sandpaper, plastic, wrinkled paper, fleece line etc. A list of things you need isn't easy to give! Ask children to take things from home to paste or sew on their inchies. Ask a patternbook in a wallpaper store for nice backgrounds.

Basic supplies:

1. mdf board or canvas frame
2. shoebox lid or some other cardboard
3. ruler and pencil
4. scissors and glue
5. several sorts of paper and/or fabric
6. doublesided tape
7. decoration supplies
8. needle and thread

By letting kids make one or more inchies in a specific theme or colour, you'll make a terrific group work!

Marvelous Medusa?

You need:

1. black construction paper A3 size
2. tempera paint in blue, green, black and white
3. brushes
4. jars with water
5. paper towels
6. paper towels and newspapers

Medusa is a woman from Greek mythology. She used to be a beautiful woman. She lived in a country where to her sorrow the sun never shone. Medusa begged goddess Athena to be allowed to move to a sunny region. When this was refused by Athena, Medusa humiliated the goddess. Medusa told everywhere that Athena would not let her go, because otherwise no one would pay attention anymore to the beauty of Athena. In another version of the myth Medusa would have made Athena mad because she kissed Poseidon in Athena's temple. The enraged Athena took revenge by changing Medusa's beautiful hair into a nest of snakes. Atrhena also ensured that everyone who looked at Medusa Medusa would freeze immediately . Finally Medusa is killed and decapitated by Perseus, with help from Athena. From Medusa's blood the winged horse Pegasos and a giant are born. After this Medusa's head is offered by Perseus to Athena. Athena put the head on her shield to freeze her enemies.

This myth is the basis for this drawing lesson: draw Medusa's head with snake hair in cold colours. Every child gets a black sheet and four colours tempera paint: blue, green, black and white. After scetching the head (not too many details) and the snakes, the drawing has to be painted in cool colours. Mixing colours is required. Tell the students how to mix the colours: bright colours are created by mixing a few drops of dark paint into light paint, and not the other way.

All artworks are made by children from 10-11 years old

Spotted fish

You need:

1. white drawing paper A4 size
2. colour pencils
3. coloured paper for background

Tropical fish are beautiful fish with often bright colors. The live in warm seas with coral reefs to shelter. Show pictures of tropical fish and discuss the anatomy of the fish (gills, fins). Point out the bright colours and sometimes strange shapes of the fish. Students scetch a fish on their sheet with pencil. Behind the fish they scetch waves. Sketch as thin as possible, so the pencil lines won't show through the colours later. Both the fish and the waves must be coloured with 'spots', drop-like shapes that accentuate the water. About a half cm between the spots should remain white. Colour the waves with different colours blue and green. Colour the spotted fish with warm colours.

Made by children from 11-12 years old

Beat the wall, like Thierry Noir

You need:

1. white drawing paper A4 size
2. markers
3. black markers, thin and thick
4. pictures of the artwork of Noir

Thierry Noir was born in 1958 in Lyon, France. He came to Berlin in January 1982, attracted by the music of David Bowie and Iggy Pop, who lived in West Berlin at this time. From April 1984, Thierry Noir and Christophe Bouchet started to paint the Berlin Wall. He is an artist at the East Side Gallery. The object was not to embellish the wall but to demystify it. As the years went by, the paintings took on phenomenal proportions, which were rapidly recognized by the international arts community. The paintings of Thierry Noir became a symbol of new found freedom after the reunification of Germany and the end of the cold war.

Typical of Noir are bright coloured profiles, reduced to an icon with a big nose, thick lips and saucer-like eyes.

The East Side Gallery (see photo) is a 1.3 km long section of the wall near the center of Berlin and probably the largest open air gallery in the world. Here you'll find the work of Thierry Noir. After looking at pictures of the work of Thierry Noir, children have to get heads in the style of Noir. hoofden tekenen in de stijl van Noir: profile heads looking to the right or left. The sheet has to be filled completely. Choose three colours marker. Outline everything with a thick black marker. Colour the remaining white parts with another colour or fill the spaces with a pattern in thin marker.

Selfportrait in popart style

By Milan, 12 years old

You need:

1. drawing paper A4 size
2. picture of the child
3. watercolour paint
4. brushes
5. wallpaper
6. coloured paper for background
7. scissors and glue
8. black marker
   

   Print from photograph, made at Dumpr

Make portraits of the children. Go to http://www.dumpr.net/ and click on 'photo to scetch'. Upload the pictures and print a drawing for every child.

Show some drawings in the classroom. How do you recognize the student? What are the most important parts of the face? What lines are important? Every student gets his own drawing. The trace the most important lines in their drawing using a fine black marker. Do not trace details, because after this they have to trace with thick markers. This means: don't trace hairs, just the contours of them. Don't forget facial lines around the mound or nose. When tracing is ready, students take their drawing and a new drawing sheet to a window (or use lightboxes if you have these). Keep the drawing against the window with the white sheet one it and trace the drawing with a pencil. Go back to the table and look carefully at your own portrait. Is it you? Are the lines well? Are the eyes correct?

Take a thick black marker and trace the pencil drawing. Paint the portrait with watercolour paint. Choose the colours you like; in popart every colour is possible!

Paint a background or choose a wallpaper background and paste your cut portrait on it. Paste a coloured background behind it for strength.

Lino print of musical instrument

Made by students from 11-12 years old

You need:

1. two pieces of linoleum from 12 x 12 cm
2. drawing paper from 12 x 12 cm
3. sheets with music notes
4. carbon paper
5. lino knives
6. mat
7. black block printing ink
8. flat piece of glass
9. linoleum roller
10. lino press
11. glue
12. coloured paper for background

Children draw a musical instrument. Draw this instrument on the two pieces of linoleum, using carbon paper. From the first piece of linoleum the background has to be cut away, so the instrument will remain. Details from the instrument can be cut with a small lino knife. From the second piece most of the instrument has to be cut, so the background and some details of the instrument will remain.

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 music paper.

Monochromatic painting

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A3 size
2. tempera paint
3. brushes
4. black marker

Children choose a geometric shape and draw this overlapping and in different sizes on their sheet. Then they choose one colour tempera to colour their shapes. Mixing is only allowed with white and black, because the painting has to be monochromatic. When ready, outline everything with black marker.