Searching for the chameleon

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size
2. oil pastels
3. scissors
4. small pieces of foam
5. double sided tape

Start the lesson with this poem about a chameleon.

Has anyone seen my chameleon this morning?

He has to be hiding somewhere.

He asked me if we could play hide-and-go-seek,

and then disappeared into thin air.

I've looked high and low in the yard and the house

and it seems like he's nowhere around.

He's probably hiding right out in the open

but doesn't yet want to be found.

I'm guessing he looks like a leaf on a bush

or the back of a sofa or chair.

He could be disguised as a book or a bagel.

Regardless, I don't think it's fair.

If you come across my chameleon, please tell him

I give up. He beat me today.

He's clearly the champion at hiding so, next time,

it's my turn to pick what we play.

Kenn Nesbitt

Draw shapes of your choice on the sheet. Leave about 1 cm white between the shapes. Colour them with three or four different colours of oil pastels.

Draw a chameleon on another sheet and colour it the same way as the first sheet: coloured shapes with one cm white between them. Cut it out with a one cm white around it. Use small pieces of foam and double side tape to paste the chameleon on the background. The chameleon will be slightly higher.

All artworks are made by students of grade 6

Colourful cows, like Peter Diem

You need:

1. white painting sheet A3 size or a canvas
2. acrylic paint
3. brushes
4. jar with water
5. paper towels

Peter Diem (1945) is a Dutch painter. Diem, born from a Dutch father and a German mother, came in Amsterdam at the age of 3. He had a difficult childhood in which the people of Amsterdam showed they were not charmed by Germans so soon after the Second World War. After highschool Diem went to a school for graphic design to study graphic work. Through several European countries Diem landed in the 70's in the USA, where he married and had children. Halfway through the 90's he returned to the Netherlands and settled with his Diem Museum on the Prinsengracht Amsterdam.

Diem is inspired by the CoBrA Group ( a group of artists from Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam - see also my lesson about CoBrA artist Corneille). His style is abstract and expressive. He brings the paint thick on the canvas, sometimes directly from the tube. With brush, knife and fingers the bright coloured paint is spread across the canvas. 'Diem paints like a tornado, he lives his art'. Themes in his work are flying cows, Napoleon, Africa and Ernest Hemingway.

Show artwork of Diem on the digital board. Pictures are to be found on Diem's website or use the Google picture viewer and look for Peter Diem. Discuss Diem's work:

• subject, Diem paints often cows
• use of bright colours
• simplicity of the image
• thick black contour lines
• no white spots anymore
• the cow is full screen

Show students how to draw a simplified cow, by drawing a cow on the digital board (click on the picture to enlarge). Let the children draw a picture of a simple cow. They have to sketch thin, without drawing many details. The cow has to be painted with acrylic paint, considering the features of Diem's work. Paint a background. Outline the cow with black paint and a small brush. This will also eliminate the unevenness. And of course the work has to be signed, just like Diem does!

All artworks are made by students grade 5

Stamped snowmen

You need:

1. coloured construction paper A3 size
2. white and black tempera
3. saucer
4. brush
5. wine bottle corks

Give all students a sheet of coloured construction paper. Give a saucer with white paint and a little black paint for every two students. Children have to use a cork to stamp a snowman. Knots, eyes and mouth have to be made by finger printing. Only a hat or broom may be painted with a brush.

By students of grade 1

Artist Trading Cards

Some weeks before Christmas, I was contacted by Amy Baldwin, art teacher at St. Pauls Lutheran School in Millington (Michigan). She wrote me she was a fan of my weblog. We emailed for a while, wondering if we could do a little project together. I read about exchanging ATC's on many art blogs, so I proposed to let our students make those little cards for eachother. This seemed to her very nice, so we got started!

Amy's students made ATC's for my students, my Dutch students did the same for hers. A couple of days before Christmas I sent an envelope filled with 50 ATC's of my 23 students to Millington.

Yesterday we received the big envelope, full of ATC's! How exciting for my students to get those beautiful cards from the other side of the world! They admired the cards and were surprised about the Dutch words on some of them. Thank you very much Amy and thank you all, St. Paul's students!

Stuffed animal

You need:

1. white or coloured drawing sheet A4 size
2. chalk pastel
3. pencil
4. hairspray
5. stuffed animal

Ask students to take their favourite stuffed animal for this lesson. Let them choose their own drawing sheet. In my class students had to choose from grey, brown or white.

Tell students how to work with chalk pastel: you have to colour lightly and then smudge the chalk with your fingers. Don't produce to much powder, because you won't be able to smudge it away anymore. Vary with colours; you may use two colours and smudge them together. Tell students about light and show them lighter and darker parts of the stuffed animals. Use white chalk to lighten up parts of the stuffed animal, and black chalk to darken colours and make shadows.

Draw a horizon line and sketch your stuffed animal lightly with a pencil. Colour it with chalk pastel. Chalk pastel will emphasize the softness of the animal. Create a background and colour it completely. Use hairspray to fixate the chalk and paste the work on a coloured background.

All artworks are made by students of grade 6.

Owls in the night

You need:

1. blue construction paper 15 by 20 cm
2. white tempera paint
3. piece of cardboard
4. brush
5. saucer
6. paper towel
7. fine black marker
8. yellow pencil

Draw a moon and colour it with yellow pencil. Paint the bottom of the blue sheet white with tempera paint.

Put a paper towel on a saucer. Put a stripe of white tempera paint on the towel. The paper towel will function as a stamp pad. Dip the edge of a piece of cardboard into the white paint and print a trunk. Drag the cardboard a bit to create a thicker trunk. Print several branches. Be sure to leave some space between the branches for the owls.

Use a fingertop and white paint to print the body of the owls. Leave the work to dry.

Draw eyes with a yellow pencil. Outline the eyes with a fine black marker. Draw details like feathers, beak and legs.

Print snow flakes using a q-tip or the end of a brush.

Penguins and polar bears

Made by Jorine, grade 6

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size
2. plastic wrap
3. watercolour paint
4. brush
5. jar with water
6. black waterproof marker
7. white tempera paint
8. orange marker
9. glue
10. coloured cardboard
11. white pencil

Paint a part of the sheet with blue water paint. Use lots of water. While the paint is still wet, push plastic wrap on it to create floes and then leave the sheet to dry. Remove the wrap.

Use a waterproof black marker to draw several penguins. Colour the black parts and draw wings. Use white tempera to paint the bellies. Leave the work to dry and draw eyes and beaks.

Draw a polar bear on the ice. Trace the pencil lines with a fine black waterproof marker. Paint the bear with white tempera paint, including the black lines to make them a bit hazy. Paint the background with a mixture of white tempera and a little blue. In the example the mix is made of white tempera and the blue rinse water of the water paint.

Paste the work on a coloured background and draw ice crystals along the edges with a white pencil.

Come on, let's make a snowman!

You need:

1. blue construction paper A4 size
2. oil pastels
3. pencil
4. white tempera
5. brush

Students sketch a part of a snowman on blue paper. Sketch the hat and scarf and other items too. By choosing an incomplete snowman, students are forced to draw big. An additional advantage is that there remains some to imagine, because wwhat would your snowman look like if he filled the complete sheet?

Tell students that they begin to colour with white. This is to prevent the other colors will mix with white, and to be sure the white crayons will remain white! When the artwork is ready, outline everything with black oil pastel. Paint snowflakes around the snowman with white tempera paint and a sturdy brush.

Made by students of 10-11 years old

Let it snow!

You need:

1. black construction paper 20 by 20 cm
2. white tempera paint
3. saucer
4. paper towel
5. fine markers in black and white
6. metallic gel pens

I found the idea of printed snowmen in one of Usborne's activity books. With music lines, I made my own lesson of it.

Draw curved music lines with a white or silver pen on the black sheet. Put a piece of paper towel on a saucer so it can serve as a stamp pad. Drip some tempera paint the paper towel. Use your thumb to stamp the bodies of the snowmen. Add a fingerprint for a head.

When the paint is dry, you can add eyes, nose, mouth, arms, buttons etc. Use gel pens and markers. Draw some music notes on the lines and write the lyrics of a winter song belof the lines.

Christmas stamp

You need:

1. brown paper bag
2. markers
3. correction fluid

Draw a little Christmas scene on a piece of a paper bag. Colour it with markers. Colour the white pieces with correction fluid. Outline everything with a fine black marker. Draw serrated edges with black marker or cut the stamp with pinking shears.

Christmas tree in strips

Made by a student of 11 years old

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size
2. black construction paper A4 size
3. tempera paint
4. brush
5. advertising leaflet with Christmas decorations or aluminum foil or scrapbooking paper
6. glue
7. glitter stars
8. small piece of brown paper

Paint a white sheet with a broad brush and undiluted green tempera paint. Apply patches or streaks of different colours, to make the green sheet more vivid. Let the sheet dry.

Tear a trunk out of brown paper. Tear strips of the painted sheet that are about the same width. Place the paper strips on a black sheet in the form of a Christmas tree; the strips have to become slightly shorter. Put the trunk below the bottom strip and paste it. Paste the green strips, so that the trunk disappears partly under the lower strip.

Cut balls and a peak out of aluminium foil or advertising leaflets. You can also use scrapbooking paper. Paste balls and peak on the tree. Cut squares and rectangles (presents!) of coloured paper and paste them under the tree. Paste glitter stars around the tree.

Christmas gift paper bag

You need:

1. brown paper bag
2. markers
3. scissors
4. ruler
5. glue
6. pattern gift bag
7. piece of rope of 25 cm
8. punch

Pattern: click and print.

Print the pattern. Let students copy the pattern on a paper bag. Cut it. Make a Christmas drawing on one or both sides of the bag and colour it with markers. The snow in the example is made with correction fluid. Or make a drawing on a white sheet and paste this one on the bag. Fold the lines. Paste the bag, starting with the side and finishing with the bottom. Use a punch to make holes in the bag. Pull a rope through the holes to get two rods and tie it.

Cityscape at night

You need:

1. black construction paper 20 by 20 cm
2. oil pastel
3. white tempera paint
4. some drops of dishwashing detergent
5. brush

Students draw the outline of simple houses on black paper. Behind the high ones, in the front the lower ones. Colour the houses with oil pastel. Draw and colour a behind the houses. Mix some drops of dishwashing detergent with tempera paint. This keeps the paint to stick to the oily chalk. Outline the houses and moon with the white paint. Finally paint windows and doors.

Dutch December skyline

You need:

1. black construction paper 20 by 20 cm
2. chalk pastel
3. coloured pencils
4. white sheet A4 size for stencil

Draw a skyline with roofs of Dutch canal houses on the white sheet. Cut it. Choose a colour to stencil with. Rub chalk on the stencil. Use a tissue or your finger to rub the chalk off the stencil on the black sheet, to create the soft looking skyline. Turn the stencil and take another colour to repeat this process. Students may also exchange the roof with your neighbour, to get different skylines. Draw a moon with chalk pastel. Draw windows in the houses and colour them with a yellow and/or white pencil.

Paper bag city

Made by a student of grade 2

You need:

1. white drawing sheets A3 size
2. tempera paint in blue, white and black
3. brown paper bag
4. scissors and glue
5. brushes

Torn some typical city center buildings in various forms out of brown paper bags. Paste them on a white sheet. In front of the high buildings we see smaller ones (overlap). Paint a blue or grey blue sky on the sheet. Use different colours of blue and grey. Outline the buildings with black tempera paint. Paint windows and doors. Hang all artworks together to create a long street.

I love Holland

Made by students of grade 6

You need:

1. two pieces of linoleum of 12 by 12 cm
2. white drawing paper
3. lino knives
4. block printing ink in red and blue
5. flat piece of glass
6. linoleum roller
7. lino press
8. cardboard in red and blue
9. scissors
10. glue

What are typical Dutch things? Make a word web with the children. Think about cheese, canal houses, tulips, wooden shoes, cows etc. The children create a drawing on a scrap of paper with the theme I love Holland. Not too many details, because the drawing will be printed. The drawing has to be copied on both pieces of linoleum. It doesn't matter if they don't match exactly; this is even fun while making a two colour print, because the drawing seems to shift a bit. Use different linoleum knives. Cut the drawing from the first piece of linoleum. Cut the background from the second piece of linoleum, leaving the object. Lines within the object should be cut too.

Shake the bottle of blockprint carefully to be sure oil will mix with the rest. Drip some red paint on the glass and roll it out with the lino roller. Make 2 prints of your work on a white sheet. Rinse the linoleum clean and make 2 prints in blue in the same way.

Repeat this process with the second piece of linoleum: 2 prints in red and 2 in blue. There will be 8 prints if you're finished.

2 pieces of linoleum, 2 colours, 8 prints

Finally use one or more of those prints to make a two colour print. This has to be done by inking piece 1 red and printing it on a blue print of piece 2. See picture below. Let students choose their best prints and let them decide how many prints they want to use for their final artwork. Cut the prints with 1 cm white aound them. Make a composition on blue or red cardboard and paste the prints with 1 cm between them.

Final composition I love Holland, by Malou, grade 6

Transport yourself

You need:

1. piece of linoleum of 16 by 12 cm
2. white paper towel from a towel dispenser
3. mat
4. block printing ink
5. flat piece of glass
6. linoleum roller
7. lino press

What kind of transport do you know? Think of cars, limosines, trucks, airplanes, but also of skateboards, strollers etc. Everything with wheels can be used to transport persons!

Draw a mean of transportation on a piece of linoleum and cut it out. 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 on textured towel paper. Choose the best one to be your artwork.

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!

Printed leaves

You need:

1. black construction paper A4 size
2. flat dried autumn leaves
3. white tempera and another cool colour
4. brush
5. colour pencils
6. piece of sponge

I found this project on Artsonia. Ask students to take some autumn leaves for this lesson. The leaves should be dried flat, for example in a phone book.

Paint the veined side of a leaf with thick white tempera. Press the leaf on black paper; use a clean sheet to cover the leaf and press on it with flat hand. Do this with several leaves. Then pick an additional cool colour to blend with the leftover white paint and sponge paint the background. Be sure to leave a little black around each leaf for contrast. Add some autumn colour to each leaf using coloured pencils.

Treasure map

Made by a student of 11 years old

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size
2. strong brewed tea
3. wide, flat brush
4. colour pencils
5. candle

Drawing a treasure map is always exciting! A treasure map is a map that leads to a treasure or secret place. Little drawings tell you what you say on your way, and the road is often indicated by a dotted line. Treasure maps look often crumpled or discoloured, as if they have been well hidden. Students know treasure maps from books and comics. If not, show them some treasure maps on the digital board.

To make the treasure map look old and yellowed, the drawing sheet has to be painted with strong brewed tea. Do this at an earlier time so that the sheets have dried well before the drawing starts.

If the sheet is dry, a map that will lead the seeker to the treasure has to be drawn. Students have to make clarifying little drawings on the map and then colour everything with colour pencils. The treasure map has to contain a compass rose.

A job that is too dangerous for the children themselves to do, but that gives a nice weathered appearance: burning away the edges. Do this, being a teacher, yourself!

To give the treasure map something extra, students can create their own cryptography. This cryptography has to be rolled up and pasted on the map.

Also nice: seal the treasure map using drops candlewax. Press a coin in it, just before the fat has solidified!

Fall things

You need:

1. white drawing sheet 30 by 20 cm
2. pencil
3. ruler
4. crayons
5. liquid watercolour
6. brush
7. jar with water
8. coloured paper for background
9. glue

Practice the student's measuring skills by letting them draw a 5 cm grid on the drawing sheet, using a ruler and pencil. Trace the pencil lines with crayons. Draw crayon lines along the outer edges of the paper. Create a pattern of returning autumn drawings in the squares. In this lesson is chosen for diagonal lines. Trace the outlines and details of the drawings with crayon. Paint the drawings and background of the squares with liquid watercolour. Be sure the regular pattern is also to be seen in the colours.. Paste the artwork on a coloured background.

Made by a student of 11 years old