Landscape with chalk pastels

Made by students of grade 5

You need:

1. black construction paper
2. black oil pastels
3. soft pastels
4. hairspray

Show several hillsides and discuss what you see:  light/shadow, depth, overlapping, colours, pointed/rolling. 

Students draw with pencil a simplified hillside on the black sheet. In the blogpost 'Peaks and Valleys' a step by step explanation how to draw this. Give students a maximum of 5 minutes for this part of the lesson, to prevent them of drawing all kinds of details.

Trace the pencil lines with black oil pastel. Colour the hills and sky using chalk pastels. Color and mix, smear and blend until you're satisfied. Be sure the difference can be seen between the light-iluminated parts of the hills and the parts that are in shadow. 

Trace after coloring the black lines again if necessary. Fix the artwork with hairspray. 

Tea light holder The Style

Made by a student of grade 4

You need:

1. black construction paper  41 by 12 cm 
2. wax paper in red, blue and yellow
3. cutting mat and cutter
4. glue

Tell students about art the movement The Style and two of its most famous contributors Piet Mondriaan and Theo van Doesburg. 

Draw 4 lines with 10 cm between them from bottom to the top of the black sheet. The last strip (1 cm) is the glue strip. 

Draw four squares or rectangles on the black sheet. Then draw lines from about 1 cm wide. Cut the spaces between the lines and paste wax paper behind them. 

Finish the lantern by folding the four lines and pasting it. 

Moon behind tree

Made by a student of grade 6

You need:

1. white drawing sheet 
2. charcoal
3. chalk pastels 
4. indian ink
5. brush 

Use a saucer to draw a moon in the center of the sheet. Colour it with yellow chalk pastel. Colour the rest of the sheet grey using charcoal: around the moon it's brighter than further away.
Draw a branch and paint it with Indian ink.

Weaving like Mondriaan

Made by a student of grade 2

You need:

1. white sheet A4 size
2. colored paper strips in primary colours
3. scissors
4. glue
5. black fineliner 

Fold the white sheet in half.
Cut evenly-spaced slits starting from the folded edge and continuing up to about a half inch from the opposite. Open up the paper.
Take one paper strip and weave it across the slits, going over and under them. Push the strip to the top and start with another one. The second strip should be woven in an opposite pattern as the first one. If the first strip goes over and under across the slits, the second one should go under and over the slits.
Continue weaving until the white sheet is full. Paste the ends of the strips on the white sheet.
Create a frame by pasting the artwork on black construction paper. Draw small patters on the white strips using a fine black marker. 

Mondriaan collage with printed lines

You need:

1. paper in primary colours
2. white sheet A3 size 
3. pieces of cardboard 
4. black tempera paint
5. saucer
6. ruler 
7. pencil 
8. scissors 

Just like Piet Mondriaan (De Stijl), students draw rectangles and squares using ruler and pencil on construction paper in yellow, blue and red.  After this the drawings have to be cut and pasted on a white sheet. However Mondriaan did not: students may stick colours together.  

Stamp straight lines using a piece of ribbed cardboard and black tempera paint. 

Made by a student of grade 3 

Source: http://artroom104.blogspot.nl/ 

Happy monsters

You need:

1. drawing sheets A3 size
2. markers
3. tempera paint

Draw happy monsters! Not the scary types, but the nice ones with big eyes. Color with markers, background with tempera. Outline with black marker.

Made by students of grade 6

Oscar the Octopus

You need:

1. drawing sheet A2 size
2. oilpastels
3. liquid watercolor paint
4. jar with water
5. brushes
6. salt

After a story about Oscar the Octopus and viewing some pictures of squids, students draw a squid in the sea. Big head, big eyes at the bottom of the head, eight tentacles that go over and under each other. These things should be seen in the drawing.

Color with oil pastels and draw patterns. Be sure the tentacles are going over and under each other - this has to be seen in the patterns.  Outline when necessary with a dark color.

Drip some liquid water color on the background after you made it wet. Sprinkle salt  for a great 'watery' effect.

All artworks are made by students of grade 3

Japanese notans

Made by a student of grade 6

You need:

1. white paper 20 by 20 cm
2. black paper 10 by 10 cm
3. scissors
4. glue
5. cutter and cutting mat

Show pictures of notans  -  there are symmetrical notans, and also non symmetrical. Some notans are abstract, others are figurative.

Discuss the pictures with the students.
What stands out? Is there symmetry in the picture or not? Is the artwork abstract or figurative? Is there harmony in this notan?

Students make their own notan: figurative or abstract. There shouldn't remain any paper!