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

Winter scene

Made by Veerle, 10 years old

You need:

1. black paper A4 size
2. chalk pastels
3. hairspray
4. scissors
5. glitter
6. glue

Students draw a winter forest with snowy pine trees on a black background. The trees on the foreground must be lighter than those on the background.

When ready, put a flower pot on the drawing and draw a circle. Cut this circle. Fix your artwork with hairspray and let it dry for a few seconds. Then lay the circle face down on the table. Colour along the outer edge of the back of the circle a circle of about one centimeter. Put the circle in the middle of a new sheet of black paper. Smudge the chalk with your fingers on the new sheet, taking care the work won't move. Finally turn the circle and paste it in the black circle of your latest sheet. Sprinkle a little glitter in small dots of glue.

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.

Snowman close ups

Made by Charmaine, 11 years old

You need:

1. grey drawing paper cut in pieces from 15 by 15 cm
2. oil pastels
3. glue
4. scissors
5. coloured cardboard

Children get three pieces of grey drawing paper. They have to draw the same snowmen face or part of the face from different points of view: frontal, of the side, from above, from the bottom, upside down etc. The snowmen must be coloured with oil pastels. Of course the colours of all drawings have to be the same. Outline everything with black oil pastel.
Glue the three snowmen close ups on a matching coloured cardboard.

Snowman close ups, by children of 11-12 years old

Tealight holder with glass paint

Made by students from 11 years old

You need:

1. used jar or small drinking glass
2. glass paint
3. outline paste in gold
4. brushes
5. turpentine

Wash your jar in hot, soapy water and remove any labels. Dry the jar completely. Cover your work surface with newspapers and have whatever cleaning solution you'll need for your brushes already set up. If you're going to do an outline, test the outline paste before you start, to learn how much pressure you need to apply to get it to come out evenly from the tube. If you make a mistake with either the outline paste or the paints, it's easy to correct by wiping it off with a paper towel before it dries. Paint your outline first. If you're working from an existing pattern, you can tape the paper pattern on the inside of the jar and follow it from the outside. Or, you can work freehand. Let the outline dry according to directions, then paint with transparent glass paints. Hold the jar up to the light periodically to see how it looks. It'll look different with the light coming through it. Allow your design to dry thoroughly (this usually takes about two days). To turn your glass jar into a lantern, put a layer of sand on the bottom and add a tea light.

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 Angels

By Felix, grade 5

You need:

1. black construction paper A4 size
2. pencils in yellow, gold, silver and white

On black paper children draw one or more Christmas angels, flying in a starry sky. By limiting the number of colours, children are forced to think about the use of patterns in the dresses of the angels. Finish the work with a frame; a simple straight line, a dot pattern or a golden frame!

Christmas angels, by children of grade 5

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.

Christmas carolers

You need:

1. green construction paper A2 size
2. scissors and glue
3. leftovers paper or Christmas scrapbook paper
4. fine marker in black and silver

A Christmas Carol is a book from the English writer Charles Dickens, which tells about an old and bitter mister Scrooge. Scrooge is a banker and money changer whose only goal is to get more and more money. He hates friendship, love and the meaning of Christmas. Just before Christmas he has a number of dreams in which spirits make him change his mind.

Made by kids of 11-12 years old

This art project is about the Christmas carolers; the singers who sing their typical English Christmas songs under the streetlights in cold and snowy villages. Children cut the parts of the singers: head (mouth open, nose up!), legs and arms (thin!), dress or suit, shoes (old fashioned, like lace-up boots) and of course the music book with the title Christmas Carols and some staves. Glue the different parts on a large piece of paper. Paste threedimensional if possible: paste the dress with folds, the arms have to come out of the sleeves and are pasted on the 3D pasted music book. Use a fine marker for the nostrils and a silver one for the shoe laces.

Make a large group work of these Christmas carolers!

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.

Winter coat

You need:

1. pattern winter coat
2. fabrics
3. buttons, straps
4. needles
5. sewing thread
6. textile glue
7. cardboard

Pattern winter coat

Make a copy of the pattern, enlarge it if you want to and print it. Cut the coat out of paper. Fold the fabric and pin the pattern on the fabric with the middle of the pattern against the fold. Cut the coat out of the fabric. Avoid fraying and use a lock or sewing machine.

Time to decorate the coat by sewing pockets, sewing buttons, embroidery, etc. When finished, paste the coat on cardboard.