Kindergarten Collage Fish

Teaching art to kindergarten kids can be tricky. You can make it easy by having them color or fingerpaint, but that wouldn't make for a great art program...so, I spend alot of time coming up with age-appropriate art activities that all kids, no matter what their ability, can master.
This is one such lesson.
I discovered it in School Arts magazine and it was developed by Art Teacher, Julia Stone.

My Kinder classes are 30 minutes long, so I broke this lesson into three class times.

1. Painting the background
2. Drawing the fish
3. Adding decorations

The first class of the year was spent getting very messy. I pre-mixed different colors of blue tempera paint and placed three tubs on each table. I demonstrated to the children how to layer the paints then run combs or texturing tools through the paint to create "lines". After the kids finished, I had the kids guess what they were making. Most guessed the ocean.

In the second class, we talked about fish and what they looked like, how they all have tails and fins, etc. I demonstrated how to draw a simple body shape and asked the kids to invent their own fish. This is an important part of teaching these little kids...making sure they can instill their own ideas and creativity into their art.
They finished the drawing by coloring in with oil pastel. I gave them free reign with this part. They could add poka dots, zig-zags or even try to make the fish colors realistic. No one did!

The last class was the most fun and challenging. The kids had to cut out their fish. For some, cutting is difficult. This was a perfect project to aid them in their new skill. After the fish was cut out, the kids added buttons and sequins for their eyes and glitter tissue for the seaweed, or in some cases, crowns!

I think the fish turned out very well and each child was very proud.

(from top left: Erick M, Dylan S, Tyson B, Lucy L and Kylee H from Mountain View School)