Saturday, September 27, 2008

Wild and Wacky Hair Line Drawings

I like to start the kids off each year with a line drawing warm-up. The sixth graders seem to enjoy this one in particular. We start by drawing a large "U" on a piece of white paper and follow with strategies for drawing hair--but not just regular hair--hair using shapes. I talk about the difference between a line and a shape and encourage the students to create shapes to be filled in later with patterns.
The biggest challenge for this project is making sure the kids draw shapes, not scribbles or lines. Most do it really well, but a few can't resist the urge to let their pen go wild. And who can blame them? This is a great project to let the kids imaginations run free. I don't put too many restrictions on the "type" of drawing, only encouraging the kids to have fun and be as creative as possible.
One of the best thing about this lesson, is that most of it can be accomplished in one 50 minute class. If not, the kids can pull this artwork out anytime throughout the year and continue to work on it. It makes a great time buster.

The source for this lesson came from the Whitney May School website. The teacher uploads many of her projects for people to peruse.

Art work done by Mrs. Evans, Ms. Graybill's and Mrs. Young's 6th grade class at Mountain View School
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