Chalk Pastel Flowers for Sixth Grade

I teach this lesson every year. It's fast; only takes 2-55 minute sessions, reinforces blending skills and offers practice on still developing fine motor skills.
Supplies:
Chalk Pastels
12" x 18" black drawing paper
1 bottle of white school glue per student

Step One:
Display a variety of flower pictures (old calendars are great) on the white board and talk about the elements of a flower. By sixth grade, these kids already know, but go over it again.
I show the kids how to properly use a glue bottle for "drawing". See my explanation here.
Before I go on, let me give you an option. You can either have the children draw their flowers with a pencil or have them skip this step and draw immediately with glue.
I recommend the latter. Kids with pencils (especially older kids) tend to become perfectionist; drawing the tiniest of details. This is fantastic, but it won't work with this lesson. The bigger the drawing, the better. The less detail, the better. So having said that, go directly to glue.

Step Two:
Begin with the centers of the flowers. That could mean one large center or two or three smaller centers scattered around the paper. Then, beginning on the left (if you are right handed), begin adding petals.
Once the entire paper is covered with beautiful, white flowers, lay the paper on a flat surface. Drying racks with a slant will not work!

Step Three:
This part is easy. Bring out the beautiful pastels and get to work. I encourage the kids to push the chalk up next to the rigid glue line and then blend into the paper using just one finger. Watch the kids work. If too much black paper is showing through, then they aren't applying enough chalk.

Chalk tips to avoid never wanting to work with chalk again.

• Have the kids hold up ONE finger. Tell them that this is their tool. Do not use more than one finger to blend.
• To clear their paper of chalk dust, have them hold their paper vertically and tap the paper onto the edge of the desk and onto the floor. Hey, it's better than on their clothes.
• Set a damp face cloth or rag on each of the tables. The kids who can't stand the dry, dusty feeling of chalk dust can wipe their fingers when they feel the need. Just make sure it's not too wet.
  

Finally, if you can, spray the picture with hair spray. This is not a perfect fixative, but it's cheap and works relatively well. Some years, I laminate chalk drawings. The colors become more vibrant, but if your school is impacted by budget cuts, sometimes a laminator isn't available!