Friday, October 9, 2009

Autumn Collage for First Grade

My wee first graders splattered their way to a beautiful autumn collage. The process was fun (painting paper) and skill building (drawing, cutting and pasting). If you have pumpkins and squash available (fake or real), bring 'em out! The visuals really help the kids.

Supplies:
Lots of white drawing paper
Lots of autumn colored paints
Texture making tools (brushes, plastic forks, plastic cups, etc.)
12" x 18" black paper
Scissors and glue sticks
Pencils

The first step involves painting a lot of paper. I pre-selected the paint colors, setting out 3-4 fall colors per table. When mixing the paints, keep in mind what colors you will need for the final product. Think pumpkin, squash, stems and fall leaves.Using a variety of texturing techniques, the kids created their paper. Here's a tip: Ask the kids to completely paint their paper in one color first, then they can add the coordinating colors for textures, etc.
After the paper dries, demonstrate how to draw a pumpkin, stem and other types of squash. I don't use templates for this project because it just doesn't matter. Anything round, orange and has a stem will look like a pumpkin.

After the kids glue one or two pumpkins to a piece of black paper, they cut our leaves. I set out maple, oak and other leaf templates, but many kids drew their own. Whatever is easier. The kids really practiced alot of cutting with this project!
For a final flourish, I set out small containers of gold tempera paint and the kids added swirly vines and grooves on their pumpkins.

First Grade Results!


14 comments:

  1. I like your blog and this work so beautiful of the children. We ask you for permission for adding yourselves to the blog of art of our school (Barcelona): plasticalavinia.blogspot.com

    Many happiness!

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  2. OMGosh!! I LOVE this project and will be printing it out to put in my art lesson files....just in case I ever teach again. My girls would have a blast making these!

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  3. I LOVE this!!!! Beautiful fall collage!

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  4. Oh wow I love how they came out and the beautiful textures! what a fun project, I am glad you linked up. We feature a lot of art projects at ABC & 123, but are always looking for more on the theory behind the lessons. I'm going to have to come back when I have time to browse around more!

    Katie, one of the Katies from ABC & 123

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  5. I was looking for a wonderful Fall project for 3rd grade and this would be awesome for them to try as well!!

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  6. I love this lesson! I think I will try this one with my students. Thank you for a blog full of wonderful ideas.

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  7. How fun. We are going to have to do this soon at home!

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  8. I love this craft. I think that I might do it for my homeschool group.

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  9. These are fantastic, this project is definitely one of my favourites! Thank you!

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  10. These are so beautiful. I love it when you post the work of all your students on your blog too. :)

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  11. This is an awesome project!I made this with my daughter she is grade one we enjoyed so much.We also made a fall fairy with the same technic.You can see on our blog.Thank you for sharing!
    Krisztina

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  12. Love your blog and this lesson. I am a former art teacher (now full-time mama), and seeing such wonderful kids art makes me miss teaching! Keep up the great work. (I know you probably don't hear that enough!)

    I hope you don't mind if I feature this lesson on my blog tomorrow.
    http://www.binspiredmama.com

    Happy Holidays!

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Well, what do you think? I love hearing how you adapted the art projects. Did it work? Any pitfalls? Or, if you'd like, just share your thoughts.