Drawing and Painting Barns for Third Grade

Here is a super easy lesson that I snagged from Painted Paper Flicker Page. If you have any desire to be utterly inspired let alone be swept away by color, visit this link. This gal is my ultimate inspiration! Couldn't quite find the "barn" painting to refer you to, but it's in there somewhere!
Anyway....like I said, this project is an easy one and it allows all children to feel like an art star. It's wonderful lesson for all abilities as long as the child can draw a line (and it doesn't have to be straight).

Here's what I do:

• Set out a piece of 12" x 18" white drawing paper and one black oil pastel per student.
  
• On the white board, I demonstrate how to draw a barn, beginning with the square that makes up the front of the barn. Starting at the bottom left hand side (allow room for background), draw a square with an open top. If some kids close off the "square", don't worry.
  
• Now, draw two angle lines to form a triangle (pitched roof).
• Place oil pastel on the bottom right hand corner of the "square" and draw a line along the bottom of the paper to form the bottom of the barn.
  
• Then draw another line, parallel to the bottom line in the middle. Then, draw another line along the roof...BUT...stop before reaching the end.
• Connect the lines to form a steep roof and side of the barn.
• Add a square to form a "loft", a wide double door and windows.
• Keep the background simple by adding gently rolling hills, trees or even a fence. I encourage the kids to make the barn the star of the show.
• Add a silo.
• Don't paint barn boards at this stage.
  

• Now, the kids are ready to paint. Set out a tray of white, yellow, red, light blue, dark blue and green.
  
• Teach them how to mix colors directly on the page using the double loading technique with the paint brush (dip paintbrush with one color, then dip into another color. Be careful not to swirl the paint around!)
• Paint sky first. I encourage the kids to paint their sky whatever color they like, but they must consider the barn and the background before deciding. They don't want to use the same colors!
• After the sky is painted; paint the barn. Suggest that they paint their roof a different color than their barn.

• The last step involves setting out little tubs of black tempera paint and small brushes. Trace over every single oil pastel lines plus add lines for barn boards, if desired.

• 

Third Grade Results!!!

Drawing Barns and Rural Settings

This lesson took five classes for my sixth grade students to complete.
I found this idea on the Artsonia website, but after trying to locate the source, I fell short. So, although the original idea was not mine, the lesson structure is....
It's a good idea to show a variety of farm/barn pictures just so the students get an idea for color choices, structures and backgrounds. Most art teachers know that the best sources for visual aids are calendars...so shop for them when they go half-price.

Day One: Cut tag board into 6" x 10" pieces. Each student gets one rectangle (or shares). I instruct them to trace a light pencil line around the tag board onto white watercolor or art paper. This is the size the barn will be. Then, the math begins. You can use your own dimensions, as they are fairly easy to figure out, or you can try to enlarge my picture above to see the measurements I used. Obviously, the idea is to use a grid to create the shape of a barn. The slope of the barn roof is created using different measurements for different pitches. I had all my students use one pitch but if you have a smaller class, a variety of pitches would make the barns more individual. Using pencil, we created the roof, side (need to extend beyond rectangle), barn door, windows and a loft.




Day Two: At this point, all the kids have is a pencil grid with a few shapes inside. The rectangle is starting to look like a barn (or a funny hat as some kids pointed out) so now it's time to add background. I asked teh students to "frame" their windows (using rulers to draw and echo line around all doors and windows to make it look like a wooden frame), add a silo, and a fence.

Okay. Creating the fence. This is a challenging section. I instructed them to draw a post right beside the barn door, making it half the height as the door. Then, add another post way off to the side of the door and towards the bottom of the page (about 3 1/2" to 4" high). The farther the second post is away from the middle of the picture, the less angle the fence will have, and thus, an easier time creating it.

Tip: This is a good time to talk about Here, Near and Far:the closer an object is to the bottom of the paper, the larger the item will be; the closer to the top of the paper, the smaller the object will be.

So, now that the kids have two posts drawn, they can begin to make the dots that will eventually be used to create the fencing. On the small post (next to the door), have them draw two sets of dots: two near the top of the post, two near the bottom. Repeat this step with the larger post. Connect the dots using a ruler. The lines will be at a steep angle and you will lose many kids. Extra parents or aids in the classroom really is helpful at this point! Now that the kids have the fencing penciled in, have them draw one or two up and down posts. Now, creating a fence along the bottom of the paper is a lot easier, and if you understood my directions so far, this part will be easy to figure out on your own. If you didn't understand my directions, I don't blame you. Hopefully you are the visual type and can figure this out on your own!



Day Three: This is the day the kids add a simple background. Then using a waterproof pen, outline ALL pencil lines the students wish to keep. Pay special attention to the grid lines inside the barn frame: make sure the kids don't outline thses lines as they are not part of the drawing, merely guidelines.
Note: Some kids will be quick with this, so they can start painting (see below).


Day Four: Start painting! Using watercolor paints, I demonstrate how to mix colors to create interesting rural colors. Instead of painting the barn red straight from the palette, show them how to mix the red with brown or even blue. The results will be richer and deeper. For the background, show how to mix different shades of green (mixing with blue and brown and yellow). Ask the kids to paint their backgrounds many shades of green. For the sky, ask the student's to think of colors other than blue. Use orange and blue for a deeper, ominous sky; yellow and orange for a brilliant sunset.




Day Five: Finishing Touches/Details. This is the fun day. I show the kids how to paint blades of grass using wet-on-dry technique, clumps of trees in the distance and then finally, adding shading/wood panels on barn with a black pencil crayon.
I think the finished artwork proves that longer lessons yields great results!
Congratulations for all the 6th grade students at Brandon School for creating such wonderful pieces of art!

Eric Carle Inspired Barns and Farms

Eric Carle is one of my favorite illustrators. Over the years, I have used many of his books as inspirations for art lessons. The next few blog posts will feature work I have done with various grade levels using my basic "Eric Carle" techniques. The instructions will be basic, all using a three class format, templates and pre-painted paper.

Here's the first one:
Barns and Farms

Day One: Getting messy!
I set out 3-4 pots of pre-mixed tempera paint per table. When I say pre-mixed, I mean I create the colors. Don't just use red. Make a red-orange. Don't just use blue. Make a turquoise. Get creative! Tip: add white to the paint!
Think about what picture the kids will be creating and mix up paints for that purpose.
For the Barns and Farms, I mix up earth tones, barn colors, sky colors, etc.
For a 20 kid class, I use four to five tables. This means 12-20 pots of mixed paint.

Place a variety of texture tools on each table. This can be plastic forks, round sponges or even the store-bought texture makers (rollers, etc.) If you have nothing available, use the tip of a paint brush for texture.

Instruct the kids to apply ONE color of paint on a white piece of paper. Paint the edges and encourage the kids to go off the edges of the paper. This will make the tables messy, but so what? It's art class!
Next, show the kids how to make squiggles, dots, splatters, etc with other paints. Encourage the kids to create patterns and not blend in the colors so much that they turn to a muddy mess. This takes finesse on the teacher's part!
I allow the kids to do at least 3 papers. That means about 50 pieces of beautiful Eric-Carle inspired paper to dry. Make sure you have drying racks available.

Day Two: Tracing Templates
Before the kids come to class, I cut the pre-painted 12 x 18 papers in half. I fan them out on a big table for the whole class to use. There are only a few kids who search for the papers they made. Most enjoy the fact that all the papers were created by the entire class.
For my Eric Carle projects, I always provide a template. In this case, it is a series of different cardboard squares and triangles. The kids can use these to trace their barns. It makes the project far more identifiable than if you had the children create their own barn. Having said that, I do allow the kids to free cut rolling hills (we talk about placement here), sun, clouds, flowers and animals. As the children work on their cutting, I rotate around the tables and show them how to make flowers or a pig or a fence.

Day Three: Details

On the last day, details are created. Some kids will still have plenty of work to do, others will work on fine details. For the Barns and Farms, I show the kids how to make "boards" on their barns using a black marker. We add nail holes, etc. The kids have the option of outlining their fields as well. Adding crops, grooves, plants, etc.



(These pictures were created by Ms. Messick's 2nd grade class at MountainView School)