Big Bugs

I created "Big Bugs" with children of all ages at the OKCMOA recently for Drop-in Art. We focused on symmetry, line and pattern.

First we looked at examples on the board of symmetry. We also looked at bugs and parts of a bug's body which includes a head, thorax and abdomen.

To get started we fold our large drawing paper in half and use a black oil pastel to draw HALF of our bug's body. We draw the body parts and add other things like legs, wings, antennae, patterns and designs to create our own unique bugs.

We FOLD the paper closed and rub all over our design. This will transfer the oil pastel using the heat of our hands to the other side of the paper and give us perfect vertical symmetry. Now we go over those light lines with our black oil pastel to make it complete.









Now we jump into paints. For this project we used Crayola washable tempera paints. The kids really enjoyed watching their creations come to life through color! This project is very adaptable for different ages.



You will need:
-Big white drawing paper
-Black oil pastel
-Tempera paints, brushes, washout bowls
-Examples of bugs and symmetry

Gears!

This is the lesson plan for a class I was going to teach this weekend but I am doing a mud run and thankfully got another instructor to cover the class for me (Thanks Ms. Amanda!!) The kids love her and I am sure she will add her own creative touch to this class.

Why gears? Well the OKCMOA has an incredible exhibit right now that you might have seen traveling through your town, 1934: A New Deal For Artists. The first part of the exhibit is about industry and what better way to talk about industry than machines and gears!

Gears are fun, they make a lot of things go, just have your kids look at some of their toys. I found some books at our library and this great video.



The first step was some prep work. I actually traced circles of different sizes for each student as they are 3-5 years old. Your students and children can freehand circles or use a template like I did.

Now we cut our circles out. To give our gears teeth we make an even number of little cuts around the circle.
Now we fold back every other tooth.



Set gears aside and prepare background. First we use oil pastels.



Then use a watercolor wash to fill our paper.



Now we use our glue stick to cover the back of our gears and press and hold. You need to use quite a bit of glue and press and hold, hold, hold. I usually tell kids to press, hold and count to five.



Arrange gears over paper and we trimmed a small strip from each side of our final work. We glued down our big piece down on black paper and finished by gluing the strips around the piece with a little space left between the piece and the strips.



That's it! Wish me luck that I don't break a leg at the race! And please don't forget to enter the

Elmer's Giveaway!

For this project you will need:
-Colored cardstock
-White constuction paper
-Black paper for mounting
-Pencils to draw/trace circles
-Glue/gluesticks
-Scissors
-Oil pastels
-Watercolors

My Hero and Me

It has been a really busy summer here. My boys are out of school and we are in a million directions. I am also teaching a little bit at the OKCMOA over the summer and will be doing some outreach programs. I had a wonderful experience last week through the museum and that was working with children through Hearts for Hearing. They had a camp where campers got to experience many of the cool things downtown OKC has to offer. Their theme was heroes and when they asked me to come up with a project idea I had the perfect thing come to mind.

I actually saw this project done as My Teddy Bear and Me. It was a magazine collage with tempera paint project. I really wish I could remember who did this, if you know please post and I will link. I changed it up a bit but loved the idea! The kids did an excellent job as you can see through the works they completed! These kiddos rocked and I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to meet all of them and work with them. Thank you Hearts for Hearing!

We talked about heroes and named some that are in our lives. They gave me the names of various people, their parents, family, teachers, doctors and more. They had to pick one to get started.

Workstations are prepped and ready to go.



First we used oil pastels to draw our hero on 10x8 paper. We used a heavy white construction paper. We added details and used a watercolor wash over the top. Set these aside to dry. You can use a hairdryer to speed the process along if needed.





Now we get started on our self portrait. We start by tracing our hand on a piece of construction paper that has been folded in half. When cut this will give us two hands.



Now we cut our head and begin with details like eyes, nose, mouth and hair. I had pre-cut shoulders and paper strips for arms.





Assemble self portrait on 12x18 construction paper. Use glue/gluesticks to attach. Arm strips are placed in an upside down "v" and hands are glued to the ends. (that "v" is covered by the hero painting later) When painting is dry it is glued on a piece of 12x9 construction paper to frame it. That is glued on bottom half of portrait. Arms are brought up and fingertips are glued to the painting to "hold" it.

These turned out amazing. I am going to post a ton of pictures. I can't resist sharing the wonderful work they did!

You will need:
-10x8 white construction paper for painting
-Pacon Multi-cultural paper for skintones
-18x12 colored construction paper for background
-12x9 colored construction paper for framing painting
-colored construction paper for body, arms, portrait
-Scissors
-Glue/Gluesticks
-Oil Pastels
-Watercolors/brushes/washout bowl
-Pencil for tracing hands