WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE ART ROOM?? The 4th grade students studied Asian Art.
We look at many different varieties of Asian art and focused on Koi Fish. Koi Fish are native to Asia and mean “carp” in Japanese. In China they believe that Koi Fish bring good luck and symbolize strength. Koi fish can range anywhere from 1-3 feet in length and live up to an average of 30 years. The students learned that there was one Koi fish that was recorded to live 223 years! Chinese New Year Crafts for Kids - Kids' Crafts for Chinese New Year. 3rd Grade Chinese Dragons. Chinese-Style Lanterns. Inspiration: Chinese paper lanterns, The students decorated the template I gave them for the lantern with images associated with Chinese culture (i.e - Chinese dragons, calligraphy, cherry blossoms etc).
The template was cut out and glued to form a box shape. We made the top and bottom from cardboard and pop sticks and created a tassle with coloured wool and a large gold bead. Tiger Sculptures. Inspiration: Chinese New Year, Year of the Tiger.
Grade 3 students made these tigers to celebrate Year of the Tiger. They constructed a base using a cardboard tube body, a section of egg carton for the head, pop stick legs and a pipe cleaner tail. We then covered them in a layer of paper mache. After looking at a lot of photos of tigers, the children painted in orange and white and used black markers to draw on the faces and give their tigers some stripes. I like the drawing this boy is doing whilst waiting for his tiger to dry...:) Chinese Style Fans. Inspiration: Chinese style paper fans.
A few years ago my grade 3 students made these Chinese style fans to celebrate Chinese New Year. Each student decorated a very long strip of paper with a Chinese inspired design of their choice. They then had to concertina fold the entire strip and secure the ends to a handle we made from pop sticks. The idea came from this site, which gives you more details about construction.www.activityvillage.co.uk/chinese_fan_craft.htm. Chinese Terracotta Warriors Project. Tiger Masks. Inspiration: The Year of the Tiger, Tigers and masquerade masks!
To celebrate the beginning of Chinese New Year, I had my grade 1 students make masquerade style masks for 2010 Year of the Tiger. They are basically paper plates with embellishments but looked quite effective. Each of my little tiger cubs looked different, which was nice. Willow Pattern Paper Plates. My mum has always had a large Willow Pattern collection and the images have fascinated me for a long time.
This lesson is inspired by her collection and this Willow Pattern plate activity at Activity Village. My grade 5 students first read the Willow Pattern story, viewed pieces of Willow Pattern china and then chose their own part of the story to illustrate. Their designs were transferred to paper plates and painted using fine brushes. Students had to create tints and shades to mix their own different shades of blue for painting. There is a very cute little youtube video of The Willow Pattern Story, also illustrated by children here. Happy Chinese New Year. I've been enjoying my summer holidays for the past few weeks but I realised today is Chinese New Year so I thought I'd post some dragons for Year of the Dragon.
These clay sculptures were made by some of my grade 4 students last year as part of a fantasy theme. I plan to do some more dragons once I get back to school - Chinese style dragons this time. 4th Grade. The 4th Grade students learned about the life and artwork of Georgia O’Keeffe.
Georgia O’Keeffe grew up on a farm in Wisconsin and has become one of today’s most famous painters. Her mother thought art was very important, so growing up O’Keeffe had many art lessons and was encouraged to go to Art College. O’Keeffe loved nature, so most of her paintings were of flowers, mountains, seashells and even animal bones. O’Keeffe often simplified her paintings, creating more emphasis on the beauty of nature. Eventually O’Keeffe moved to New York to start showing her artwork.