Printmaking with 4th graders (some images from 2nd grade printmaking too)

As with all media, we begin with drawings. In 2nd grade and because we ONLY have 35 minute classes I needed to limit the content focus in order to be able to provide the resources they'd need to practice their drawing skills. Most kids, when they begin drawing they draw, or at least attempt to draw a silhouette of the figure they are trying to depict, yet, in doing that they often fail, for that is a tall order for that age group. Even for me, I'd have a hard time drawing a simple bird silhouette. Instead, I have them "see" the shapes embedded in the more complex figure and draw those. As shown in the image above, a complex bird is simply a circle, and a semi-circle. Bringing the image down to it's essentials makes drawing much simpler and manageable. 

As you can see with these drawings the simplification of the more complex figures helps tremendously in rendering a more complex figure. 

In cases where kids still struggled in drawing a figure, I would sit beside them and do a side-by-side draw with them as indicated in the image above. 

Here are some links to videos of the process after these drawings: 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CZ2G_kBFcdh/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

This link above shows how kids used their drawings and understanding of their drawings to create a stamp. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZuqSCYvJL5/

This link above shows how we used our drawings to inform a collage, which in turn will be used to create a collagraph using folder paper (card stock). 

Prek artists created this mural as a response to reading Swimmy by Leo Lionni

Pre-Kindergarten artists read the book Swimmy in art class. In a 3-part class, children created this mural. First, they sponge painted a large paper. Then they traced fish stencils and decorated their fish with oil pastels. The third class they glued on their fish onto the mural and used white and blue oil pastels to add 'bubles' to the water.

Wet-on-Wet and Wet-on-Dry to create depth...

Children created their 'oceans' using the wet-on-wet technique and the ocean creatures were created by using the wet-on-dry technique. The result is a painting with depth. The fish look closer than the ocean waves.

Making an Ocean-Prek (Wierenga)

Kids in Ms. Wierenga's class have created these beautiful fish using cray pas and watercolor. Children used various types of lines to decorate the fish, such as wiggly lines, zig zag lines, and bumpy lines.

The background was also created by the kids. Children learned about colors changing when mixed though making these walls of water. Like how green happens when blue and yellow are used. Or how light blue appears when white and blue are mixed.

Children learned how to make roundish marks on paper by using their brush like a stamp...up and down marks were the only marks allowed in this activity. This way they learned another way to use their brushes besides gliding them across the paper.