Kindergarten art is certainly a busy place! By the end of the year, these are a few things your Kindergarten student should have learned in the art room:
Kindergartners will be able to: -Use scissors appropriately -Dispense proper amounts of glue -Fold paper in various ways -Mold and shape clay -Work collaboratively on art project with classmates -Use a paper hole punch -Use watercolor and tempera paint appropriately -Clean up after ourselves -Identify the primary colors -Explain what is texture -Draw and identify shapes and lines -What primary colors you mix to make new colors -Explain what sculpture is and what 3D art is -Tell what is a portrait and self portrait, as well as draw one -Draw an animal using basic shapes -Know the difference between warm and cool colors
Artists we focus on in Kindergarten: -Piet Mondrian -Vincent Van Gogh -Claes Oldenburg
The Dot
To start off the year in art, we read the book "The Dot." Students create their own dot picture, and we "frame" it in swirly gold, just like in the book!
One of my favorite artists to learn about in Kindergarten is Piet Mondrian. His favorite colors to paint with also happen to be the primary colors. Introducing students to his artwork is a great way to combine learning about an artist and some very important colors.
Vincent Van Gogh Sunflowers
We read the book "Camille and the Sunflowers" to learn a little history behind the artist Vincent Van Gogh. We also discuss the anatomy of a sunflower to figure out how to get it right in the painting. With this project, we even do a little color mixing to get the perfect shade of green for our stem, leaves and grass.
Paper Sculpture
A podcast from Sesame Street helps us learn about what sculptures are to start off this lesson. We take a look at the sculptures that are super close to us at the Sculpture Walk in downtown Sioux Falls. We also learn a little about the sculptor Claes Oldenburg and his famous Spoon Bridge and Cherry also located not too far from us! I love how unique and individual each sculpture turns out for every student.
Big Green Monster
After reading "Go Away Big Green Monster" by Ed Emberly, we set off to make our own big green monster. The kindergarten students decide we should try to make the face first. We use paint to do this, and somehow Mrs. Rausch ALWAYS runs out of green paint when we do this project ;) With no green paint in sight, students realize we can use yellow and blue to mix up our own perfect shade of green for our monster. After the face is painted, we cut out our painted paper into a big circle or oval and then add all the extras - yellow eyes, squiggly ears, etc.!
Warm/Cool Sun/Moon
As an introduction to color theory, Kindergarten students learn about what group colors can be categorized into: warm or cool. The SMART board helps us divide the colors up into the category we think they belong. We draw a sun and moon, trace with a black crayon, and then paint our sun and moon with warm and cool colors.