Let's face it, kids don't want to paint a boring color wheel. Change up your color wheel lesson for your intro or homeschool art class with these creative ideas for a color wheel! It's still a basic rainbow color wheel, but when you let students add their own flair, it becomes an art project that they are happy to display.
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Simply show the students a basic color wheel or grab some prisms to teach the color order of the rainbow and let their imaginations run wild! You can use markers, tempera paint, or water colors. Water colors tend to blend easier for a gradual, visual color change. Use tempera for an exact mixing of primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. There's more to color than ROY G. BIV.
What order do the colors go on the wheel? It depends where you start. Think about a rainbow or use a prism to display the colors in their natural light spectrum order. Allow students to paint anything they want as long as they demonstrate an understanding of the rainbow color wheel order.
Henri Matisse was best known as an abstract artist. He aligned himself with a small group of artists known as Fauvists or Wild Beasts. Unlike other painters during this era, he painted with bold colors and took risks with his art. Matisse called his cut paper art posters, painting and drawing with scissors So, how do you paint like Henri Matisse? With paper cut-outs, of course.
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The Cut Outs or Painting with Paper are part of the Matisse Jazz Series. Matisse created a few artists’ books, many were made in 1941 after he suffered with intestinal cancer. With this technique, he was able to stay in bed and still create art.
Henri Matisse Paper Cut Outs Video for Students.
The painting of the figure with stars around it is one of the most well-known in his Jazz series. The book is made up of circus and theater theme posters made with cut and pasted brightly colored papers that are printed using a stencil technique known as pochoir. Most of the images in the Jazz series are done in primary colors.
You may have seen a similar cut paper technique in a series of children's books painted and illustrated by Eric Carle. Carle was influenced by the works of Matisse and other abstract artists. Here's an art lesson on Eric Carle. You can also experiment with Eric Carle's technique of wet paper illustration with this lesson, how to paint like Eric Carle.
With his cut paper art, Matisse invented a new form of art, the cut-out. He called this new art form drawing with scissors. He cut out various geometric and organic shapes and arranged them on his gouache painted canvas to illustrate his books. He also hand wrote about each image in cursive rather than using a type setting. This style is similar to today's scrap booking. You can create your own book that has meaning to your life with this simple, inspired by Matisse, technique.
Paint Like Matisse
Supplies Needed:
Mixed Media Paper,18 x 24"
Tempera or Acrylic Paint in primary colors
Wide Paint Brush
Brightly Colored Copy Paper
Glue Stick
Subject Matter that is Meaningful
We decided to take inspiration from the Jazz poster's cover painting. Using the same primary color scheme, we added secondary colors in orange and violet. There are not lines or any drawing on the art work; everything is done in paper cut outs. Remember, it is abstract art! Use shapes and meaningful colors to represent your subject matter. Our paper painting represents a family pet. Our Cockatiel, Nebu, died at the age of twenty-three. Squinting your eyes while looking at a cockatiel will allow you to see his basic features, yellow spiked crest and orange cheek. The heart represents how close he was to our hearts, and the violet squiggles represent his wings in motion. They can also represent a flutter or the beating of his heart.
While you're planning your design think about the Elements of Art and the Principles of Design. How many can you use? Ours has color, line, shape, space, balance, movement, contrast, emphasis, and harmony. Do you see more? In the comments below, tell us what you see.
MATISSE ABSTRACT ART LESSON PLAN
Painting with Scissors and Paper Cut Outs: How to Paint Like Henri Matisse
Step one: Come up with a subject matter that means something to you.
Step two: Sketch it out in your sketch book.
Step three: Think about it in an abstract way.
Step four: Do a thumbnail sketch changing your drawing into basic shapes.
Step five: Paint your paper background in a primary color or black.
Step six: Cut out your shapes.
Step seven: Arrange your shapes on the paper. Think about the Principles of Design, especially balance and unity. Shapes should be abstract, and it shouldn't be immediately obvious what the picture represents (not realistic.) See our student examples below. No drawing! Remember, you are painting with paper.
Step eight: Paste them into position. Tip: Do not use school glue, it bubbles up. Glue sticks work best.
Step nine: That's it! It's that simple to paint like Henri Matisse!
These are student examples from the NCHS Intro to 2D Art class. You may not use these images or reproduce them anywhere else. They are for educational purposes only.
If you want to try this project with preschoolers or elementary students, you may also like to add some books to your Matisse art lesson plans. The books below make excellent companion books for a lesson on Henri Matisse's painting with scissors abstract poster series. Don't forget to read your students some Eric Carle books and remind them that he was influenced by Matisse.
COLOR THEORY COLOR SCHEME CUT PAPER LETTERS ART PROJECT
If you watch the popular NETFLIX series, Cobra Kai, you've probably noticed the t-shirts worn by the Anthony LaRusso character, played by Griffin Santopietro. In the series, Anthony is the son of Daniel and Amanda LaRusso, and the younger brother of Samantha LaRusso. He often wears cool printed tees, below the word LEGEND is printed in two tone letters across his shirt. The colorful block print letters inspired this letter color scheme art project perfect for a quick lesson on color theory.
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The video below is an awesome companion video to use when teaching the history of graffiti art.
LEGEND Color Theory Letter Project
This letter color scheme project can be be simple or more complicated and adapted for all grade levels. For a simple project for elementary students, simply cut and paste the letters onto a 6" x 12" white, gray, or black poster board using contrasting colors from the basic color wheel. For our homeschool friends that means: Red/Green, Blue/Orange, and Purple/Yellow. Remind your students to eyeball the letters and center the word on the page before the final glue down.
For high school students in a basic art class, remind the students that contrasting colors are simply colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. This will give more color options. For more advanced classes, have art students design their letters based on a color scheme: monochromatic, complementary, double complementary, split complementary, triadic, tetradic, analagous, intermediate primary, secondary, or tertiary. We used cut, brightly colored paper in anticipation of a color paper unit on Matisse, but you can also use acrylic paints.
What are the Color Schemes?
Monochromatic - One color. A monochromatic color scheme ranges between lighter (tints) and darker (shades) versions of the base color or hue.
Primary - The basic colors. Red, Yellow, and Blue. With crayons, pencils, and paint, these colors can be combined to create the secondary colors. (Don't let Google and Digital Art confuse you.)
Triadic - Primary and secondary color schemes are also triadic colors schemes. A triadic color scheme is made up of three colors evenly spaced on the color wheel. These colors form a triangle across the color wheel.
Tertiary - A primary color + a secondary color. Tertiary colors combine primary and secondary colors to create compound colors: blue-green, blue-violet, red-orange, red-violet, yellow-orange, and yellow-green.
Complementary - Two colors that are on opposite sides of the color wheel. The basics are Red/Green, Blue/Orange, and Purple/Yellow. However, you can pull-out a color wheel to find more variations such as, Yellow-Orange/Blue Violet.
Double Complementary or Tetradic - Using two sets of Complementary colors together. For example, red/green paired with yellow/purple. A double complementary color scheme forms a rectangle across the color wheel.
Split Complementary - A split complementary scheme uses three colors. Start with one color, find its complement and then use the two colors on either side of it. If you look at the color wheel above, blue, violet (purple,) and yellow-orange form a split complementary triangle. Yellow-Orange/Blue-Violet being the contrasting colors and blue and violet are the splits. If using Blue-Violet, the split complementary colors are Orange and Yellow. Get it? Got it. Good!
Analogous - Analogous colors are next to each other on the color wheel. Only use three to five colors for this color scheme. Analogous schemes can use warm colors, cool colors, or a combination of both depending on where you start. For art that pops stick to three analogous colors.
Intermediate - The tertiary colors are every other color on the color wheel. Tertiary colors combine primary and secondary colors to create compound colors: blue-green, blue-violet, red-orange, red-violet, yellow-orange, and yellow-green. This is also known as an intermediate color scheme.
Beginners will want to measure to choose letter size and then eyeball the position on the poster board before gluing it down. Divide 12" by the number of letters you choose to use. The answer will provide enough space for your letter and the space between each letter. For example, 12/6 = 2". Allow 1 1/2" for each letter and use the extra space to form a border and proper letter spacing.
More advanced students should use the ruler to lay out a grid on the poster board. Draw separate grid lines for the block letter, space between the letters, and a border around them. Showing the students how to layout and plan for the block letter spacing will prepare them for future work in sign painting, drafting, technical theatre, and architecture.
Draw a horizon line halfway down the middle of the paper at 3". This line serves as the dividing line for the color of the letters. Each letter will be two colors based on one of the color schemes listed above. for younger students, choose contrasting colors. Measure for at least a 1/4" border from the edges of the paper. The width of letters is determined by the number of letters used as mentioned above. If you cut the letters out from a block of paper, with an Xacto knife, you can use the paper as a template to paint letters for a future project.
Magnifier Lamp for Intricate Art and Sewing DIY Projects
I was given a magnifier lamp for review. All opinions are my own.
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Brightech is an LA based lighting company that specializes in awesome magnifier lamps. Who needs a magnifier lamp? You do! Your grandma does when she's quilting, you do when your trying to thread a needle, artists do to make intricate designs, homeschoolers need one for science investigations, jewelers do when doing beadwork, your grandpa does when he's trying to do his favorite crossword puzzle, the possibilities are endless. No more magnifying glass. A magnifier lamp is the perfect tool for DIY crafting, sewing, drawing, and reading!
If you have a budding artist, this magnifying glass lamp is the bomb! The light is adjustable. Just grab the handy handle and move it to the desired position. The light flicks on with the press of a button on the top of the magnifier lamp. Get your own lamp here: Brightech Magnifier Lamp.
Whether it's light or dark, your magnifier lamp is there to help! We currently use it for artwork, but we are anxious to try it for homeschool science investigations and when my tired, old eyes need to thread a needle. You can even get these magnifier lamps with a rolling base. Wish we would have made that choice, because they are sturdy, durable, and somewhat heavy.
Pin it!
So, how would you use a magnifier lamp? Tell us about it in the comments.
Preschool art activities don't have to be all finger painting and paper plate crafts. We've collected some art activities for preschoolers that include sensory fun. Read on for easy preschool art activities that are destined to become mini masterpieces.
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Art activities for preschoolers.
Bubble Painting is a fun, sensory way to introduce your preschooler to art. They can experiment with color mixing, layering, and layout. Scoot on over to Kelly Noel's Living the Dream blog for more details.
Bubble Painting Preschool Art Activity from Living the Dream.
Another fun way for preschoolers to experience sensory art activities is to let them play with food coloring and shaving cream. Skip over to our post on how to paint with shaving cream.
Coffee Filter Mobiles. All preschool teachers adore coffee filter crafts. Remember the days of the milk carton crafts? Wonder what we'll all switch to when coffee filters become a thing of the past? These coffee filter and cardboard paper towel tube painted mobiles are self-explanatory. We found them posted here but are sure they originated somewhere else. Please leave a comment if you know the original source.
Coffee Filter Mobile Preschool Art Activity.
Art, like sensory play, develops critical thinking skills and hand eye coordination. Click here to learn about how art can aid in brain development.
Handprint and footprint art is a staple in the world of preschool. Introduce your preschoolers to Pointillism with these beautiful fall handprint trees from Arty Crafty Kids.
Handprint Tree Preschool Activity from Arty Crafty Kids.
The Jammy Jigsaw offers up an art activity for preschoolers that serves double duty as a science project. This salt dough bone necklace is the perfect companion art project for a lesson on dinosaurs.
Salt Dough Bone Necklace Art Activity for Preschoolers from The Jammy Jigsaw.
Art Activities for Homeschool or Elementary Classroom
Over the years, we've written a lot of posts and done a lot of craft and art projects that make perfect curriculum ideas for homeschool art. If you are looking for homeschool art ideas, you're in luck. We've indexed all of our art activities for kids in one place. Enjoy!
You've got the curriculum, now you need the art supplies. Here are some of our favorite art picks for kids. They are good quality, but not too expensive. These are affiliate links for your convenience.
ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products. *We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)
Free Homeschool Lesson Plans and Curriculum Resources We've Tried
Disclaimer: This is my homeschooling journey story. To avoid my open letter to future homeschoolers and the homeschool haters, just scroll down to the bottom for the free homeschool lesson plans and curriculum resources. This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Enjoy!
The, "I am", series from Penguin Books is a fun way to learn about famous, historical figures. In these Amelia Earhart lesson activities,you'll learn all about the history of the famous pilot. Penguin was kind enough to send us the book for review. Enjoy!
Scroll Down for our Online Lesson Activities and a chance to win.
Amelia Earhart Lesson Activities.
"I am Amelia Earhart", by Brad Meltzer, is told from the point of view of Amelia as a child. The illustrations are fun and lively enough to capture everyone's attention. Read it to younger children, let early readers read it aloud to you, and older children will learn about history with this easy reader.
Dear Teachers and Educators: We searched for the best resources on Amelia Earhart and shared them in this online lesson plan so you don't have to spend valuable time researching for your Amelia Earhart lesson activities.
Students: Follow the links to learn all about Ameila Earhart. When you've completed the lessons, play the games related to flight.
*Language Arts Component: After watching the video and reading the biography of Ameila Earhart, write your own autobiography in a Google Doc or your Language Arts journal.
Play this Forces of Flight Game with your friends, it is sort of like Simon Says. The Pilot calls out the forces of flight, and the other players do the action. For detailed instructions visit Scouter Mom.
ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products. *We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)
When is Dictionary Day? Dictionary Day is October 16. What is Dictionary Day? It is a day designed to honor the creator of our modern dictionary, Noah Webster. Dictionary Day is a great opportunity to teach children about dictionary use and brush up on those skills. It is also a great day to learn a new word! Use this lesson plan for Dictionary Day to celebrate this special holiday. Have a great Dictionary Day. Enjoy!
Dictionary Lesson Plan for Dictionary Day October 16.
Brainpop Subscribers (you can sometimes find passwords online) can watch a fun video on the dictionary. Be sure to do the quiz too!
Who was Noah Webster?
What is a lexicographer? (Write your answer in your journal or in a Google Doc that you share with your teacher.)
Do a search to find the 10 newest dictionary words. (Write your answer in your journal or in a Google Doc that you share with your teacher.)
Webster's is the most well known dictionary. Can you name another dictionary? (Write your answer in your journal or in a Google Doc that you share with your teacher.)
Get Fit with this Creative Physical Education Easter Egg Hunt for Parties or PE Class
This Egg Hunt isn't just for Easter. Add physical fitness to your family get together, birthday party, gym class, or homeschool PE. Hide the eggs outdoors, and then hide physical fitness activities inside each egg. Make a game out of working out! In the video below, we improvised and had fun turning exercise into a fitness game that got the whole "family" involved. Enjoy!
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The history of the United States is exciting and complicated. The U.S. Presidents mold America into an amazing, free country- full of opportunities. It is important to learn the accomplishments and contributions of each President. In this homeschool history lesson, we focus on the Presidents of United States. Be sure to click on the linked text to get information needed to answer the questions. Enjoy!
Presidents of the United States Homeschool History Lesson
The best place to discover important facts about the United States Presidents is at the White House. Click the link to see a list of the Presidents in order. Use the descriptions to answer the following questions in your journal or a Google Doc.
1. Who was the fourteenth president of the United States?
Our most famous Presidents are memorable for many reasons. Some made great changes in history, some were impeached, some were assassinated, and other's served for many years. Copy the list below into a Google Doc and then list the Presidential Number, President's years in office (term), Vice President, Dog's name, and one or two things that made him well-known.
For example:
Barack Obama, 44th President 2009-Present, Joe Biden, Bo, and The Affordable Care Act or First African American President.
Find more about them from Brainpop.com, Presidents. If you are not a Brainpop subscriber, you can still click the links and learn a little about each President. However, you won't be able to watch the fun video about the President unless it is offered free. The "Presidents" link above offers lesson plans too. The list below is also linked to Brainpop videos.
These Lunch Box Ideas for Tweens are Fun and Creative Do you miss sending cute notes or packing fun school lunches for your toddler? Now t...
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