Kindergarten created color monsters after reading Monsters Love Color by Mike Austin. I put the primary color paints in their hands and they squished their hands together to make the secondary colors. It was a fun,messy way to learn about the primary and secondary colors.
The first graders created color critters after reading Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh. They traced three big circles which would be painted with the primary colors and then traced three small circles. The small circles were painted with the secondary colors that the students mixed themselves. Lastly, they added details to turn their circles into critters.
The second graders created assemblages based on the work of Louise Nevelson. She was an American sculptor known for her huge, monochromatic wooden pieces. A lot of the wood in her pieces was found/reclaimed. The students built assemblages out of craft sticks, small wooden pieces, paper craft straws, buttons, corks, and whatever other small objects they found. They were painted all black or all white like Louis Nevelson's sculptures.
The third graders learned about the Ndbele people of Southern Africa and how the women create these beautiful geometric designs all over the outside walls of their homes. The students created their own Ndbele inspired paintings using only the traditional colors.
