October Art Projects

October is a busy month. The art classes never seem to be long enough because there is so much material in October - pumpkins, leaves, fall trees, ghosts, haunted houses, the autumn colors. It is month for artists. But, we did our best to create some really fun projects. Take a look. 

Kindergarten Silly Pumpkins

These were SO MUCH FUN. Messy. Really messy. But, fun. It took 2 weeks for these pumpkins. The first week, the students were given a white piece of tagboard and told to make a pumpkin shape. We talked about shapes of pumpkins and how they are bumpy and lumpy and can be big or small. They each drew their pumpkin shape with pencil. They then were given a palette with red and yellow paint. They were told to paint their pumpkin. Lots of hand went up asking for orange. It was a great exercise in mixing colors and getting different variations of orange. And, the look in their eyes when they realize red and yellow make orange is worth all the mess. They painted and then used the scraps to make eyes. The white paper stuck to the wet painted papers, so not much glue needed. The next week they were given blue and yellow and told to make stems and leaves. I also gave them black paper scraps and told them to make faces. One student made a bat pumpkin and many followed suit. I loved their ideas and their pumpkins. It is fun seeing what they come up with. 
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Fourth Grade Skeletons

We looked at Day of the Dead Skeleton designs. I know Day of the Dead is in November but it fits with Halloween so I thought they would like to explore these. We sketched a skeleton head and neck in pencil on scrap. After they explored which designs they would like to use, they penciled their designs on black paper. They painted the bones in with acrylic white or white oil pastel. They then added designs and spider webs with oil pastels. Some decided to do pet skeletons and I thought it was an awesome way to use their creativity. Next time, I might have them do their animal skeletons a bit bigger or just the head of the animal. The younger students loved seeing the 4th graders' designs. 
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First Grade Pumpkin Trios

These turned out so awesome. I took the kids step by step in drawing 3 hugging pumpkins on white 11 x 14 paper. Once they liked their pumpkins, I encourage them to be ok with little bumps or crooked lines, they traced their pencil with a dark oil pastel. I gave them either a navy or black pastel. They could choose to do faces. We then watercolored the pumpkins on week one. I did not give them instructions on color for the pumpkins because, gosh, their color choices are fabulous. On week 2, they were told to watercolor the background. I loved their color combos and they were so proud of these. 

8th Grade Charcoal Jack-o-Lanterns

I love these! We discussed shading and using a light, medium and dark value for their pumpkins. They used their Ipads to find interesting pumpkin faces. They did a great job. I think next time I would love to offer them the option of watercoloring the background. It would be a great contrast with the charcoal. These are still in progress. Eraser smudges and details needed to be added but I couldn't wait to share.