Fall Arm Trees

Fall is officially over in Wisconsin but it still decorates the halls in my two buildings!

I was really excited to try my own version of this project I found on Pinterest here via Georgetown Elementary Art Blog. I wanted to stick with the original idea of types of lines but because I knew I wanted to do it with Kindergarten I changed the types of lines to just the tree and the materials to oil pastels and watercolors for their first watercolor resist artwork (my favorite!).

I Can statement: I can draw different types of lines

Day 1: We started the lesson with a book about fall. I really didn't like the one I used (frankly it was a last minute find) so I don't even remember the title. I am on the lookout for a great book about fall thats a quick read for Kinders that show a lot of trees. Then we looked at close up pictures of trees via one of my quick reference PDFs...

We talked about all the lines they saw in the bark and what the names of some of those lines might be. Before they started their own trees with lines we practiced naming and drawing them by tracing them in different colors on this sheet... (made on my iPad could be done in a basic drawing app I used Brushes)

The last step for Day 1 was tracing their hands and filling them with the different lines and going over them with oil pastels. This was the first time using oil pastels for many of them!

Day 2: Watched the leaves changing time lapse I used in many of the other classes for their fall project...

After the video, I did a demo of what happens when watercolor goes over the top of oil pastel. MINDS BLOWN. And what would happen if the blue and brown mixed if they didn't take their time and stay away from the brown while it dried. The rest of the time they painted, again a first time with watercolors for many!

Day 3: A little time at the end of the next class was used to cut leaves and add them to the now dry trees.

I love watching Kinders use something they never have before they get so darn excited!

Jefferson Elementary...hung with second grade project...

McDill Elementary...Hung with second grade project and this third grade project...

So anyone have ideas on a great fall book for Kindergarten? Specifically about trees/leaves? Not a big fan of Louis Elhert's writing (doesn't flow enough for me) but love the pictures...