Finish the Doodle Picture

I found this wonderful exercise at illustration.com. Try giving your students a page with several unfinished doodles, and just watch what they come up with!

1. I gave one doodle sheet to each student – even as young as 1st grade – and told them the line drawings were just the beginning of something that they were to finish. If they had trouble seeing something, they could rotate the paper until some other ideas came.
2. Have the students draw the image in pencil, trace with a black marker, and color in with colored pencils. I can still recall my favorite drawing where a young girl not only saw a rabbit, but a rabbit hiding BEHIND a rock. Too clever!

How to Draw a Cat

I've never had a student say that they didn't want to draw a cat. They make a great subject matter for boys and girls of all ages.

1. I first made 3.5" cardboard circle templates. Each student was instructed to place their circle near the top left of an 8.5" x 11" paper. The circle is traced, and then slid down near the bottom of the paper, and traced again, very lightly.
2. The cat body is drawn by making curves that go from the neck down, adding space around the circle. The reason for this is that we want the bottom of the cat to be wider than the head. When complete, erase the bottom circle.
3. The eyes, nose, mouth, collar and whiskers are added.
4. The tail and leg shapes are added.
5. When the drawing is complete, all the lines are to be traced with a thin black marker. Lastly, the cat is colored in with oil pastels. Encourage a wide variety of color, and a lot of contrast between the cat and the background.

Popsicle Portraits

 This was a very successful Mother’s Day project last year. Magnets could be added so the art could go right on the fridge.

1. Students glue their own jumbo popsicle stick boards together with craft glue.

2. They draw their portrait in a 4" square on white drawing paper.

3. When the pencil drawing is done, a Sharpie permanent marker is used to trace the drawing in black. Colored Sharpies are used to fill in skin tones and background. When the square is completely colored and a name is added, the 4" square is cut out with scissors.

4. Make a 50/50 mix of water and white glue and have each student brush the entire popsicle board AND the backside of the drawing. Center the drawing on the board, press down and brush over with the watered down glue to seal. Let dry and mount on magnets, if desired.

My Last-Minute Mother’s Day Gift

My father scanned our family photos last year, and I’ve been dying to play around with them ever since. This image had lost a lot of it’s original color, but I had fun handpainting it back in. (Just for the record, I'm the cute one in the chair.)

1. I printed my scanned photo onto watercolor paper, using my Epson Photo 1440 printer. A high-resolution setting is best to get a nice, bright image.
2. I used Prismacolor® Watercolor pencils to add color to the picture edges. Try to match the colors and shapes that are started in the photo. Color can be added inside the picture as well, as I did with the sky and skin tones.
3. Brush the drawing with water to turn it into a painting.

How to Draw a House

I had great success with this project for kinders recently. Several even came back later saying they went home to draw more houses. Love it when that happens!

1. I printed out 1/4" graph paper on 17" x 11" paper to help the students draw straight lines. Using just plain white paper would probably be fine though too. Start by showing the students how to draw a straight horizontal line for the ground. A basic house shape is added above it, sitting a bit to the left of the paper.
2. Show the students how to draw two horizontal lines for the edges of the roof. If possible, ask them to make them approximately the same length.
3. Starting at the top line, the two ends of the roof need to be connected and then a straight vertical line goes down.
4. Now the details of door, windows and sun may be added. All the lines are traced with a thin black marker, and then shapes are colored in. Encourage them to include the background so the image has lots of color.

Mother’s Day “Pancake Recipe”

This is a compilation of what my 1st and 2nd grade students wrote today, when I asked them how they would make pancakes. The only thing is, they have no idea how cute their writing is!

1. Students glued a photo of pancakes to their paper (download here), and drew a fancy border around the outside.

2. The PANCAKE title was to be written in block letters. I drew a sample on the board for them to follow. The letters and border are colored in with pencil, preferably using colors already in the photo.

3. Following prompts such as “Mix _____ cups of ______. Add _________. Bake / cook for _____ minutes at __________ degrees”, students fill in their own answers. Or better yet, add some other steps. Be prepared to giggle at their responses!

Metal Tooling Mother’s Day Card

Gold metal tooling is great material for making textured art. Add Sharpie markers and you have a very expensive looking Mother’s Day card.

1. Each student gets a 3" x 5" piece of gold tooling, and place it on a few layers of newspaper. They draw firmly with a dull pencil to engrave the image.

2. Sharpie markers are used to color it in.

3. The final art may be mounted on a 6" x 9" folded card using double-sided tape. I recommend a quality card stock because this card is a keeper.

Mother’s Day Collage Card

This is a simple layout, but needs to be done neatly to make it look nice. My secret is to use glue sticks to make the tissue paper lay smooth and flat.

1. Students use scissors to cut out the flower and vase shapes from blue, green, pink and yellow tissue paper.
2. Glue is spread all over the front of a folded card and the tissue pieces are attached. Don’t worry about any excess glue as it will not be sticky when dry. To make all the edges lay flat, students gently rub a bit of glue over the top of each piece.

3. Messages are added in crayon on the front and inside the card.

Felt-Covered Journal

This project is good for smaller groups as it requires purchasing a few items, albeit inexpensive ones.

1. Gather or buy chip board and cut to a 6"x9" size, two for each student. Cut 9"x12" drawing paper in half to match the chip board. Place about 1/2" stack of drawing paper between the boards and take to Staples or the equivalent to have wire bound on one side. Have one book made for each student.

2. Cut oversized felt rectangles and pin together to make two sleeves for the book. Show the students how to make a whip stitch around the cardboard edges with colorful embroidery floss. When complete, pin and stitch the two sleeves together on the binding edge.

3. Using the felt scraps, show the students how to cut out decorative shapes and attach with fabric glue.