Spooky Silhouettes-- Kindergarten

We just finished these lovely Halloween pictures today.  I don't really like doing "holiday" art during art class unless I can tie in some solid art concepts.  (That's why I sometimes do the fun crafty afterschool classes.)  For this project, the kindergartners learned a few art vocabulary words:

Silhouette
the outline or general shape of something...  a dark image outlined against a lighter background.

Warm Colors

the yellows and reds of the color spectrum, associated with fire, heat, sun, and warmer temperatures;

	Reds, oranges, and yellows are warm colors.

Step 1:  Talk about the difference between warm and cool colors.  Paint backgrounds with tempera paints using warm colors: reds, oranges, yellows.

Step 2:  During the next class period, pass out black and white paper and black markers.  Show the students how to cut out silhouettes of spooky things.  Brainstorm some things they can include in their pictures.  Use black markers to add extra details.

(I think the person on the right might be holding a chainsaw!)

Simple, yet expressive.

This girl spent awhile cutting the fringe for the shutters on the house.

This girl reminded the class that ghosts aren't white, they are INVISIBLE!  (hence the sketchy lines of the ghost) 

There is also THIS super fun spooky silhouette project I saw on Pinterest.  Googly EYES!!

Cool Hands, Warm Heart-- Kindergarten

These charming pictures of hands were a lesson on warm and cool colors.  The hands are colored in cool colors and the heart is colored in warm colors.

Dinosaur Silhouettes

This is one of my favorite lessons for kindergartners!  First, we identify and classify the colors as warm or cool.  Then, we choose all the warm colors we have (different shades of oranges, yellows, reds).  Then the first day, the paint their whole piece of paper with warm colors.  After they have placed these on the drying rack there is usually about 10-15 left of class, so they sketch some dinosaurs from pictures that I have show them.  The following class period, they draw their dinosaurs using white colored pencil on a black piece of paper.  Then, they cut these out.  I show them how to flip the dinosaurs over and glue them down so that their white lines are on the bottom.  I love the striking contrast!