Art Projects for Primary School Students by Raquel Redmond
Chroma2 paint, from Chroma Australia has been used in this painting tutorial.
Art Technique
Drawing and Painting
Age Group
6 to 13 years of age
Concept
Observation pen and and ink drawing of different foliage, leaves, branches, sticks and flowers. Studying the elements of art, line, shape, colour, texture and repetition found in nature. Painting on paper or canvas and transforming the drawings into paintings.
Sessions
3 sessions of 1 hour and 30 minutes each.
Room arrangement
Group desk is in groups of four to create space on the centre and cover desks with secured sheets of plastic or single sheets of newspaper.
Materials
Each student will require:
- 1 black pen medium thickness
- 1 A4 sheet cartridge paper
- 1 A3 sheet cartridge paper or 1 18″ x 20″ canvas
- 1 medium size paint brush #10
- A rag for cleaning
- 1 container of water
- 1 small size paint brush #4
- glad wrap for covering paint
- 2 paint palettes or ice cube trays per group of four students
- 1 old oversized shirt to cover uniform OR art smock
Each class will require
- 2 litres of each colour Chroma 2 paint Warm Red, Coll Red, Warm Yellow, Cool Yellow, Warm Blue, Cool Blue, Bright Green, Burnt Sienna, Black and White
- Paint trays can be shared
This project has been designed to suit normal classroom conditions and illustrates how the classroom can be adapted to create working space required.
In their formative years children express through drawing and painting. First they paint about themselves, what they do, what they look like, and children also paint about themselves and others. It is natural for them to express ideas about their environment. For instance they paint about the place they live, the places they play. Their theme is basically themselves and their relationship to their surroundings. By the time children start school most of them are ready to extend their learning about art. The role of teachers and parents at this point should be to guide them and discuss with them the ideas, the processes and the techniques involved in their painting projects. Learning how to use different tools and how to look at different sources of inspiration to create paintings and drawings should become regular activities at every grade level. Regular art activities with regular open and free discussion and guidance by a supporting and sensitive adult will help students to build their art knowledge during their primary school years. The painting and drawing project depicted above involves observation drawings and expressive paintings done in a classroom, by grade three students. For more information and ideas on Pen and Ink Drawing in the classroom, go to our YouTube Channel: YouTube.com/bravaartpress video Tutorial on Pen and Ink Drawing.
First Session
1. Room arrangement
- 2. Drawing from foliage
- Transferring pen drawing to A3-sized paper or canvas
- 4. Painting large areas and backgroundTo motivate the students take them for a nature walk about the garden and collect some foliage.
Back in the classroom, discuss ideas and encourage them to find and describe shapes, colours, textures, lines and repetitions found on the samples of foliage that were collected from the garden. Students by now will be motivated to start their drawings using black pens and A4 cartridge paper. Display collected foliage in the centre of each table.
Second Session
Students will copy their original drawings done in black pen on to A3 paper or canvas with coloured chalk. They will then start painting the large areas using their medium-sized paint brushes. No details will be included on this session. Encouragement will be given to mix different colours, for example, different greens on their mixing paper and to paint the background using one or two colours.
Third Session
The final session involves the painting of details using the small paint brushes. Details, such as textures, repetitions, lines and some outlines when required will be painted looking at the original drawings. An extra session should be included to display and discuss the art works. Students may apply the steps of art criticism by:
- describing
- analysing
- interpreting and
- judging their own art works.
Note: For more information on recyclable materials and useful notes, refer to the Teachers Help Page at Brava Art Press