Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Create your own Cartoon Characters, 3rd Grade


The kids ate this project up. I really had NO idea how much they would love creating their own cartoon characters! I have a worksheet that a previous teacher left (looks like it was scanned from a book, maybe?) that has some ideas of eyes, noses, mouths, heads and bodies of characters. It helps to get the kids started. They are free to use their own ideas, too-in fact, it's encouraged.


We start off on a 9x12 manilla paper, and the students sketch 8 characters.

Then, they have to choose their favorite 4.

Then, they put their favorite 4 on a 9x12 white paper (we fold it in half twice to get 4 equal spaces).

Students then outline, color in prismacolors, add a border to each character (that goes with the theme), and create a name for their character.

They are then cut into 4, and mounted on a black piece of paper.

I didn't realize how much they'd LOVE this project...seriously, they were obsessed! But, it was great for hand-eye coordination, to get their little minds going creatively, and to use colored pencils.

Who knows-one day, these could be famous :)

Monday, March 22, 2010

Spring Butterflies, 1st Grade

I actually got inspiration to draw this butterfly from one of my 1st grader's shirts last year. It had the prettiest butterfly on it, that was a very simple line drawing.

I decided to teach my 1st graders how to draw it (again, this year!), and then we added lots of different line designs using our sharpies of course.

The students were to color the butterfly with markers, trying to keep two of the same colors away from each other.

Then, we cut them out (with a "bubble" around it), and glued them on yellow paper. You may use whichever color you'd like-but yellow definitely pops for spring.

Next, we added a tissue paper border just for fun and to add texture.



This was a great 2-day lesson, and they look gorgeous!
**

Get a masters in education to better teach your 1st graders.