Goldfish Like Matisse - Kindergarten

Whenever possible, I like to physically take the children to the subject they will be drawing or, at the very least, bring the subject to them.  For this project, I brought live goldfish in to the classroom for the kids to draw and then later released them into a goldfish pond.  The kids were so excited to see live fish in their classroom!

INSTRUCTOR:
Shawna K.

GOAL:
To learn more about Matisse's famous goldfish painting and then make their own reproduction using watercolors and paper cutouts.

SUPPLIES:
You will need: pencils; scissors; orange, green, and brown construction paper; assorted liquid watercolors for the background; blue liquid watercolors for the vases; 12x18 watercolor paper; 9x12 watercolor paper; watercolor paintbrushes; gluesticks; and smocks.

INSTRUCTIONS:
Day 1: The students will select the shape of vase they wish to draw and cut it out of the 9x12 piece of paper.  Using light blue watercolors, they will paint the entire vase blue.  On the large piece of watercolor paper, they will paint whatever color they want for their background, but preferably something like brown, orange, or gold that will contrast with the blue vase.

The students will also draw small goldfish and cut them out.  All of these things will be saved for later.

Day 2: After the watercolor washes have dried, the students will assemble their goldfish masterpieces.  They glue the vase to the background, and the fish to the vase.  They can then use brown construction paper to make a table or they can use green construction paper to decorate the edges of the vase with seaweed.

Paper Cut-Outs Like Matisse - Kindergarten

INSTRUCTOR:
Gina T.

GOAL:
Each grade level is assigned one artist to study throughout the Art Masterpiece Program for the year.  While not all of the projects need to be centered around that particular artist, the students should still know some facts about their artist and be able to recognize some of his or her more famous works.  The Kindergarteners study Henri Matisse, and therefore spend quite a bit of time with paper cut-outs and collages.

After learning about some of Matisse's more famous works with paper, the students make their own paper cut-outs.

SUPPLIES:
You will need: a 12x24 background paper (construction or drawing), construction paper in lots of different colors, pencils, shape templates (optional), glue sticks, and scissors.

INSTRUCTIONS:
The students can use shape templates to trace different shapes on to the colored construction paper.  Some teachers may opt to have the students draw the shapes free-hand, but if your students are timid, they may prefer something to trace.  I simply used plastic plates, foam hearts, drafting triangles, small box tops, and rulers for a variety of shapes.  Once the shapes are traced, they can be cut out and glued to the background sheet of paper. 

TIPS:
This lesson goes quickly for most kindergarteners, so it is best to pair it with a lengthier lesson or story about Matisse.