Teaching Art To Children

I'm Back in Elementary School!

I've been hanging out with a lot of elementary students lately.

Recently I had the opportunity to help in our local elementary school as students work on a recycling project.

They have written songs, 

learned dances,

created posters,

and participated in a service project.

I helped with the service project.  

The students took ordinary plastic grocery bags, cut them into strips and then wove those strips into mats for the homeless in the Louisville, Ky area.

These are thick and can serve as something 

to sit or sleep on or to cover up with.

In another recycling effort, I taught several classes of students how to use art to express themselves.

We used 5" x 7" canvas panels and I drew a basic outline on each of a gallon milk jug, a 2-litre soda bottle, a soda can and a single serve soda bottle.

Students had about 45 minutes to paint the canvas that they selected and put their own stamp on it.

It was so funny hearing them talking about their pieces as they worked on them.

We were at Camp Kysoc, a former Easter Seals facility that is in Carroll County, KY.  

Easter Seals no longer uses the camp and while Carroll County is figuring out how to best utilize this great facility, the schools use it at least once a month for activities like this.

These are my 2 demo paintings I did to show them how to get started.  They did all sorts of colors, varieties and I think had lots of fun learning about art and recycling.

On this same day, students were able to listen and participate in Native American drumming, Science Center presentations where they learned about their internal organs,  play chess, go for nature walks, and learn to paint and draw.

I also had another class who made recycling posters, but we were so busy working on them, I forgot to take any photos.  

Art can be instructive for any subject matter and I am very grateful that I have the opportunity to meet and paint with so many great students. 

At the end of a great day there is always lots of brushes to wash.

Every artist needs to understand how color works,
so I have created 7 Tips for Mixing Color.  
Click HERE to get this invaluable aid and print it off and keep it where ever you paint. 

Thanks for stopping by today,
and let's paint together real soon.