Texture Ornaments

Being December, I'm still on the holiday kick and want to share a simple kindergarten lesson that incorporates one of the most difficult elements of art for little ones to grasp - texture. I have a classroom set of fiskars rubbing plates, but textures around the room or samples of every-day textures would work as well. I give students a circle stencil to trace, then they rub the texture onto the circle with a crayon (I show them how to use the side of a peeled one). I also had pre-cut construction paper bows for the tops to dress them up a bit - they could probably cut and trace the bows themselves. On the bows, I wrote each student's name with a Sharpie as they turned them in. At the time, I worked at a small school where there were only two classes of kindergarten, so I made a tree out of bulletin board paper and hung them up as my classroom tree. It was a cute little display (even with the electric panel in the middle)! Since it was a quick lesson, we had time to read a book together and talk a lot about texture to make sure they grasped the concept (30 min total).

Art Classroom Tip: Elements of Art


Speaking of the elements of art, I love having these posted in my room. I got them from United Art & Education. The thing I love about them is the simple definition included with the word, as well as the visual definition in the way the element is written. Since I have "double art" with my 3rd graders, we get very in-depth discussing the elements. As we review artwork as inspiration for our projects, I simply ask the students to tell me about the artwork using the elements vocabulary. Then I call on students who raise their hands, and they surprise me every time with how critical of an eye they have! At the beginning of the year, we review the elements, but I think allowing the students to tell ME about the artwork allows them to progressively cement the information in their minds.