Kindergarten Rainbows and Tempera Fun

Well, today was the first day of snow for the winter, so I decided to post about bright colorful rainbows to lighten up this gray, gloomy day.

I use this lesson to not only introduce my kinders to the rainbow order of colors, but it is also my first lesson with tempera. I start out by teaching them my rainbow song (to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"):

Red, orange, yellow, green and blue
Don't forget there's purple, too
All the colors that we know
Live up in a big rainbow
Red, orange, yellow, green and blue
Don't forget there's purple too


I have a big rainbow poster that I point to the colors on while singing, and I also add a few motions. We shake our finger with "Don't forget there's purple too," hold our arms and hands out for "All the colors that we know", and form a rainbow with our arms over our heads for "Live up in a big rainbow." It really sticks in their minds - they always remember it after this lesson.

Then it's demonstration time with the tempera. Here are my procedures:

-I keep the paint in solo cups so I can put the tops back on them and save them for later. It wastes very little paint, it's easy to distribute, and it's a small enough amount that if the color gets too contaminated, I'm not super upset about throwing it away and starting fresh.


-If I'm not going to paint again for a while, I wrap the trays in plastic bags, because the solo cups are not completely air tight when paint gets on the rim (which it will).
-I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE brushes with the shorter handles. The long handles are just too much. School Specialty sells them.
-2-4 students share a paint tray and a water dish, depending on how the tables are set up, which makes set up/clean up faster. I just buy clear deli containers from Gordon Food Service for water dishes, and I'm sure they could be found at Sam's club.
-I also give students a piece of paper towel. To make it easier to pass out, I cut down the side of it with a box cutter.

Since I use the solo cups, it's important that the colors don't contaminate each other. Therefore, I tell them to "Swish, swish, swish - Wipe, wipe, wipe, - Dry, Dry Dry - then Dip the Tip" We say this over and over as we paint so they "Swish" the brush in the water, "Wipe" it on the side (not tap, because then the water splatters everywhere), "Dry" on the paper towel so the colored water doesn't get in the paint, and then they "Dip the Tip" of the brush in the paint.

With the rainbow project, they have to switch colors 6 times, so it's good practice. I pre-draw the top of the rainbow with a pencil to give them a starting point, and when they are finished, I glue the song in a cloud so they can sing it at home!

One of my fav's.

Teaching Tip - Paper, paper, paper

I would guess that if you asked any art teacher what the most important supply is, the answer would probably be paper. That said, everyone has their own needs and wants, and we are often limited by budget.

I'm actually not sure what my budget is per student, but I can afford all the basic supplies, some clay and glazes, and usually one or two special items per yearly purchase, such as texture rubbing plates or new brushes. All in all, I feel pretty lucky.

This is my fourth year teaching art - not exactly a veteran teacher. However, I do feel pretty comfortable with my paper purchases, so here is my limited wisdom on the subject:

Construction Paper
You just can't beat the quality brands like Tru-Ray. The colors are vibrant, the paper is durable, and there is less sun fade than with cheaper papers. Quality construction paper makes the average collage that much nicer. That said, sometimes quantity is more important than quality. After all, you need to have enough paper for all of your projects! The cheaper stuff works just as well in terms of functionality, so it can definitely be something you can compromise on.

Construction Paper Scraps
Kind of off-topic, but I keep a large box of my construction paper scraps, as well as smaller plastic dish washing bins, so I can distribute them to each table. When the pieces get too small or there's too much garbage in the smaller bins, I just dump them and refill from the big box. Just be sure to check for scissors, pencils, etc. that will inevitably be in there, first.

Sketching
Teaching elementary, we do some sketching, but certainly not as much as a middle or high school art class. I like to keep some lightweight manila and newsprint on hand for those situations that I don't need bright white.

Drawing
When it comes to a lesson where we are drawing, I am a sucker for crisp extra extra white drawing paper. I stick with the 50#. My favorite is Sax Extra White Sulfate. One year, I ordered the economical stuff, and was just not happy with the texture, which was almost waxy like newsprint. It made colors look dull, wrinkled and ripped too easily, and pencil lines were difficult to erase. Although I don't feel like you have to get the best of the best, I also believe the cheapest stuff will look, well, cheap.

Painting with Tempera
I don't know if there's a better way, but painting right on construction paper has worked pretty well for me. Yeah, the paper gets pretty flimsy when wet and can rip easily when handled, but it tends to hold up pretty well while the kids are painting. With elementary, it's often nice to start out with a background color, such as a light blue for the sky, so things don't get too muddled together. If the background color doesn't matter or will be completely covered up, a medium-weight manila paper works pretty good, as well.

Painting with Watercolor
This can be controversial somewhat, because I am well aware of the art teachers out there that swear by real watercolor paper and watercolor paper only. I'm actually from the other school of thought - I just don't think it's worth the money. I do buy a small amount for a special project I do with my 5th graders, but other than that, my 50# Sax Extra White Sulfate does the trick. Cheap/economical drawing paper, manila, newsprint, or computer paper? Absolutely not. Most of these papers suck the color right out of the paint, and the paint doesn't stay on the surface long enough to mix colors or spread the paint out.

Tracing Paper
Not much to say about it, but I do a few projects with tracing paper, so I keep it on hand. I buy the packs of 9x12" sheets instead of the roll, because it's just easier when it doesn't roll up on itself when trying to cut or work with it.

Tag board/Railroad Board
I actually haven't needed to purchase any yet because the previous teacher had so much on hand, but I do use tag board for a project every now and again, such as the Aliens project I posted about earlier. It's cheapest to buy in the largest size, and I have found that the black color suits just about every need. I also have lighter-weight manila tag board (feels like a file folder) that I use to make stencils when I need custom ones.

Bulletin Board Paper
While obviously useful for bulletin boards, this can also be used for paper mache to avoid a painting step.

Tissue Paper
Again, not a lot of secret knowledge to pass on about this - A multi-colored pack or two does the trick for me. You just have to think about if you want the colors to bleed, or not, depending on the project. I wish our supplier sold a pack that shipped the large pieces flat, because the folds really tend get annoying when trying to cut small pieces, but I just lay it out and flatten it a few days before I cut it and it's fine.

I believe that's about it. As with any supply, if you can, it's fun to splurge a little bit on a specialty paper for a special project, but if you haven't been buying supplies for a long time, I emphasize the "little bit" until you are very familiar with what you can splurge on and what should be saved for the greater good.