Art in the Summer

 My sis setup some art classes in her backyard for me to teach this summer.  We just did one hour per class, once a week for a month.  I think, between the two classes, we had about 28 kids, ranging in age from 3 to 15.
We focused on watercolor, beginning with technique, and then moving on to projects which taught some basic art/design principles.  Teaching kids like this was definitely a new thing for me--a lot of work--but I learned a lot.  I was surprised by how much the skill and attention span varied from one kid to the next, seemingly regardless of age.

 One of our projects was this receding islands piece, based on a work by one of my favorite illustrators, Jon Klassen.  We were able to use the texture techniques from a previous lesson, while also learning about distance, atmosphere, foreground/background, warm/cool, gradation, etc..  SO many good things about this lesson, but I really needed two hours to teach it, instead of just one.

 One of the lessons ended in a variety of root vegetable paintings.  This might have been the kiddos' favorite, as it incorporated various media, and the stations/steps were clearly laid out on separate tables, so that there was very little instruction needed.
We created the dirt with watercolor texture techniques, after having created roots with either rubber cement or white crayon as a resist.  The beets/radishes were then stamped using both tempera and acrylic paints.  From there, they had the choice of how to do the leaves: with watercolor, colored pencil, or another stamping technique. 

 The results really varied and everyone loved this project!

 Sometimes it was fun just to watch the very young ones play and experiment with whatever materials we had on the tables, string, straws, you name it.  We got really messy sometimes, which is so refreshing for kids!

 One lesson focused more on drawing and observation skills.  We had two still lifes, one floral and one with plastic toy bugs.  One hour was simply not enough time to even scratch the surface with this.  So, even though they learned, I don't think it was very satisfying for them.  I needed a good two hours at least, and probably two sessions at that. 

I also held an activity in our backyard, just for friends and neighborhood kiddos.  I had been wanting to try the whole bubble painting thing.  I didn't instruct anyone.  We just put the materials out and let the kids go.  It was fun!  And the mess was actually kind of pretty!