Sketchbooks!
To start the year, I had kids do some introduction community building art games then had them make sketchbooks by hand to house their sketches for the year, like warm ups that we do at the beginning of class, and as a place to develop their art ideas. These were made out of paste paper, which is a type of glue from methyl-cellulose, a papermaking biproduct. After they made a pattern with a secondary color mixed into the paste (2nd and 3rd grades) or a tertiary color (4-5th grades), they let these dry and turned them into a book cover!
Examples of paste papers
INside the books!
The kids worked in teams to brainstorm sketchbook ideas after I showed them a presentation on various artist’s sketchbooks and discussed why sketchbooks are important and how artists get their ideas and use them. They then drew from a myriad of choices including shading, eyes, animals and a long list of drawing prompts! I showed them how to draw things by looking at the main shapes first.
This was an activity I did where they had to complete the shapes and turn them into a thing.
Kids did a warm up for George Floyd on his birthday by drawing him a cake to remember him.
2nd grader’s work