Samantha on the Prairie

For a fun activity, I guided my kindergarten class on the basics of drawing a clown using different shapes. They used Sharpie markers to create the clown outline and then added their own details. This one reminds me of Matisse's Woman with a Hat : When done, I let them use watercolors to paint their clowns however they'd like. This was definitely one of the more fun projects we've worked on. The students enjoyed seeing how they each created something different from the same basic concept. Visit my Facebook page for more examples of this, and other kindergarten art projects.

Last October, I accepted a job teaching art to kindergarteners once a week in a nearby town. While the transition from working 2-5 kids at a time to 20-24 kids has been most challenging, the benefit is that I get to work with such a variety of abilities, interests, and help a great group of kids appreciate art through their first year of elementary school. The staff at school have been so welcoming and very helpful in understanding kindergarten standards, student abilities, and classroom management. One of the first projects I introduced to my kindergarten class was a mixed-media heart collage using tissue paper, construction paper, glue, scissors, crayons, and Sharpie. This allowed me to assess the students ability to use a variety of materials so I could plan out future projects to help them learn new skills or reinforce existing knowledge. Miss Pen helped demo the project, which makes for a great class slideshow. The students love to see how another child makes a project even mo