Clown Faces

One of the reasons why I love elementary school is because students are at the beginning stages of learning about art. Teachers have the opportunity to truly get students excited about the artistic process. We are essentially giving them the tools they need to flourish. Lessons must be basic but engaging at the same time.

I thought this lesson was a good way to introduce students to shape and how to use them. I wanted my students to recognize how we see shapes in every day life. For this reason, I had them create clown faces.

 

Students first identified shapes and practiced drawing them on a worksheet. Because I had a variation of ages in my elementary group, I decided to make it more basic so the younger students (1st and 2nd grade) could participate in the activities successfully. 

Students traced the shapes, named them and colored them in.

I had an additional worksheet for those who finished early. I knew the older kids would do the first task easily. Because of this, I gave out a worksheet that was still simple but a little bit harder.

Students weren't just given shapes to draw- they had to take it a step further and challenge themselves to figuring out which colors would represent each shape.

Then, students were given construction paper and were asked to create their own clown faces based upon the shapes we just learned about. Students were to think about how to use shapes to make their clowns EXPRESSIVE- because they were to NAME their clowns!

I never expected to meet a 6 year old that knows Metallica LOL

 I decided to do something I've never done with this age group. We presented our characters to the class. Students were asked to get up in front of the room, introduce their clowns' names, and tell us a bit about them (hobbies, interests, etc). I have to say, this lesson would not have been as successful if it wasn't for this presentation. Students had the opportunity to expand their imaginations and get creative. They loved the story element of this lesson.

 

Happy faces!

When it comes to elementary school, it is really important to encourage their imaginative thinking. Incorporating other subjects into a lesson is a great advantage. It can be as simple as having students read a story and then draw what they think the story would look like. Students are more engaged and on task. I loved seeing my students get creative in this lesson. It showed me more about them, as well. Success all around!