I've been sharing about my love of teaching about Jesus and art to my students and now I want to tell you about my kindergarten art class. The lessons are inspired by The Carnival of the Animals, which is classical music that sounds like animals. Whether it's the way they sound or move, Camille Saint-Saëns, the composer, has beautifully displayed God's creations through music. My students hear a piece of the music and guess the animal, sometimes by moving their own bodies like that animal. Then I pair the animal with a famous artist or arty idea. My projects have grown and changed through the years, as I've been inspired by other artists and God has given me other ideas. I display all grades' current projects on a bulletin board in my classroom and my older students often say that they remember doing a certain project in my class and it always makes me a little sad when they say they didn't do it the way that I do it now. But the changes are good. I need to remind myself that changes can be good in life as well.
We start our journey of admiring the King's creations by creating the "king of the jungle." Students use all of the elements of art to make their lions. They learn about color theory by mixing yellow and red paint to make painted paper for their lion’s face. They use oil pastels as we draw the face together then they use yellow and orange tissue paper strips to make a pattern to make the mane. Henri Rousseau is our artist inspiration and it’s finished off with yarn whiskers.
Next we notice the beautiful colors God has gifted us with while creating a clay tortoise with a color wheel for a shell.
We dive into surreal (dream-like) art for this one. Salvador Dali comes in (me with a mustache) to show his elephant with long skinny legs painting then the students create a background with warm (red, orange, yellow) or cool (blue, purple, green) colors and use tin foil pieces to make an elephant. Thinking of surreal/strange/bizarre things is fun to a lot of kids and it stretches their imagination, which could be applied spiritually - God can do anything, after all!
John James Audubon and folk artist, Bebo, take part in inspiring my students when creating this bird. Cassie Stephens, an amazing art teacher, was the source of this one. They use primary colors to make a secondary color then they use lines and geometric shapes to make the bird and border. They use the back of their brush to scratch lines into their wet black paint. God has made so many different kinds of creatures!
Students create a Matisse inspired fish art project exploring value, color, and shape. We do a guided drawing of a fish and color the scales with complementary colors. They press hard and lightly on their oil pastel to make a value change on the fins, or at least they try their best. At this age I'm more interested in introducing a concept. Mastery will come as they get older and with more practice. Painting practice comes with painting the head and the water with watercolor paint. A little fish is in the background of the scene with tissue paper seaweed flowing in front of and behind the fish friends.
Monet’s lily ponds inspire my students as they create a lily pond with an origami swan. They layer colors and stamp paint on their “pond” to make short brushstrokes inspired by the impressionist painter and add tissue paper flowers on their lily pads. I would ask my students what elements of art they used. Line, shape, color, form, value, texture and space! This vocabulary and practice in my class will help them put words to what they see, be able to discuss artwork critically and respectfully, and observe closely.
There are more animals in The Carnival of the Animals and it's been hard cutting past projects out, but I only see my students for one semester each and I value restful learning rather than rushing through every animal. My hope is that these young kids are exposed to a variety of techniques and artists. I hope, through my class, that they develop a love of art and creating. I know not many will actually go into an art career, but there are so many different ways to use the skills they learn in my class. Most of all I hope they develop a love of noticing beauty around them.
God,
Please help these students notice and appreciate the beautiful creatures and blessings You’ve put on Earth. Help them grow into who You’ve made them to be with love and grace.
Help me love and teach them well.
Amen.