Person-Tree-House

This is a psychological test. We have used it as a fun drawing activity to get to know each other. Students are not intimidated to draw these things.

We talk about:

Who is this person? How old are they? What do they like to do? What don't they like to do?

Who lives here? Who visits the house? What do the people in the house want to add to the drawing?

What season is it where the tree is at? What kind of tree is it? How old is the tree? Has anyone tried to cut down the tree? Who waters the tree?

Students like this activity and it is a great way to start them talking about their own art work in a fast and non-intimidating way.

Painting a Still Life

Here students are painting musical instruments with acrylic while listening to Jazz music.

Paper Mache

Unguided Paper Mache

I would like to add, my volunteers HATE paper mache.

Collage

Unguided collage

Acrylic Drying

It is a good idea to have students paint a background of a landscape then allow time for it to dry. You have to have the space for this and label student work with masking tape.

Skulls and Animal Parts

Who doesn't love to hold a turkey foot?

Easels

Music stands are readily available at churches and make great easels.

Know Your Students

This was such a great way to get to know students.

Several different sizes of paper and different materials were put in the middle of the room. A teacher left the room while volunteers watched the students work. They were instructed to draw/paint anything they wanted in a set amount of time.

After everyone was done, the teacher came back in and tried to match each picture with the correct student. The teacher gave a short explanation why s/he matched the picture with that student.

This was done at the end of the week when the teacher had talked to each student and seen multiple pieces of their work. The students LOVED this activity. It gave us a great avenue to discuss how pieces represent us and how God's creations (nature and people) represent Him.

Foam Stamps

This was a great idea from a volunteer. We found these pressed wood circles and put sticky foam letters and shapes on them to make stamps. It was fun to see the students turn letters into people and realize what they were printing would be the mirror image.

Bubble Prints

So simple. Mix tempera paint, a little water, and JOY liquid dish soap. You might need a little glycerin to make the bubbles stronger. We have used actual bubble blowers but I really like to give each child a small bowl with a straw. The student blows bubbles then lays their paper on top of the bowl.

These look really good if you cut them down and glue them to the front of a card and put them with an envelope.

Colored Glue and Watercolor Animals

These were simply made by drawing an animal then outlining the animal in Elmer's glue mixed with Indian ink. After the ink dried, the students water-colored their picture.

This was a great activity for students to come and go from while other students were spending more time on something else because it needed little explanation or direct teaching. Not every student completed this particular lesson but that was fine.

Rapunzel and O'Keeffe

THIS is the story the students wrote together.

Memory Verse

Students have used clay to represent their memory verse.

Name Photos

We have had students find objects that look like letters to spell a word.