Finally we have some Spring in our steps and are, hopefully, getting rid of grey skies and storms! There’s always plenty of discussion of when Spring begins – does it begin with St. Brigid on February 1st, when as the song goes ‘Brigid brings the spring’ or does it begin as we approach March when the days get longer and the time changes? You choose your own interpretation of it! Either way, here’s a few ways to bring it to life with your class this year.
Pointillism
With my own class, we began our Spring exploration with some pointillism in the form of finger painting. Pointillism allows scope for artist exploration as part of your lesson series – it began with Georges Seurat who’s artwork grew attraction through his use of ‘spotty’ or ‘dotty’ paintings of occasions such as ‘The Circus’ and later went onto more monumental pieces such as The Eiffel Tower.
With older classes, you could explore this concept with cotton buds, or if you’ve been exploring Spring outdoors, the kids could source some suitable outdoor tools such as branches with a flat edge, leaf stalks or whatever they fancy to use as a small circular print-making tool.
In making this Spring themed, use your chosen tools to make a spring sunrise picture, to create spring animals or spring flowers.
Sketch first. Place your chosen array of paint colours on a palette for the kids and then let their imaginations run!
‘April showers bring May flowers’
A duo art lesson that makes for a colourful and collaborative display is that of the saying ‘April showers bring May flowers’.
There are lots of ways to interpret this saying. You could allow the children a free art lesson to interpret what April showers mean and then contrast it with lots of colourful creations of May flowers.
I’ve tried this in the past with origami (you can see the folded flowers in the picture above), through construction and through drawing.
Get Outside!
We are so lucky that my school has a beautiful Spring garden where we can enjoy real life learning opportunities and get into nature to actually see the changes that happen from season to season.
In exploring Spring, the class are always drawn to our cherry blossom tree and its beauty, especially when in full bloom. I can integrate SESE and Art objectives this way.
In previous years, the children have roughly sketched their observation of the cherry blossom, or if time (or often the weather!!) doesn’t allow time for this, the children take pictures from their chosen angle of the tree on the iPad and then take their time sketching back in the classroom. I have found the variety that comes from the children through having ownership of the angle and framing of the picture, allows for some really unique pieces.
Use pink coloured popcorn to create cherry blossom with younger children
Whilst using digital images is perhaps more suited to older classes, for younger classes and to encompass elements of play, popcorn can be used to help create the illusion of the cherry blossoms on each branch.
Mixing pink paint and PVA glue, the kids dip and coat their popcorn pieces into the mixture and then stick onto their tree (drawn or templated as needed). Whilst this can get messy, it’s really effective and always is such a novelty to the kids. 🙂
Let us know what you think in the comments.
Leave a Comment