Spring Birds!

I got to be the “reward” again for a sweet little class of second graders.  I have done this a few times now with the lower elementary classes that don’t get to have official Art class. (I teach 4th -12th grade.) As much as I consider myself more of a “big kids” kind of teacher, these little ones are always such a kick!  They have so much enthusiasm for anything I introduce (high school students do NOT act like this…) that it makes it fun to try new things with them. 

With the coming of spring to Iowa, we were definitely in the mood to celebrate after a long, cold winter.  We decided that some fun, springy bird paintings would be just the thing!  

I found inspiration with this image from graphicleftovers.com

and taught the students how to draw a simple bird (board diagram below), giving them lots of options for personalization. (How tall will it be?  What kind of tail and crown will it have? What size and shape will you make the wings and beak?)

After we practiced drawing, I gave them 12 x 12 paper to draw their final project, with the choice to draw one, two or three birds.   Finally, we painted them with tempera cakes and outlined them in Sharpie!

This was a great way to welcome spring.  Each of our birds had its own personality and it was so fun to see the kids’ enthusiasm translated into wonderful works of art!

Happy Spring!