Teach Art to Your Children v 2.8

...and we're back! Easter break and my trip to NY derailed my "Teach Art to your Children" series...but we're back now..with some simple coloring techniques that you can try. It's easy. I am so proud of my 6 year old students and how they grasped this lesson. The lesson will not only teach these coloring and blending techniques, but it also teaches them to think about color and tonal values. To begin, I showed the girls some flowers from the garden and got them thinking about how things are not "one color". Some petals fade from light to dark and others had two colors blended seamlessly together.

We used Prismacolor [link] pencils. (Please don't buy these for regular price at the craft store. Use a coupon or buy them on sale.) I used permanent ink to stamp some images they could color on cardstock. Cut the cardstock to roughly the size of a postcard and tell the kids that they can mail it to their friends when they are finished. (They will take extra time with it and want to make it perfect.)

Have the child decide on what color they want to use and have them select three shades of that color.. a light, medium and dark shade. Start by pressing firmly with the lightest shade, and then add the medium shade to part of the image. Use the dark shade last. Use a blending stump, or one of the shades of the color to push the pigments into each other creating a blended area of color. The wax in these pencils will build up on the image and it will be able to move more so than a crayon or generic colored pencil. Have the child press firmly so that the color builds up and all of the image is covered.

The lesson will get the children thinking the next time they color something whether it's with crayons or pencils, they will have improved their skills and we are building their art foundation..I hope you give it a try.

See you next week!