DEEP SPACE KINDERGARTEN TWO ½, 40-MINUTE SESSIONS K EXPLORATION OF COLOR & SHAPES ELEMENTS OF ART ARTIST APPRECIATION LITERATURE CONNECTION Kandinsky Circles
Supplies For the background: 1 @ 12 x 18 white sulphite paper Puck or cake tempera paint Medium round brush (06-08) and water container For Circles: Colored sulphite paper cut into 6 x 6 squares Plastic container lids (large and medium to fit inside 6 squares) Oil pastels, crayons or pencils Scissors and glue sticks Alternative to glue sticks: white school glue & water mixture Objectives Today I will learn about SHAPES, so that I CAN make concentric circles like Kandinsky. I know I ll have it when my squares are covered with 3 circles in three different sizes. Today I will learn about COLOR, so that I can make my circles stand out against my background paper. I will learn that some colors look brighter when placed on top of their complimentary colors. DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER 2014. All Rights Reserved. 2
the artist ABOUT ABOUT WASSILY KANDINSKY Kandinsky was born in Moscow, Russia in 1866. When he was a young child, Wassily learned to play the piano and cello and learn to draw. He was always fascinated by color and painted with a musician s sensibility. He used color to show emotions rather than to make an object look real. He followed his family s wishes and went to law school and eventually becoming a lawyer. He worked on his paintings after work and followed the works of other artists by going to museums and galleries. Once day he went to see an art exhibition featuring Claude Monet s Haystacks. Kandinsky was so inspired by the artwork that he gave up practicing law and decided to paint full time. He went to art school, made friends with famous painters like Paul Klee and Franz Marc. Even though he painted figures very well, his painted figures with big patches of color making it hard to identify the object as a person. He love painting this way and became known as an abstract artist. After World War I, he lived in Germany and taught art in an art school. After the second World War, Kandinsky moved to France where he stayed for the remainder of his life. The sad part about Wassily Kandinsky is that like many artists during the second world war, some of his artwork was taken by the Nazis and never seen again. Squares with Concentric Circles, 1913, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, German DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER 2014. All Rights Reserved. 3
THE TIMELINE 1. Read The Noisy Paintbox by Barb Rosenstock and Mary Grandpre. This is a wonderful book about the childhood years of Kandinsky. (10 min) 2. Show students Kandinsky s, Concentric Circles. Point out colors choices. (about 7 minutes) 3. Fold and begin painting background paper (40 minutes) 4. Set supplies on table and demonstrate how to cut concentric circles. Fill each painted square with at least 3 layers of circles (40 minutes) Note: If you are short on time, use a smaller background sheet of paper (12 x 12 for instance and divide into 4 sections instead of 8). 100 MINUTES DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER 2014. All Rights Reserved. 4
BACKGROUND This project uses a blank piece of white paper that has been folded to create 8 areas. The children fold the paper in half vertically and again horizontally. One more fold and the children can open the paper and see that they created 8 areas to paint inside. If you are short on time or are working with younger children or children with less patience, you can do one of two things: skip this background step and jump right to making the circles, using black paper for a strong impact. Or, use a smaller sized paper. 12 x 12 is a good size. I use puck tempera for this project because there is no need to mix paints. I have two trays of puck tempera that show two sets of different colors. I don t restrict the children but ask that they paint each of their 8 squares a different color. I demonstrate how to paint around the outside area first (slowly) then paint inside (faster). Once the squares have been painted, put on a drying rack to dry. DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER 2014. All Rights Reserved. 5
THE CIRCLES Once the background is painted, the children will have the opportunity to select their circle colors based on the paint colors of their squares. To do this, I bring out my color wheel chart. I point to the yellow and ask the children what the complimentary color is. Of course, they don t know right away, but then I take my fingers, place them on the yellow circle and walk across the color wheel until I get to the opposite color: purple You can have a few children come to the color wheel and ask the same question but in a different color. Ad the children are working on their circles, leave the color wheel on the white board for reference. DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER 2014. All Rights Reserved. 6
1 Tip I love using cafeteria trays to hold (and contain) the art supplies on the tables. I have a collection of baby food jar lids, styrofoam cups, recycled food containers, etc. The idea is to have at least 3 different sizes of circles for the children. If you do this lesson with an older child, the plastic templates aren t necessary. The children might prefer to free-draw their circles. To start, have the child pick a color on their background paper. If it is red, ask the child to look at the color wheel and find the complementary or opposite color. In this case, green. Then, pick a green colored paper from the tray and trace the LARGEST circle onto the paper. Cut out the circle and glue to the painted square. Choose any color other than the first circle color (red) and trace a medium sized circle. Glue the medium circle to the large circle. Next, select a color to place on the medium circle. Use the smallest template to trace and cut. DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER 2014. All Rights Reserved. 7
Filling up each square with 3 or more circles can take some time. In my case, the process took my Kinders about 100 minutes. (2 ½ 40- minute classes). To make the process faster, cut the background paper down to a 12 x 12 size before the children fold and 2 paint. If you are finding that you are running out of time and the children are slow to cut and paste, encourage the kids to try and finish one half first (4 squares). Then, if they never progress to the other half, you can trim the it off. You will loose ½ of the painted background, but the piece will at least be finished. 3 DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER 2014. All Rights Reserved. 8
What to watch out for When working with Kinders, developing cutting and pasting skills can be a ongoing challenge. There will be children who have never handled scissors before and there are others who are quite capable. Aside from just the cutting skills, the spatial awareness used in this lesson is huge. Many young children do not understand the concept of placing a small circle on top of a medium sized circle which is then placed on top of a larger circle. The result will be cutting lots of circles but gluing them together. I call this stacking and it happens every time. The only thing you can do when this happens is to sit next to the little sweetie and do a set of circles together. It helps to have 3 pre-cut circles ready so that all you need to do is walk the child through the pasting and layering. Another thing that happens is that the child draws a circle with a pencil. For some reason it seems like a good solution to the child. Who s to argue? You can remind the child to play with the scissors to get a shape and then paste it on. DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER 2014. All Rights Reserved. 9
Kinder Gallery DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER 2014. All Rights Reserved. 10
For my Transitional Kinders (young 5 s), they glued their circles on a black piece of 12 x 12 paper. For the children who had some extra time, they added some oil pastel lines and framed their artwork with colored paper strips. DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER 2014. All Rights Reserved. 11
Inspiring children one color at a time Thank you for purchasing a Deep Space Sparkle Art Resource Questions? Contact Patty @ patty.palmer@deepspacesparkle.com For More DSS products, lessons and ideas, visit our website: www.deepspacesparkle.com DEEP SPACE SPARKLE/PATTY PALMER 2014. All Rights Reserved. 12