Earth Day is in April, and because of that – this month’s art projects center on using recycled materials to create art pieces that have dimension and texture.
This month, we are posting two lessons: one that might be better for younger classes, and one geared more for older grades. Both use recycled materials.
Recycled Rainbow Fish
Using Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister books (http://www.storylineonline.net/the-rainbow-fish/) as inspiration, students can see how using different textures, colors, materials, and shapes can make their art piece dynamic.
What you will need:
Recycled CDs (using the mirrored side)
Other recycled items: bottle caps, magazine clippings, ribbon, tissue paper, foil, etc.
Glue
Sharpies
The Prep:
A week before the art lesson, ask the students in your classroom to bring in recycled materials to decorate their fish.
The Lesson:
Read the book (or use the link above to have the story read on the video) to the class, and then have students pick out materials to use for gills, eyes, fins, scales, etc.
After all basic parts of a fish are named, ask, “if all fish have a body, gills, scales, eyes, tails, fins and mouths, do they all look the same?” Then show students several pictures of fish (like Matisse’s Goldfish, below) and ask what makes them different: Color, lines, textures (elements of design), size. Elaborate as needed. Discuss how using different materials (that are recycled) make each of the student’s fish different, too.
Vocabulary:
- Line: a continuous mark, made by a tool. Can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal, straight or curved, thick or thin.
- Shape: a closed line. Shapes can be geometric like squares & circles; or organic, like free form shapes. Shapes are flat & express lengths and widths.
- Forms: 3-d shapes, express length, width, and depth.
- Color: light reflected off objects. 3 characteristics: hue (name), value (light or dark) and intensity (how bright or dull).
- Texture: Surface quality which can be seen or felt. (rough, smooth, shiny, hard) Textures don’t always feel the way they look. A picture of a porcupine may look prickly, but isn’t.
Fine Lines Fish Collage
Use Fish Eyes by Lois Ehlert and discussing what a fish skeleton looks like, and collage artist Megan Coyle (http://mcoyle.com/) to discuss creating art from other once-thought discarded materials.
What you will need:
Construction paper
Yarn or ribbon
Other recycled items: bottle caps, magazine clippings, newspapers, ribbon, tissue paper, foil, etc.
Glue
The Prep:
A week before the art lesson, ask the students in your classroom to bring in recycled materials to create their fish skeleton.
The Lesson:
Once you have recycled materials collected, read the book to the class, and then have student pick out materials to use for their fish.
Cut out shapes to make the head and tail. Glue yarn to connect the head to the tail and then add fish bones above and below the yarn.
Talk about the placement of the fish on the paper, too. Depending on how you place your yarn/fish bones, some fish appear to be swimming to the water’s surface, others appear to be diving down and some are just “swimming” straight ahead.
Students can use various recycled products to create a background for their fish, too. All of these textures and materials make for dynamic and textural art.
Happy creating!
In Touch with Art 