Clay Pinch Pot Guppy Fish

Fish made from pinch pots turned on the side.

Glue and Chalk Pastel Lizards

Glue outline on black paper with chalk pastels for color.

Pyramid Landscapes

These were really cool and the kids loved the finished product.  We talked about habitats, and each student picked their own environment.  They then got a large piece of square paper, and drew the background on only the top half of the square (turned to look like a diamond).  They then construced the pyramid, and added "pop up" pieces for a 3-D effect.

Snowy Day Snowmen

The day before winter break, I decided to do a winter themed activity. I had a ton of clear overheads, so the kids used q-tips to dot "snow" all over them. They then drew snowmen using oils pastels/crayons and cut paper. I taped the snow over top of their snowmen, so they can lift it up, or put it down to make it snow.

Eric Carle Bugs

Not all that original of an idea, but my METS class were reading Eric Carle, so we did some paper decorating, cutting and making bugs.

Giant Tree and Fall Leaves

This is a work in progress.  I created the big tree, and the kids are currently making leaves and bugs for the trees. Most of the bugs will be from printed papers, Eric Carle style.  Each of my schools has their own tree.  Older students will look at leaves and draw their own, while Pre-K and some kindergarten will have a paper with pre-drawn leaves that they can trace and then color.  Each grade level will create a different kind of leaf: 
- crayon resist with tempera paint
- tissue paper
- oil pastel
- watercolor

 Will update this when it's completed!

Kandinsky Circles

Kandinsky inspired circles using oil pastels and watercolor paint.  I did this with my METS class, which is composed of a really wide range of skill levels, but this could easily be used for any grade.

Textured Fish Bowls

These underwater fish bowls can take awhile to create, but it covers a lot-- texture, watercolor resist, drawing, cutting and gluing.

Students cut out their own fish bowls (symmetry and math!), then draw their underwater habitat (science!) using crayon.  Everything is drawn in except water and fish.  They then do a watercolor wash over everything.  They do four texture rubbings using texture plates and crayon, and then create their fish from those rubbings.  I've done this before, using a "stained glass" effect where instead the fish are drawn into the scene, their fins are cut out and replaced with tissue paper.  That looks really neat as well :)