4th graders are learning all about outer space in science. I was so excited to tie thie project in with their curriculum especially becasue it involves planets and stars. I love outer space!
We began by learning all about our solar system through BrainPop. Students were astounded to learn how big Jupiter’s red spot is and that Pluto isn’t considered to be a planet anymore. We created our background on the first day. Students began with analogous colors of chalk pastel.
\
They scribbled colors to make grass in layers:
As they created the ground, I walked around with a “Star Machine”
The “Star Machine” is a mixture of white tempera paint and water in a spray bottle. When sprayed from a couple feet away very lightly, it makes the sky look like it is filled with stars.
Kids traced circular objects on a seperate piece of black paper which we used the next week for planets.
We talked about light sources and how the sun shines on one side of a planet to make it lighter and the other side is dark. Students used white and black oil pastels to create tints and shades which made their planets look like they had form. They were amazed at the values they could make by experimenting with colors. The last step was to cut out the planets and glue them down to the background. Students could overlap and add rings and even aliens on the ground!
4th grade art is out of this world! 🙂
October 30, 2013 at 11:12 pm
LOVE LOVE LOVE! I did a lesson very similar to this last year.. but I LOVE how you did the stars with a spray bottle! I definitely am going to try that this year! 🙂
October 31, 2013 at 2:39 pm
Thank you! I think it would be really cool to do painted paper this way and maybe have the kids rotate around to use different colors. or even have them spray a GIANT piece of paper or butcher paper to use for collages. I can’t wait to see how you “Melinda” this 😉
November 1, 2013 at 1:18 pm
I could not be more in love with a blog post than this one!!! What beautiful projects… I am so enamored by the way you’ve named the spray bottle ‘star machine,’ and I’m sure many of your classroom friends felt the same way. I could go on about what an awesome job you’ve done here–the quality of work that your students output is just mind-boggling. Once again, job well done, Ms. K!! 😀
November 1, 2013 at 6:59 pm
Thank you! The kids did find the “star machine” to be really amusing and fun to use! The quality is all dur to the major talent of the students, I am lucky to work with such great artists.