Kindergarten and Scratch Art

So you may be wondering; If the rest of the school is painting then what are the Kindergarteners doing?

Well I decided to do something pretty special with the Kindergarteners. We are learning about additive and subtractive art making. First: The students lay down a layer of color. Then I painted a layer of tempera paint over their colors. Third the students got to Scratch away the layer of tempera to reveal their beautiful colors. They were all so excited to see their colors reappear.

If you wanted have a conversation about this Project with your Kindergartener you can ask them questions like:
1. What are some examples of additive art?
2. What do you need to do to make art subtractive?
3. Where else do you see subtractive art?

If you want to do this at home here are the “How to” steps.
1. Color a whole piece of paper with color crayons. Be sure you apply a thick layer of color so the paint does not seep into the paper.
2. Mix Tempera paint with a little bit of liquid soup.
3. Brush a layer of paint over the layer of crayon.
4. Take a broken pencil and scratch off a beautiful design.

Artist Trading Cards

Artist trading cards are known for being the baseball cards of the art community. Students have really enjoyed talking about what makes a artist trading cards valuable. They are also very excited for when they will get the opportunity to trade them amongst themselves. I also made a few artist trading cards, that I will be giving away with in drawing.

The students have loved creating their artist trading cards. Every student was required to do at least 4, but each of them have quite a few more than 4. They have seen how each of their cards get better, and so they keep making new ones. I also chose to do artist trading cards with the 3rd and the 5th grade, so they can compare their experiences as 3rd graders and the artist trading cards with their experience as a 5th grader.

The assignment was to make 4 or more artist trading cards in their favorite medium, of things they find the most fun the draw. For example: I really like drawing birds and designs, so when I do my cards they have the objects that I like to draw on them.

Below are a few examples of student trading cards as well as a few of my own trading cards. The first two cards are mine and the second two are student work.