Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Primary Dragon

I signed up to teach an enrichment class in our local elementary school.  I received notice about a week ago that I would have 10 first and second graders for an hour watercolor class.  It has been so long since I have been around first and second graders that I wasn't sure what their capabilities would be, so I thought I would start with the color wheel.  My next thought was, what fun is a color wheel for that age group - none!  Ok, fun things, fun things - dragons!  I went online for some clip art dragons and found one that I like the face of and another I thought I could make the body into a, sort of, color wheel.  I sketched until I came up with one I thought would work.  Here he is, The Primary Dragon.  I traced my sketch, transfered it to some inexpensive watercolor paper and then used a permanent black marker to out line the Dragon.  I painted this Dragon at home as an example and painted another as a demonstration at the class.  After the little darlings got their seats and quieted down, I handed out the prints, paintbrushes, water containers, and three small jars with not very much paint in them.  I was hoping the paint would last for all eight classes, but I am pretty sure now that won't be the case.  One boy used most of his already.  I tried to explain, lots of water and little dabs of paint.  After the primary colors were painted, we started the secondary colors.  It was so much fun to watch their faces as the colors mingle to creat a new color.  Some of the children knew what was going to happen, but not all.  My 16 year old daughter came to be my assistant and was a very big help when the water got to dirty, someone had to go to the bathroom, paper towels ran out...........  She wants to be an elementary teacher and this class is giving her a try.  She does so well with the younger children, I am sure she will make an excellent teacher.  When the fins were all done, I told them to wet the middle of the dragon and dab colors on to mingle as the wanted.  Some children followed that suggestion and others just want one solid color, which is OK to.  One little girl was upset because she made a smudge on the outside edge of her paper and I told her there weren't any rules to follow on "her" painting.  If she wanted to paint the outside, she could.  I know how it feels to be young and expected to "stay in the lines".  I don't want to convey that feeling to any of these children, I want them to have fun.  The next class is tomorrow at 3:15, guess I had better start getting ready!

4 comments:

  1. What a wonderful idea- and a wonderful way to teach!! I didn't learn about the color wheel until I was much older. It probably would have made more of an impact as a dragon!!

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  2. Brilliant idea! That dragon would work magic to keep those kids calm and have fun at the same time. Thanks for your comments on my bike drawing Patsy ^^ Vrrroooommmm

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  3. Awesome idea and follow through with the kids. What a blessing for you to be able to teach an art class and share what you have learned. How wonderful for the kids. They will learn so much from your happy dragon and his following cousins of ideas. Also, thanks so much for coming by and commenting on my Rose sketch. It is much appreciated.

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  4. Thank you so much for your comment! I am glad I could entertain just for a second with my sketches. :) The background color is actually the natural paper color of the Moleskine sketchbook. I took the picture under the yellow fluorescent light that's why it enhanced the yellow even further. But I liked how it turned out, photography is art too right ;)

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