Art Lesson - Pointillism - Lilacs - 1st Grade

This is an art lesson on pointillism that I did with a class of first graders. The very first art lesson that I did with a class was on pointillism. Back then I let the kids basically do what they wanted, as long as it was "spring-like." This year I gave them more of a focus, and we painted lilacs.

I first gave a little talk about pointillism, keeping it simple and quick because these were first graders. I showed them the famous Georges Seurat painting, as well as some pointillism I'd done before, and other examples that I found in magazines. I also talked about the process a little bit. I gave them small straws with non-drying clay stuck in the end. I showed them how to make the dots with tempra paint. And I explained to not use it like a brush, rather to just "dot" with the straw.

It was lilac season when I did this lesson, so I had a bunch of freshly cut flowers for every table. I tried to help them notice that the flowers had different shades and colors, not just a solid purple. I did a little example with them while lightly drawing a simple shape then filling with the dots. I asked what shape that might be, and it was cute when a little girl called it ginger shaped (CS). I told them to look at the flowers and leaves on their desk and try to duplicate them.

There's always a few kids who want a solid-colored picture with no different shades of purple. And they also want no white showing - like they just could've used a paint brush and painted it much more quickly. But then there was quite a few who actually got it. And I like how they really did do their own version of the flower, as you can see in these examples I have here.

A fabulous quote of the day was "You can mess up in life, but you can't mess up in art" !! by another first grade girl. (AL) The kids are so smart when it comes to art!