Art Lesson - Fall Trees Painting - 1st Grade

This is a lesson well suited for First Graders. I first discussed the Fall/Autumn Season with the children. I showed different pictures of trees. Since I live in the forest I talked about the difference of the pine trees and the other types of trees that loose their leaves. We compared the shape and the colors of the Fall Season.

I gave them a palette of the primary colors, red, yellow and blue. I also gave them a pre mixed brown for the center of their palette, just like a color wheel. The first part of the lesson we painted the trunk and branches of the tree. I had them paint large to fit the paper, and tried to achieve a more curvy trunk, unlike the straight pine tree trunk.

A first grade art standard for First Grade is mixing a secondary color with 2 primary colors. I had them first mix an orange. Each of the students had a small sponge in an almond or leaf shape. I had them paint different shades of yellow, orange and red onto their sponge and print the leaves around the tree. I also had them mix green.

Most of the kids were finished in about a half hour, including the pre-lesson discussion, so most were able to do another painting, sponge painting and had an opportunity to mix their paint up even more, which is what most kids want to do it seems.