Eric Carle, lots of paint, and Kindergarten

Eric Carle is a well known author and illustrator, especially among the younger set.  We watched the video, "Eric Carle, Picture Writer" in class, and then used his methods to create our own collages.  I like how he just makes decorative papers without an image in his head.  He just makes them, and later pulls the sheets he needs to create the image. 

After I cover the room in paper (this is one messy project), I set up for stations to create the colorful papers.  The girls splatter-painted, rolled, scratched, and stamped their hearts out.  They loved it!

 

 

You can see the mess!  During the next two class sessions, they girls cut out shapes for their collage and glued them onto large pieces of paper. 

 



Working on the floor was easier for most of the girls.

 

 



 The one above was one of my favorites!  I loved the rhythm of the snakes!  They are large as well, she used the entire page.  Wonderful!

 

 I loved the ears on the animal on the right!

Kinder - Eric Carle continued

An almost completed collage!

Kinder and Eric Carle

Eric Carle is used a lot as the basis for many art lessons, and it is easy to see why! We watch a video - "Eric Carle, Picture Writer" which shows how he paints and prepares his papers from which he creates his collages. It looks so fun! Sooooo, the next class is for making papers. wow. I set up four stations - one for stamping, another for adding texture with some great mittens, one for layering color and then scratching back into the paint with the other end of the paintbrush, and then the absolute favorite, splatter painting. The girls spend about 8 minutes at each station, painting a base layer of color then applying the station techniques. No names on the papers, just working! They have a blast and decide, then and there, that Eric Carle has the best job in the world. I think I do, but his job is a close second.

These mittens are great- they have all kinds of textures on them. They are quite small, I can not wear them (drat). They were in the art closet when I started here. No idea where they came from!

The next class, they draft some ideas, get huge pieces of paper, and I pass out the papers. I try to balance colors out between the tables. The papers are for everybody to use! After a class or two of cutting and gluing, they use oil pastels to add details. They are not finished yet, I will post a few when they are done!