In my little Art Center (ages 6 to 10), we did a "roman" (as in Rome..LOL!)
week.
Maybe some of you can use these ideas?
Anyway, we started off by doing roman sort of temples, out of cardboard and
sand paint. I have used this technique (posted out to the Art4kids list at
Yahoo):
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Material:
- leftover of mat boards (you can ask in framing shops) or rectangular
pieces of cardboard
- sturdy flat brushes
- liquid poster paint, tempera or gouache (has to be liquid)
- fine sand
- glass yogurt pots
(Note: the kids use only the primary colors plus white. I almost never
gives them black, unless the project requires it, because they will tend to
draw in black and then color inside the lines. And I don't like that! LOL....)
How to:
- Mix sand into the paint, enough sand so it will be quite thick but still
creamy... Now that's why they need sturdy brushes: the sand tends to "eat"
the brushes...
- Explain to the kids that they must mix the colors on their painting,
while the paint is still wet, just like true painters might do...
- Give each kid a mat or a cardboard rectangle (bigger then A4 if possible)
and let them paint away!
Let them explore the medium. Explain that they need to mix the paint in the
pot each time they put the brush into it, because the sand tends to go to
the bottom...
They have to paint all the area of their painting, they cannot leave any
area unpainted. Some kids didn't feel confortable painting without drawing
first, so I let the draw a little with a pencil and then paint. But explain
that they have to draw big, because the brushes are big...
Believe me, the kids usually love doing that!
I have put up images of the kids and of the finished paintings here:
http://www.ludosafe.com/art4kids/sand/index.htm
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Back to the romans..
We cutted out the temple shape out of cardboard. They painted the shapes
with grey tempera paint, and while it was wet, they decorated the temples
with bits of black (it must be the only time I allowed them to use black...).
http://www.ludosafe.com/galeria/v_romanos/DCP_3366.jpg
and did coins in the roman way, with paper and markers. The kid had to draw
and paint images that were important to them. They also had to invent the
name of their money. They had a lot of fun doing that!
Here are the coins:
http://www.ludosafe.com/galeria/v_romanos/DCP_3364.jpg
