Its springtime again, and I have created a springtime art project to take to my sons 5th grade class later in April. This project is designed to introduce children ages 8-13 to the art of Georgia OKeefe and watercolor painting using Kool-Aid on paper.
First, introduce children to the art of Georgia OKeefe by showing them a few of her large close-up paintings of flowers. I like to go on the internet and search through museums images or Google images to find suitable artworks at a large enough resolution that I can capture the images and create a pdf slide show. I burn my slideshow to a CD and take it into my childs classroom where I can show the images using a computer.
Showing the art of artists from art history to kids is important. (After all, if you want your kids to make art they must first know what it looks like. Right? Right.) The kids may not remember the artists name, but talk about how OKeefe gets in close to the flower. One of Georgia OKeefes flowers can fill an entire page and go off all edges of the paper. These are big, beautiful flowers.
I purchased a flat of pansies from a local greenhouse and broke up the containers so there were enough pansies for all 20 kids in my sons class. (I encourage you to select red, orange or yellow pansies since the blues and purples of Kool-Aid can be a bit challenged.) Give each child a pansy flower to look at, and to sketch onto the entire piece of paper. The idea here is to re-create the close-up flower and large colors of Georgia OKeefe.
Give each child an egg carton or multi-holed mixing container, 3 packets of Kool-Aid (lemonade, cherry, and orange), and a large piece of paper. Kids also get a cup of water, a paintbrush and a small sponge. Have kids put the powder into 3 of the compartments of the egg crate, and add a couple of teaspoons of water to the Kool-Aid.
Demonstrate all this to the kids first, then pass out materials and help them get started. Have the kids look at their pansy and sketch out the shapes lightly onto their paper with a pencil. Remind them to fill the page, just like Georgia OKeefe. Then, show the kids how they can lightly brush their paper with a wet sponge, and then apply Kool-Aid paint to create a lava lamp of gradient shades of that color. So if a child paints first with the cherry or red paint that radiates into the white of the paper, they can create an orange or yellow color on the opposite side of the cherry to emulate the washes and gradients that are possible with watercolors.
So the next time you go the grocery store, think to yourself, what else can I buy here that I can paint with? Hmmm.
Extra Tips:
Kool-Aid paint can dry sticky if the paint is too thick, so lay paintings flat to dry but dont stack them. Also, while Kool-Aid is non-toxic, ask the kids to avoid inhaling the powder. Also tell kids that this Kool-Aid has no sugar and it tastes horrible.
- Visit the Georgia OKeefe Museum online here.
- Read about the history of Kool-Aid here.
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