Art Club Library Windows

My 5th grade Art Club students are always kept busy with projects that give back to the school.  One of my favorite projects was creating art for the Library windows.  

Our Library has six windows all around it, which is why I called it the fish bowl.  So we decided to create something that would add color to our hallways and help spectators from distracting our young readers in the fish bowl.

The kids made a list of their favorite books.  Then we narrowed it down to twelve. We used foam board and acrylic paint.  We painted the fronts and backs of the six boards.  Since these boards were so large I definitely had to help draw these, the kids had a hard time filling up the space on their own.  The kids split into groups and painted their boards with whatever colors they wanted.  Most of them stuck with the same colors as their books.  I was very impressed with the care they took in making these. 

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You can now see these classic books in the hall and inside the Library!  The foam board sits nicely inside each window.  You can take them out to clean the glass or move them around if you get bored with the same placement.  These have been a big hit at school!  The kids are always really proud to see their artwork on display and being admired.  

"I Ain't Gonna Paint No More"
By Karen Beaumont (Author) and David Catrow (Illustrator)

 This is one of my favorite books to read to my little ones.  We really like rhymes in elementary school.  And the illustrations are fabulous and very artsy.  This is a project I did with my first graders.  We read the book about a little boy who loves to paint, he loves it enough to paint himself.

Next, I divided them into small groups around the room.  Each group gets a large sheet of white bulletin board paper.  They picked one person from their group to pose on the paper while the rest of the group traced their outline in pencil.  Now it's time for paint!

                                                 
 I gave the groups one paint color at a time and rotated colors around the room. They had to work together to determine what to paint, what colors to mix together, how much paint to use, etc.  It's a great project for students to learn how to work together and listening to each others ideas and suggestions.  It's also great for learning about colors, patterns, and shapes.

Once the entire body is painted they have to dry.  This is probably the hardest part for me.  Finding a place to lay all these giant paintings without having them drip or fold on themselves.  The next class period students were very excited to see their dried paintings.  The last step is having them cut out their painted people.  Students are each given a pair of scissors and work together to follow their traced lines.  

After that we staple them in the halls.  It is a quick fun project that adds lots of color and movement to our plain walls.