K-2 Landscape Paintings

  • This project took place over a 40 minute art lesson. The lesson took place at a summer camp in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. We used the mountains we could see to start with a conversation about landscape. What did students notice about the mountains? What might they see on a mountain?

  • I then guided students through the basics of making their own mountain landscape. I demonstrated how to create depth by drawing lines. I then encouraged them to add their own unique elements to their landscape.

  • Students used markers and tempura paint to add color to their pieces.

Over the course of a 4 day long watercolor intensive, my 3rd and 4th graders worked on two projects. First, they explored watercolor paint by creating an abstract piece. They made expressive line drawings, then filled in the sections using different watercolor techniques. We tracked progress on the board, with students initialing beside each technique each time they used it.

Watercolor Intensive

3rd-4th Grade

In their second project, students were free to use any techniques they wanted. We created watercolor collages of nature scenes. I provided students with lots of reference images of different native bugs to use as reference. Students were required to make each individual element it’s own cutout.