Ode to Deep Space Sparkle - Or How I Modified Her Snowman Lesson

If you're an art teacher anywhere in this world and you have searched the net for ideas you must have stumbled upon Deep Space Sparkle at some point in time.  This website is amazing, Patty Palmer creates fun, easy to follow lessons that still do a great job of teaching the elements and principles of art.  I have dipped into her lesson blog when I needed a new way of teaching an old concept. 

This time, I needed a generic winter lesson that could bridge between one marking period's main focus of texture and the next marking period's main focus of color.  Patty's Snowmen at Night lesson, which you can find here, was perfect.

For the most part, I followed the plan as listed on Patty's site.  We read the book, discussed the illustrations use of the cool color blue to make the illustrations look cold, plus talked about the different tints of blue used.

Now, in Patty's original plan she was using the tissue paper with glue glaze to create houses in the background.  For my classes I simplified it greatly for ease in prep and limited time.  I have a school which is only K-2, so I had six classes of first graders to prep for.  So in keeping with the discussion about tints, we used different blue tissue papers to create sky.  Also, as a time saver as I only see them once a week for 40 minutes we only did the tissue paper about halfway down the paper and left the white of the paper to become the white of the snow on the ground.

After the glue glazing of the tissue paper each table was given a paint tray with white and turquoise.  The snowmen were then painted on top.  I demonstrated how to use the turquoise to shade one side of the snowman and to create a shadow on the ground for it.  Of course, as you can see from the photos below, first graders love to throw directions out the window and just enjoy the process of paint mixing.  There are a lot of frosty blue snowmen in my school right now!

Following the drying of the paint, the kids got to raid my scrap box and start decorating.  For a final touch I had them put glue dots around their snowman and bring them to my "glittering" station.  My glittering station is just an aluminum pan.  I have them put their pictures inside, sprinkle the glitter myself (to avoid over-use) and then tap it out inside the tray.  This way any unused glitter winds up in the tray and I can funnel it back into the container.  This process cuts down on a LOT of waste.  

My very battered and often used Glitter Station.

Here are some of the works in progress:

This one is getting a jacket a few sizes too small.

Faces and arms were done with markers.

This one has a pipe.  I love it!

And here is the finished display!

I just love the sunglasses on this one!  Too cute!