Kids' Art Project

I helped to write a grant to get an art hanging system for our public library. We got the grant and Jack got the bid to make the frames. Then we needed art. Well, due to "No Child Left a Dime" (oh, I mean No Child Left Behind)..., we no longer have art in our school. Actually, art is disappearing in most schools around here. If it is a small school, you can bet there isn't any art unless a teacher majored in art and some other subject so they can multi-teach!

Anyway, I decided to take my lunch break and go teach some art to the 4th/5th graders. Luckily for me, the teacher was agreeable and the timing worked out perfectly.

Understand that these kids have not had art before. I got them for 5 lessons and I had to have something to hang in the library when done!

We had a couple drawing lessons then painted a sheet of construction paper with cheap watercolor paints. Once those dried, I talked about art styles and "anything" goes! All I wanted was a fish from each of them and they had to fill the page. They had to draw a fish onto their watercolor page. Then draw them with Sharpie pen and if they wanted, they could cut the fish out and mount it onto white paper.

I rounded up two volunteers and we spent 3 hours putting the paintings into the frames and hanging them.

The resulting paintings follow.

I was rather disappointed when they first turned them into me, but as I mounted each one and saw the designs they painted or the characters of the fish or thought of the child; my smile grew larger and larger. I love them.

(Some are hung a bit crooked - I need to go back and fix that but our library is only opened 3 part time days a week and I can't get over there very often.)