Art for the First Day of Kindergarten

Hi. It’s Jessica, with the Art of Education, and today I want to share with you a lesson that I do with my kindergartners on the first day of art. And it’s a winning lesson for several reasons, but it may seem, to, at first that it’s one of the most uncreative lessons you’ve ever seen. I’ll show you the finished product here, so you can see. Doesn’t look like a very creative or exciting art project, but there’s a lot behind this first kindergarten art lesson. And, what it serves to me is actually an assessment tool, to see how my students are doing with their cutting, following simple directions, gluing and using different line types. So, it’s an assessment tool and a chance for students to get familiar with all the different are supplies in the art room on the first day. Unlike my other grades, with my kindergartners I jump right into an art project on the first day. You may think I’m crazy, but it gets them comfortable, and it get me to see where they’re at. So, we start the lesson with paper that looks like this, and we talk about shapes and I say a simple command like in the two rectangles make a pattern with straight lines. In the two ovals, fill them in, color them in. In the hat make a design, like it would be a party hat. In the circle make a face. And, then students follow those simple directions. The arrows help students know where the top is, which is good for working on simple directions. And then, students cut them out, and glue them down, and put it together in the form of a person. Now I don’t show them this. I don’t say make a person just like this. I just say use these pieces and try to make a person. So, there is a creative component and when these are finished I can totally see what students have added ears, earrings, different types of hair necklaces or what students couldn’t even find oval to do the stripes or couldn’t get them all cut out, or put down. Sometimes you’ll even get cookie people where the arms coming out of the head and the next one has a birthday hat with a tassel at top. And it tells me a lot about where my students are at developmentally with their fine motor, with their art concepts and just gives them the chance to follow simple most basic directions in the art room. This may take one or two class periods, depending on how long your classes are, but I found it’s a great way to start off kindergarten art, give me some knowledge about my students and get them making art on the first day. I hope you try this in your classroom and I’ll definitely provide this download for you, so you can give it a whirl yourself. For more, great art ed tips, check out, theartofed.com.