Here is a fun and easy Fall lesson that required minimal supplies and used a fun art history lesson on Piet Mondrian.
MATERIALS
9x12 white construction paper
Black permanent marker
Red, Yellow & Blue markers
Yep, that is all it took. Here are the easy steps.
Draw a pumpkin shape, using the entire paper, with a black permanent marker. Really encourage the kids to almost touch all the sides and the bottom of the paper - leaving a little more room at the top. After they draw the shape, they can decide if they want a jack-o-lantern and add a face at this time. They can also leave out the face and just keep it a pumpkin.
They can decide how they want to create their bold geometric lines like Mondrian. My jack version used triangles and irregular polygon shapes for a more fractured look - not exactly Mondrian but still fun. My plain pumpkin was more Mondrian in style and used squares and rectangles.
Then the students could start coloring in their shapes using yellow and blue and red. I let them keep the black markers because we talked quite a bit about composition in Mondrian's work and how as you are coloring in shapes, you may realize you need to change the size of a nearby shape to add a balancing color.
The students could also add a vine and some leaves if they like. They also had to add a horizon line so their pumpkin was not floating. They could then add some straw or something underneath their pumpkin as well.
I have to admit that although Mondrian is such an important and accessible artist to introduce to kids, that I do not particularly like primary color schemes. But, these darn pumpkins turned out so striking with their limited palette and bold lines, that this has become one of my favorite lessons.
Aren't these fun? Definitely check out my Pinterest page for some fun Mondrian videos that we also used during our history appreciation lesson.
