Art and artists
Line Safari
Go hunting for eight kinds of lines and draw one of each: zigzag, wavy, dotted, spiral and more.
Thinking sheet · Art and artists
Light to Dark Ladder
Shade five circles from lightest to darkest, then shade a ball so it looks round.
- Grades
- 2–5
- Time
- about 20 minutes
- Topic
- Art and artists
- Kids practice
- value and shading, pencil pressure, making things look 3d
What kids do
“Press softly for light and harder for dark. Can you make five different grays?”
- Shade light to dark:
- Shade a ball (light on one side)
- Shade something from the room
- Where did I put the light? How can you tell?
How to run it
- A regular pencil works. Show how pressing changes the gray.
- Shine a flashlight on a real ball so kids can see the light and dark sides.
- Remind them the shadow goes on the side away from the light.
Talk about it
- Which gray was hardest to make?
- How did shading change the circle?
- Where do you see shadows right now?
Take it further
Shade one of Kevin’s characters so it looks like it is standing in the sun.
Pairs well with
Free for home and classroom use. Print as many copies as you need.
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Art and artists
Warm and Cool Twins
Draw the same picture twice: once in warm colors and once in cool colors. How does each one feel?
Free for teachers
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