This week, I had the opportunity to help lead the string painting project in my daughter’s Gr. 1 & 2 French Immersion class. The teacher was able to find everything we needed in the art supply room. We used an almost-empty bottle of black acrylic paint, which I watered down and shook up. We gave each student a small dixie cup of the paint, a string, and a paint brush. I explained the activity in French to the students, and showed them four examples that we had so they could see the different patterns they could make using more or less lines.
The children enjoyed being able to play with the string, dragging it across the paper and trying different curves and lines. My four-year-old came along, and he eagerly helped wash all the paintbrushes while the class waited on the carpet for the paint to dry (they did show-and-tell in the meantime).
The kids had to go run around the school a few times to collect themselves, and came back in eager to add colour to their creations. The paint available was tempera cake paint, which created very vibrant colours. The teacher and I found ourselves running a bucket brigade, though, replacing the students’ water as it became muddy.
Look at the beautiful variety of paintings the kids came up with, even though they didn’t have tons of time (there was even a fire drill during the time we intended to start!). This was the biggest group I’ve ever led an art project with; I’m quite used to managing my own two kids. But it went well and was fun!
Mama Cormier
I love this activity. I’m teaching abstract art to my grade 5s but I love this approach. I think I’ll use it with my younger students. What kind of paper did you use?
The Farmhouse Chronicles and Delight-filled Leaves Art
It was fairly heavy paper, but I don’t think it was anything in particular (the teacher had it picked out). The gr 1s and 2s did quite well with it, though I’d suggest doing the 2 steps over 2 days.
Sheryl
It looks like fun. It brings back memories of helping in my children’s classrooms when they were younger.