Supplies Needed:
-Water color paper or plain paper
-Pencils
-Watercolor palettes and brushes
-Water cups
-Pink, white, cut up pieces of tissue paper or Pink, White poster paints
-Small plates for glue or paint
-White glue
-Optional Stamp Carving materials
Day One: 1) We watched a short video about the Shakura Cherry Blossom Trees from Japan. (stop at 3:22 or the kids will get bored) https://youtu.be/4cwcxbES9eA After we talked about the Festival and talked about local festivals in our area. 2) On water color paper have each student trace a plastic lid, bottom of their pencil jars, anything round with a pencil lightly. I asked them to trace it to one side, not right in the middle. 2) Then depending on experience I showed them how to prime their watercolors and asked to pick a blue or purple for the background of their sky, but making sure to NOT watercolor inside their moon/sun. You might want to use larger brushes for this since they have to cover a larger area all one color. 3) We then let these dry over lunch or overnight. | Day Two: 1) Before starting anything have them erase their circle they drew before doing their branches. Use a straw to blow a small drop of black watercolor across page using a straw. Remind students to take breaks if they get light headed and to blow from the side not straight down. Walk around with a straw and show those that might be struggling with the concept. Note: Everyone gets their own straw, then toss away or use for another project. Sorry I didn't take pictures of this process I was too busy helping. 2) Two Options: (1) Use small cuts up pieces of pink tissue paper wrapped around the end of a pencil and dip in regular white Elmers glue and them put down on their branches. (4th-8th grade Special Education Classes) (2) Put some white and pink poster paint on a plate and have the kids use their finger to make their petals. This worked great with the younger kids and they loved the finger painting. (First grade) | 3) I showed them how to write cherry blossom in Japanese. They were over the top excited to learn how to write in Japanese and I explained what each stroke meant. For some of my classes I had them use a stamp I had carved out of an eraser, some drew it on their artwork, and some grades practiced on another piece of paper and wrote a summary about their Cherry Blossom tree. It depends on what you want to do, but do show them how to draw the symbol in Japanese-they loved it! I then taught my first graders to write "Cherry Blossom" in Japanese, and had them write about their painting and what they learned. As you can see they loved the project and made connections to other cultures, languages, and created a one of a kind art piece to be proud of. They couldn't wait to take their art home. |