Lesson At A Glance

A brief overview of each step. Buttons jump to each section for detailed information.

5 Min –  Each student gets 3 Fall leaves.

20 Min – Use fall colored leaves

15 Min – Ink & Straws

5 Min – Discuss branches

5 Min – Draw a tree & branches

5 Min – Wet paper

10 Min – Warm colors

5 Min – Everyone helps

If Time -Leaf rubbings on paper

SCROLL & TEACH

LESSONPLAN

Each section is a different color. Read over once and then you can SCROLL & TEACH using any device you like. It’s designed to work best with your phone.

Students draw a leaf from memory before moving to artists’ choice.

Begin with a short warmup. Have students draw a leaf from their memory using markers. They can make more leaves that look different from each other, or get a new piece of paper for artists choice.

Use this button to jump down to the preparation section.

Students “collect” 3 leaves.

Lay all your leaves on a table in the front of your classroom. Fall colors are great, but if the leaves haven’t changed yet, you can easily use green leaves, telling the kids to make them change to the fall colors. If you have some of those imitation fall leaves you can toss a few of those in too.

If you can’t get good leaves, use our printable leaf collection above. Just cut the leaves close to the shape of each one so they can be arranged just like real leaves.

Students can then come up to a table (a few at a time) and choose 3 leaves. Encourage them to pick leaves that all look different. Once they have chosen 3 leaves, they can take them back to their seats.

Use this button to jump down to the preparation section.

Students arrange leaves on one sheet to create their design.

Have the 2 sheets of paper stacked in front of each student. On the top sheet of copy paper, have everyone lay 3 leaves out in a nice design. A great idea is with one of the leaves overlapping another one, and the third one over to one side, but they can do whatever they like.

Encourage students to try more than one arrangement and experiment until they find one they like. Carefully slide this away from them so that it doesn’t cover the second sheet of paper.

Students recreate the outlines of their 3-leaf design using pencil.

Begin with one leaf, and draw it in the same place and the same size, on the new paper. Continue drawing the other two just like they look, and in the same positions. Don’t do any shading at all. We will be using oil pastels to color the leaves in the next step.

Remind students to use line to show edges. Encourage everyone by noting how well they are doing as they are using lines to create shapes. If a few students are struggling with the shapes, let them turn their paper over, and try again, or even trace the first leaf to get started. You can even ease up on the realistic objective, and let everyone trace the leaves after the first drawing. Trying is the important thing, and you don’t want stressed or unhappy artists at this age. You will know best for your students.

For tracing, you’ll need to have regular weight copy paper ready, since you can’t see through the card stock.

Use this button to jump down to the preparation section.

Students will color the leaves.

Each student will use oil pastels, beginning with yellows and then adding orange and reds. Finally use a little purple, green or brown on the edges if you want. Look at the pictures of leaves to see where colors should go (or the fall leaves you have if they are colored.)

End by blending with yellow and white and/or blending sticks. Early finishers can add a background.

Use this button to jump down to the preparation section.

Get ready ahead of time by mixing ink and water.

Each student will need card stock paper and a bendy straw. You will need to prepare a dark grey ink color by mixing ink and a small bit of water in a jar. The water makes it flow better. Make sure you mix enough for all your students to get some. Have an ink dropper ready as well.

Give each student paper and a bendy straw. Show that you use it upside down, with the bent part down at the paper to blow onto your paper away from you. It’s a great idea to demonstrate as you tell them how to blow through the straw.

Too much blowing will make kids dizzy! Make sure you have students stop and start blowing according to your direction. You can facilitate this by having them only blow when the music in on, and stop when the music stops.

Give students 2 or 3 tries on more papers if you want. You may need to add a few more drops at the bottom as you go around and watch your students. Once they are finished, set papers aside to dry.

Use this button to jump down to the preparation section.

Use this button to jump down to the preparation section.

Students begin a painting by drawing the trunk and branches using pencil and pastel.

Have the sheet of watercolor paper in the shower position. Have students draw a large tree and branches using pencil, by looking at the tree image on display. Encourage them to draw lightly, but don’t expect it. Students should begin at the bottom and travel upwards, creating branches like they see in the picture and also like their ink did. Be sure all students have their names at bottom corner.

They should be free to create branches different than the reference if they want to.

Students will now trace over their pencil lines with a black pastel. Then have them blend into it with a grey pastel to create lighter areas. They can add width to the trunk and larger branches to make them more realistic.

Use this button to jump down to the preparation section.

Students will continue with the bare tree drawing, and turn the watercolor paper over to begin a paper bath. Begin by wetting the back using a large brush or sponge and water jar. Let the water soak in and expand the paper. Blot with a paper towel or squeezed out sponge to get puddles up and turn back to the front. Wet the front too, but don’t use as much water, and be careful to not smear the oil pastels. If you use a sponge, you’ll need to use a patting method instead of wiping. If using brushes, just keep a light touch and have them wet around the pastels in the larger areas first. After paper is wet, blot up all the excess water and smooth out any wrinkles. Paper should still be wet, but not glossy from the water, when you begin painting.

When they finish giving their paper a water bath, have students “wake up” their paints by dipping the paint brush into the water and adding a little bit of water to each color. We will only be using the warm colors (and maybe a little yellow green) so students only have to add water to warm colors.

Use this button to jump down to the preparation section.

Students will use two movements for the leafy areas, which are not individual leaves, but bunches of leaves. It’s good to let the paper sit for a short moment before you begin, while you are preparing.

Get out watercolors and mixing trays/plates. Explain that we are only going to use the warm fall colors. You can try a bit of yellow green if you want, but mostly yellows, orange and reds.

Mix up some strong colors, and add to the branch areas to make a soft, spreading, and colorful fall tree. Have fun!

Use this button to jump down to the preparation section.

 If there is extra time at the end of the class, hand each student a piece of copy paper. Don’t feel like you need to rush through other steps to complete this activity. If students are enjoying painting, it is ok to skip this step.

Have the students try leaf rubbings using fall colors in pastels. Use thin copy paper for the best results.

Use this button to jump down to the preparation section.

• Empty water containters
• Super-wash brushes if used
• Put art supplies away (sop up runny paint before disposing of palette paper)
• Wipe tables & toss trash
• Remove any smocks (last)
• Check for items on floors and tables

• Try to get photos of your student’s artwork. Find a good spot for quick lighting without highlights or shadows from your hands and device. Ideally in-between two strong lights on each side.

Have a bunch of amazing supplies ready, and cut a few things apart before-hand in a way that make you look amazing.

Print all of your PDFs from the lesson plan and cut any references apart as needed.

Week 13: Fall Funnies

Students will have tons of fun learning the parts of cartoon faces and practicing how to put them all together. After creating their own original character, they get to create a silly cartoon head using fun-dough.

Week 14: Cartoons Again!

Students will continue with cartooning, and work on cartoon hands and feet. Then we move on to creating crazy creatures and silly monsters. It’s a fun day of cartoon art.