Fall Art Project Teaching Ideas
The fall season provides many sources of inspiration for a variety of classroom art projects. From the changing colors of the leaves to an abundance of produce such as pumpkins and apples, nature can offer a solid basis for your project ideas.
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Leaves
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The changing colors of the leaves on the trees can serve as inspiration for several different art projects in your classroom. Take a nature hike near the school and examine different kinds of trees you encounter on the way. Have students collect leaves they find particularly intriguing, and then use the collected leaves as the basis for your art projects. For instance, you could use the leaves to rub imprints on pieces of paper using vibrant colors of crayons. You could also press the leaves, make a collage or have the students sketch the specimens they've collected. If you don't want to venture out for leaf collecting, you can use colored bits of tissue paper to act as your leaves; these can be glued to hand-drawn tree trunks or can be pasted to a white paper plate with a hole in the middle for an autumn wreath.
Pumpkins
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Pumpkins are a fall staple, so consider taking a trip to your local pumpkin patch for a still life sketching project. Have the students focus on color, depth and proportion in their sketches to make lifelike drawings, or encourage them to draw abstract images of what they see. Another idea is to carve or paint pumpkins as Halloween approaches. Display the students' creations around the classroom, or allow them to bring their masterpieces home with them.
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Apples
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Apples are another seasonal item on which you could base your art project. Have the students work with blending colors to create realistic drawings or paintings of apples for more practice with still life. You could also create apple prints by having the students cut up pieces of the apple into a variety of shapes and textures; dip the resulting pieces into tempera paint so the students can stamp unique patterns and scenes onto pieces of paper.
Acorns
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Bring in a collection of acorns for an easy art project. Have each student create miniature pumpkins by painting the acorns orange; they may also paint on jack-o'-lantern faces if they wish. You can also use this idea for other fall-related holidays, like a tiny acorn turkey for Thanksgiving, or little ghouls and monsters for more Halloween-related ideas. Once these have dried, allow the students to take them home.
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References
- Photo Credit Fall Leaves image by Paul DeLuca from Fotolia.com
