Red, Yellow, Blue--K4/K5

Teaching the little guys, as I fondly call my kinders, is best done using music or movement.  I'm still learning in this area, as I've been used to teaching middle school students in the past.  It is also particularly challenging teaching this age group because each lesson, while teaching the ideas of true art, must also be simple enough for four and five year olds to grasp and the art itself not above their skill levels.

Fine motor skills are being developed at this age, so things that are fairly simple to an older elementary student, such as drawing shapes or cutting with scissors, is something still being learned in the kindergarten classroom.  This is especially true for our Junior Kindergarten class.  This year has been one of learning for me as well!

For this project, which I gleaned from my talented art teacher mother, is a perfect lesson for teaching the primary colors to the youngest Harvest students.  "Red", "Yellow", and "Blue", as our three mice are called come to life while singing a song to the tune of "Three Blind Mice".  Red, Yellow, Blue, how do you do?  We discuss primary colors and how they are the base colors for every other color.  In another lesson later (Secondary Color Balloons) students will see how these base colors can mix into secondary colors, Purple, Orange, and Green.

I pre-cut the triangle shapes for the mice bodies since we did this lesson toward the beginning of the school year.  The students were to paste (using glue sticks) each triangle in order facing in one direction.  One corner of the triangle is the nose.

Next, students were to take a black crayon and follow my direction on the board to draw two circles (colored in) for ears (in perspective--one front, one back), a black nose, eyes, whiskers, and four little feet.  Most followed direction fairly well.  Of course a few have a mind of their own.  Finally, the assistants and I drew a glue line for a tail and the student placed snippets of yarn carefully on the glue.

At the end of the year, it is amazing how these projects teaching art basics can stick with young children, especially if a song is attached!