3-D Pumpkin Art

One of the many fun things about my new position is I get to teach art. I know I have much to learn about teaching art, but I absolutely love seeing how students take the basis of a project and make it their own. This past week's project was a hit with parents and students.

 Our 3-D Pumpkins

We have been working on the characteristics of art. So far we have done line, color, and texture. This week was a combo project to work on being more familiar with the color wheel and how to make colors...really how to make orange and shape. This is an EASY two day project.

Day 1 Directions:

Mix red and yellow paints to make a desired orange color. Paint the entire 11x18 white construction paper. Let dry for the next art time. 

Day 2 Directions: 

1. Cut the orange paper into strips. 

Note: The thicker the strips the easier the rest of the steps will be. Students had the choice of what way to cut, whether they wanted really long strips or short ones better know as hotdog or hamburger style strips. Strips must be around the same length for the pumpkin to take shape. 

2. After all the strips are cut, push them one at a time onto a green pipecleaner. All strips just need to slightly be on the pipecleaner. This will become the bottom of the pumpkin. 

3. Repeat step 2 with each strip. This time put the unattached end of each strip on the other end of the pipecleaner. Do this with every strip. Strips do not need to stay near the top of the pipecleaner. Pushing them further down helps to make a rounder pumpkin. 

4. As more and more strips get attached, the pumpkin will start to form. Here students can start designing the exact shape of their pumpkin. Also space out the strips to make sure there aren't any big gaps. 

5. This step is optional but adds to the pumpkin. Have students curl the top of the pipecleaner to make it look more like a pumpkin stem or vine. Also I had some students use black paper to design a jack o'lantern face to glue onto their pumpkin. 

Hope this can add to your pumpkin week! Happy Fall!