Upside Down Drawings with my 9-13 group

I really love doing this activity because it helps students to be less precious about their work and gives them a chance to have a laugh with each other at the end of the lesson. 

I got the idea from reading Betty Edward's "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain." She encourages students to practice this method of drawing as it forces them to focus on the lines and shapes that make up a picture rather than informing their drawings on preconceived ideas of what objects look like. I handed out print-outs of Picasso's drawing of a man sitting in a chair and a knight on a horse and asked them to turn them upside down and draw from the top of the page downwards. I think the results are great!

Drawing Using a Grid with my 9-13 Class

Eric Carle Style Collages and Book-Making

The best part about this project was getting the students to make 'pages of texture and colour.' This involved using balloons, toothpicks, brushes and their hands to apply paint to several pages. I encouraged the students to work together and discuss how many pages they would need for the sky and grass. The students were to share all the pages when making their collages so it was an excellent exercise in getting the kids to think about the needs of the whole class above their own.