Art and the Olympics!

This year I wanted a theme for elementary art. In Canada (and in my family) we get really excited about the Olympics, particularly in the winter. Living in a country that is cold and snowy for the majority of the year… it is a necessity to take part in winter pastimes! This year’s Olympic Games also were exciting to talk about since they took place in Korea! The majority of my students are of Korean descent, though many have grown up here in Turkey.

We started with talking about what the games are- when they take place, how often, the teams from each country, different events for summer versus winter, the medals…

We looked at the visual symbols for the Olympics- the rings in conjunction with the logo designs for some of the past Games. I had both my high school classes and elementary classes make new logos.

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Next we worked on a sculpture. First grade designed medals, second and third grade worked on trophies depicting athlete action poses, and fourth and fifth grade designed and sewed mascot plushies!

Then the Art Olympic events! I used these events as opportunities to assess/review what the kids knew about the Elements of Art. We spent more time in first and second grade with the various activities, but all students across the grade levels were part of a team and could earn points.

Texture Hunt/Colour Pull Activity

Second Grade at the Olympics

For today’s art olympic events, I introduced second grade to the blind contour. I am amazed at the results! We did one blind drawing looking at the object and not at our paper, and one drawing from memory, looking at the paper and not at the object.

 

After drawing, we had a STEAM sculpture challenge. I gave each group an assortment of materials: paper, skewers, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners and bottle caps. We discussed working as a team to create a group sculpture, with points given for teamwork and creativity. I was impressed with this group that created not only a functional machine, but used creative thinking to incorporate additional resources at their table- a castle with a working catapult!