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OIL PASTEL BEARS




SUPPLIES

  • Square1 Art paper
  • Oil pastels, children can share boxes (Art Closet)
  • Black Sharpies, 1 per child (Art Closet)
  • Pencils, 1 per child (from children's own supplies)
  • Scrap paper, 1 per child for experimenting with blending oil pastels (optional, see #7 below) (Art Closet)
  • Spray fixative such as Crystal Clear (Art Closet)
  • Handouts with Step-by-Step drawing instructions for TK/Kinder and 1st—6th - 1 per child (Art Closet). Please make copies in the Teacher Workroom.
  • Handout with examples of illustrated bears - 1 per child (Art Closet). Please make copies in the Teacher Workroom.
  • Color print-outs of bear photos and animated bears to display on ELMO/Overhead or to pass around the room (Art Closet)
  • Poster of Color Wheel (optional, see #7 below) (Art Closet)
  • Paper towels (optional, see "Clean-up" below) (bring from home)
  • Books about bears are available in the Art Closet if you would like to supplement the intro with additional facts.


    TK, KINDER, and 1st: YOU CAN CHOOSE TO READ BOOKS IN THE ART CLOSET INSTEAD OF READING THE INTRO. WE HAVE Bear's Winter Party, You're All My Favorites, You Can Do It, Sam, and Bear Stays Up for Christmas

     PLEASE ALLOW 1 — 1 1/2 HOURS OF CLASSROOM TIME FOR THE PROJECT


    SCRIPT
    Good morning Friends! Today we're going to talk about bears! What can you tell me about bears? {Art Rep: Be sure to engage the students in a discussion by asking questions such as the following}
    • Where do they live?
    • What do they look like?
    • What do they eat?
    • What do they do?
    • Have you ever seen one? Where?
    • Anything else you want to tell me about bears?
    • Have you seen a bear in a storybook or a TV show? What can you tell me about those bears?
    • Do you (or someone you know) have a teddy bear?
    • What is your favorite kind of bear? Tell me why?

    There are 8 different kinds of bears that live throughout the world.

    Sun Bear
    {Art Rep: please show the bear photos numbered 1-8 on the ELMO or overhead projector. You can also pass these around the room. With each bear you can ask the kids questions or read a few fun facts provided on the bear photos. You can also find pictures of these bears and more info on pp 6-7 of the "Bears" book by Hodge or 4-9 of the National Geographic book.} 

    SCRIPT CONTINUED... Although you can find many of these bears at the zoo, only Polar Bears, Grizzlies, and Black Bears live in the wild in the United States. In fact, some people have even seen Black Bears in Verdugo Woodlands! Bears are wild animals, and even though they may look cute, you should never go up to one. They are very fast, strong, and have long claws and teeth to help them catch and eat food. 

    Polar Bear
    Bears are BIG! An adult polar bear can weigh up to 1320 pounds, so they are eating almost all of the time. Some bears are omnivores. Can anyone tell me what an omnivore is? {An animal that eats plants and animals}. These bears eat salmon, grass, berries or insects. Other bears are carnivores, an animal that eats other animals. Pandas are mostly herbivores {an animal that eats plants} and their favorite thing is bamboo. Of course, diet depends on environment, and what is available for them to eat.


    Asiatic Black Bear

    Another interesting thing is
    that most bears hibernate (panda bears don't). Can anyone tell me
    what hibernating is? {Spending the winter in a sleep-like state to save energy when food is scarce.}

    Panda Bear
    Sloth Bear
    North American Black Bear
    Andean Bear
    Brown Bear / Grizzly


    Some bears live in the forest (show image on Elmo).
     
    Pandas live in special forests of bamboo (show image on Elmo).

    Polar Bears live in the icy Arctic Circle near the top of the world (show image on Elmo).

    And then of course, there are imaginary bears {show images of Care Bears, Winnie the Pooh, Paddington, We Bare Bears, Yogi, Baloo, Anime bears, all in the Art Closet}.


    CREATE ART!
    Today we are going to draw our own bears! They might be like real ones that live in the wild, or they might be colorful ones you make up, like the ones you see in storybooks or movies. Whichever you choose, please make them COLORFUL because your drawings will be turned into fun things like totes and coffee cups that your family can buy if they like.

    Before we start, think about the background and what colors you want to use. Is your bear going to be a solid bright color? In a forest? At a sunset? Your imaginary bears can be as fun and colorful as you like. You can add details to your bear like a hat, scarf, glasses, hearts, polka dots, stripes. If your bear is white, choose a background that is not white so it stands out. Your bear does not have to look real. Be creative! You can use any color that you want. 

    1. Take a few minutes to look at the handout(s) and choose the bear you'd like to draw. You can also free draw; you don't have to pick a bear from the handout. 

    2. Using a pencil, begin to draw your bear on the Square1 paper. You can erase any lines you don't want. {The drawing portion of the lesson can last up to 15 minutes.}

    TIP SOME KIDS TEND TO DRAW TEENY-TINY OR USE ONE CORNER OF THE PAPER. PLEASE MAKE SURE THEY DRAW BIG BEARS THAT ARE CENTERED ON THE PAPER. THAT SAID, THE BEARS NEED TO BE 1" AWAY FROM THE EDGES OF THE PAPER. SOMETIMES SQUARE1 CUTS OFF THE EDGES IN PROCESSING AND WE DON'T WANT TO LOSE ANY CUTE DETAILS. 

    3. Once drawing is done, it's time to outline the drawing in black Sharpie. Use Sharpies for this because the lines will be very crisp and clear on the products. Black oil pastel can get very messy and we don't want any dark smudges.

    4. All artists must sign their artwork in Sharpie! The artwork must be signed BEFORE the oil pastels go on the paper. Sharpie will not be legible on top of oil pastel. Ask the kids to sign their first name and year (Maya 2017) on the artwork - at least 1" away from the edges. We don't want the name to get cut off in processing.

    5. Time to color! We are using bright fun colors for our imaginary bears, and not dark colors like black and gray. Dark colors look muddy on Square1 products.

    6. Hold the oil pastel crayon close to the tip. It might break if you hold farther up.

    7. OPTIONAL IF TIME ALLOWS: Try LAYERING the colors. The colors will appear extra bright if you layer one color over another. 
    First, have the kids experiment with layering different colors on the scratch paper. 

    The best results come from layering colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. {Art Rep: You can use the color wheel poster to point out colors next to each other.} We suggest coloring yellow on top of orange; green on top of blue; or pink on top of red. These combos create new tints. To keep things simple, have the kids layer just 2 colors (not more).

    NOTE LAYERING COLORS OPPOSITE EACH OTHER ON THE COLOR WHEEL TYPICALLY DOESN'T PRODUCE GREAT RESULTS. FOR INSTANCE, IF YOU BLEND RED WITH BLUE YOU MIGHT GET GREY INSTEAD OF A BEAUTIFUL PURPLE. THIS IS BECAUSE THE PRIMARY OIL PASTEL COLORS ARE NOT PURE; THE RED MIGHT REALLY BE AN ORANGEY-RED, ETC.

     Try BLENDING colors with a paper towel. To do this, rip off a small piece of paper towel and use it to rub or wipe the colors in a circular motion. Blending smooths out the texture of the drawing. Sometimes the pastel lines can look very thin, almost like a crayon. Blending gives the drawing a rich, paint-like effect. 

    OLDER GRADES: Try layering white oil pastel in circular motions on top of any color to make the color lighter. Turn dark pink into light pink, dark blue into medium blue. {Art Rep: If you notice that a child has colored the entire background in one dark shade of purple, for example, you can suggest layering white on top to brighten it up.}

    8. Remember to cover the entire paper with color. The background color should go all the way to the edge!

    9. Art Rep: as you walk around the room, look at the children's artwork. If you notice a student is choosing a realistic color for their bear (a white polar bear, for example), encourage them to do a colorful background like a sunset, rainbow, colorful mountains, multicolored stars, abstract or whimsical patterns.

    Scan the children's artwork for any missing details. Is the entire paper filled with color? Maybe eyes need pupils or the mouth is missing. Make sure to allow a few minutes at the end to put the finishing touches on their masterpieces. 

    CLEAN UP! YOU CAN ASK THE KIDS TO HELP. IF YOUR CLASS BLENDED COLORS, PLEASE USE PAPER TOWELS OR TISSUES TO CLEAN OFF THE TIPS OF THE OIL PASTELS, ESPECIALLY THE WHITE PASTELS, SO OTHER CLASSES DON'T END UP WITH CONTAMINATED COLORS.

    10. After the lesson, when you're back at the closet, spray each paper with Crystal Clear spray fixative. Organize the artwork in alphabetical order in the folder provided to you and place the folder in the Square1 box in the Art Closet. Thank you!
    Example of TK / Kinder handout (more step-by-step handouts are in the Art Closet for all grades)


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