Lesson I-1D: An Introduction To Painting
Learning to use a paintbrush playfully
The lesson is suitable for students in kindergarten through adult.
Art Lesson Description:
This lesson is about discovering all the ways we can use a paintbrush:
- Where we can hold the brush,
- How we can use our painting arm,
- How to mix paint, and
- The kinds of marks our brush can make.
After learning the basics of handling a brush and experimenting with paint, we’ll also learn about cleaning the brush.
Since the goal of the lesson is to help students to be more free as they paint, the lesson concludes with an exercise of painting to music. The lesson also prepares students for other lessons that use tempera and acrylic paints, especially Level I - Lesson 12: The Umbrella From Thailand.
The structure of the lesson is indebted to Kathy Weisman Topal’s book, Children and Painting (#ad) and we recommend the book as a resource for learning more about painting.
This lesson includes both VIDEO and POWERPOINT versions of the lesson.
List of Supplies for Each Student:
- Two or more sheets of newsprint or kraft paper (#ad)
- Set of brushes (#ad)
- Dark tempera paints (#ad) or acrylic paints (#ad)
- A bottle of water for rinsing
- Paint palette (#ad)
- A table or easel to hold your paper
- Masking tape (#ad)
- A cloth or paper to catch spills or drips under your table or easel
Suggestions for Cross-Curricular Connections:
These children’s books tell the story of Wassily Kandinsky, one of the twentieth century’s most famous painters, who used music as the inspiration for many of his abstract paintings.
- The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky's Abstract Art (#ad) A Caldecott Honor book.
- Kandinsky (Basic Art Series 2.0) (#ad) has lots of pictures of Kandinsky’s paintings.
Learn about Kandinsky's life, his work and his art.
Read about his theory of art, and see many of his paintings.
Kandinsky was an expressionist. Learn about the art movement, Expressionism.
Just for fun, watch a Thai elephant paint a picture.
Approximate Time to Complete the Art Class:
- 30 minutes