Picture This – Art Exploration for Kids “The Dot”

Kindergarten through 5^th grade.

“What can you do with a dot? Many things indeed! We’ll share Peter Reynold’s book The Dot, look at a style of art called pointillism, and then create our own paintings entirely from dots!”
(We will be using paint so please dress appropriately.)

· Tom Chapin CD track 11 “Flowers are Red” (by Harry Chapin) playing as kids enter.

· Let kids browse books on Impressionism, Pointillism, Monet, Seurat, Pisarro

· Read The Dot (Picture Book Reynolds)

· Talk about Impressionism (smears of color), science of color blending by eye led to Pointillism – show color cards (cards with dots of different colors – what does eye do when looked at from afar?)

· Read Katie’s Sunday Afternoon (Picture Book Mayhew)

· Show pages of impressionist & pointillism paintings, esp. Seurat and La Grande Jatte (J759.4 BUR)
· Show pointillist & impressionist pages from Picture This! Activities & Adventures in Impressionism (J759.054 RAI) p.8-9 (mention Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ), p.16-17

· Have kids paint using QTIPS to make dots – supplies: paper, paint, paint cups, QTIPS, paper towels

· Photograph the art & artists. (We do this at each program & then display a collage of their photos)

· Resources: Monet & the Impressionists for Kids (J759.054 SAB), The Usborne Art Treasury (J750.11 DIC) p.48-51, Start with Art: People (J704.942 LAC), The Art Book for Children v.2 (J709 REN) Seurat “Spots” p.72-75 (Additional books: Press Here – Tullet, The Book with a Hole- Tullet, Dot – Intriago)