Food, Art, collage, and Pre-K 3's!!

Still Life #30, Tom Wesselmann

 Many people may think it's crazy to have Pre-K 3's sit down for a solid 15 minutes just to look at, and talk about one piece of artwork. Believe it or not, it can be done!  In fact, I've found this year it's harder to get my third and fourth graders talking about art than getting a 3 year old to do so!

This project was spearheaded by a wonderful parent within one of my PK-3 classes who has a background of art. Since the students are learning about the grocery store in their classrooms, she brought this piece of artwork to my attention and offered to lead a lesson on collage with the students!

We dispersed images of Tom Wesselmann's Still Life #30 and asked students what they saw.  Students immediately began shouting out the various items they saw within this artwork.  We then explained to students that this artist used photographs of food, cut them out, and glued them onto his artwork.  This process is called a collage. Students were given pre-cut food images at their table as well as crayons, glue, and blank sheet of construction paper to work with.  As soon as students sat down they began working.  I was so amazed by the way students created balance, unity, and emphasis within their collages all on their own!  Check out  the pictures below of the process and some final pieces!