Finger Fun

Kindergarten

ART 207-04, Group 6

Jillian Friend, Abby Zehrung, Shauna Gowdy, Lindsay Thomas

Objective:

1. Students will learn the art of printmaking using their hands and fingers.

2. Students will learn the basic technique of pointillism.

3. Students will learn how to use their fingers to create shapes and sizes.

4. Students will learn how to add detail to create characters.

Student Materials:

1. Finger paint (assorted colors)

2. White paper (9”x12”)

3. Newspaper

4. Black markers

Teacher Materials:

1. Slides- Artist Chuck Close

2. Fingerprint Drawing Book By: Ed Emberley

Vocabulary:

1. Printmaking

2. Pointillism

3. Thumb

4. Index finger

Procedure:

1. Introduction:

· Discuss the basic techniques of both pointillism and printmaking

· Give a brief history of Chuck Close and show several slides of his work

· Introduce Ed Emberley’s drawing book and show examples

2. Completely cover thumb with desired color paint by pressing thumb in paint

3. Create a circle using thumbprint

4. Clean thumb completely free of paint

5. Chose a different color paint and completely cover thumb

6. Create an upside down “Y” in the center of the circle

7. Clean thumb completely free of paint

8. Cover index finger with a different color paint

9. Place a dot in the center of the upside down “Y”

10. Using a black marker create eyes, nose, and any other detail to complete the lion’s face

11. Closure:

· Hang up student artwork

· Discuss what was learned and critique

Comments/Suggestions:

*Kindergarten Artistic Development:

       The kindergarten stage of development that Lowenfeld describes is the “Making Symbols” stage that occurs for children

between the ages of four and eight years old.  This stage starts out with the creation of “head-feet” people.  The child tends to create

geometric people, paying close attention to the head and the feet.  Lowenfeld also paid close attention to the detail that children put

into what they feel is important, during this stage.   Children at this age of development tend to omit body parts they feel are

unimportant and pay closer attention to the ones they deem important.  Children at this stage soon realize the spatial relationship of

objects and for example, make horizon lines that all people and animals can stand on or a sky line at the top of the paper.  In this

stage the child is still not thinking completely realistic, but there are elements to their artwork that are on their way to becoming

realistic.

**Cultural/Historical Background:

       Postimpressionism is a French style of painting started in late nineteenth century, following impressionism.  It stressed

expressions of feelings and ideas.  Georges Seurat was one of the artists in the postimpressionist movement.  He was a superb

draftsman who invented a new method of painting called pointillism.  Pointillism is in nineteenth-century French paintings in which

colors are systematically applied in small dots, producing vibrant surfaces.  He painted by applying small dots of pure color over the

canvas.  Later, Louis-J. M. Daguerre and William Henry Fox Talbot presented artists with extraordinary ways to capture images

from the world around them and new ways to speak to their audiences through photography.  Photography pushed painting,

drawing, and printmaking into new realms of interpretation and picture making.

Resources:

Emberley, Ed. Fingerprint Drawing Book. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

1994.

Herberholz, Barbara and Donald. Artworks for Elementary Teachers: Developing

Artistic and Perceptual Awareness. 9^th Edition. New York: McGraw Hill. 2002.