V is for Valentines

In general I try to stear clear of "crafty" projects, especially ones with holiday themes. Don't get me wrong, I am a big crafter myself - but the students often are able to explore these options in their generalist classrooms. Therefor it is important that when they come into Art they are able to create just that: works of art. Every once in a while there seems to be a bit of extra time to put our craft skills to good use and Valentines day was just that. 

In the Adaptive class we have worked quite a bit with printing different materials like sponges, cups, cars, and foam. To continue our exploration we worked with toilet paper rolls cut down to 1" thick and shaped into a heart. Each student picked his/her choice of color to create a Valentines themed painting.

In Kindergarten we started by talking about what Valentines day means. "What is Valentines Day?" I asked the students. Here are some of their responses:
"We get candy"
"We love our friends"
"Cards, I made cards"
"Being nice"
"Hearts"
From there we dove into a conversation about the general idea of Valentines day: to look into our hearts and celebrate who we love. We each got a chance to share one thing or person that was in our hearts. The Kindergarten hearts were filled with friends, parents, and pets. 
We then got the chance to learn how to make hearts out of paper! Excited exclimations filled the room as the hearts were revealed after careful folding, tracing, and cutting. Lastly our paper hearts were filled with drawings of things we hold in our real hearts.