1st grade warm/cool color hands

The first grade students started their year out by learning about warm and cool colors.  We used words such as lava and sunshine to associate with warm colors and words such as iceberg and ocean to associate with cool colors.  

Students also discussed the importance of hands.  According to the first graders, hands are important because...
"They are used to eat yummy food"
"You can give people hugs with your hands"
"Hands are used for making art"
"You write letters and books with hands"
"You give people presents with your hands"
......and on and on



To begin this project, the students started with a piece of card stock and learned how to use watered-down glue to collage tissue paper.  

After collaging one half of the paper with warm colored tissue paper,  the students did the other half with cool colors.  Each took one class period.

After these had dried, the first graders traced their own hand, on each side of the collage and then cut them out.  It was a great practice for them to cut such intense, jagged lines from the tracing of fingers.  I found that the first class struggled with the cutting, so for the next class, I printed out a squiggly line drawing for them to practice on before cutting out their hand.  That seemed to help.

After the hands were cut, they used a thin black paint to write their names on the hands.

Once both classes had finished, I cut out large black circles of paper and mounted the hands in a radial design, reaching out into the world.

The artwork now proudly hangs in the office of the school Principal!