1st and Kinder Full Body Self-Portraits

These students are always in motion! I thought it would be fun to give them a self-portrait assignment that would let them express this!

For the past couple weeks we have been talking about symmetry. For this unit, students were asked to draw their bodies in a pose that is NOT symmetrical. To help them get ideas, we practiced dance poses! The students followed these steps:

1. Fold your paper "hot dog style."

2. Draw a light stick figure with pencil that goes from the top to the bottom of the page, lined up on the fold (the line of symmetry.) Make sure each arm and leg does something different!

3. Trade in your pencil for a Sharpie! Pretend the stick figure is the skeleton and use the Sharpie to draw the body over the stick figure.

4. Add details that make the figure even more asymmetrical. Don't forget to make a funny facial expression!

5. Create patterns with different kinds of lines and shapes. On one side use warm colors, and then use cool on the other! Then, color your body any way you want!

Another fun part of this unit was that students had the choice to draw at their tables or on the floor with a clipboard. They were also each given a mirror to use. We were spread out all over the place, and everyone concentrated so hard that the normally noisy art room sounded like the library!

This was a one-day lesson, but I bet it would be fun to expand on into a longer unit!