Animated Color Monsters

Third grade lesson exploring color, visual texture, movement, and feelings

The Color Monster Book connects colors to feelings and emotions. This story helps students thing about their own feelings as they use color and expression to make a color monster

Day One: Book and Doodles

Students doodled and drew about each of the 6 feelings as they rotated through the color stations. Then we gathered to talk about the drawings #sel #socialemotionallearning #drydenrocks
Ext week we start making our own #colorMonster pic.twitter.com/s5ll1L7Gan

— Tricia Fuglestad ☕ (@fuglefun) November 8, 2019

I set up the six tables in the art room with a color paper tent on which I wrote a feeling. The tables were covered with white paper with a basket of sharpie markers.

Students traveled to each of the six tables doodling and drawing about the feeling written on the color tent. We matched some of the colors in the book, but changed a few to match our primary and secondary color schemes.  This will make our monochromatic paintings turn out better. We traded orange for black since it's not on the color wheel and purple for pink since pink is  tint of red. I used the song Colors by Kira Willey (see youtube video below) as a device for organizing our rotations. Students drew for as long as the song (2.5 mins). Then we switched tables. We gathered around each table at the end to look for patterns and point out expressive choices.

Day Two: Cardboard Monsters

Prepped enough cardboard for 3rd grade students to make a monster (two 8.5 x 11 pieces each)

Here is my plan for building a color monster from two sheets of 8.5" x 11" cardboard

I printed these plans for each of my students. The hope is that they can use these to draw and cut out their monster pieces. There is some room for creative choices, but with they would have to work within the limits of two pieces of cardboard. #ProblemSolving

Paper Folded and stapled to make a pouch for all the pieces

Since this project will have many small pieces, students will make a pouch for their work from folded and stapled paper. This will hold everything and serve as a placemat for painting and laying out their work on the drying rack. Each little piece still needs to have a name on the back just in case.

Day Three: Picking Colors and Painting

You can't always control what mood you're in today. But, we can learn to self-regulate and work through those feelings. So when students come to class today, they will pick a color from a basket. There will be 4 of each of the six colors we selected to represent feelings. When they pick a color, they will work at that table to paint their monster.

3rd graders are using tints and shades of their colors to apply visual texture to their #cardboard #ColorMonster #sel #socialemotionalLearning #drydenrocks pic.twitter.com/I77HZRG51p

— Tricia Fuglestad ☕ (@fuglefun) January 13, 2020

Day four: Trace, Assemble & Photograph

Students will trace the edges of their pieces with black marker, use wooden skewers to gently poke through the cardboard, and attach 5 fasteners. Then, we will photograph for Artsonia

Finished Monsters (see gallery)

Click the image to see the gallery

Day Five: Stop-Motion Animation

Students will collaboratively use stop-motion animation to bring movement and expression to their color monsters.

Bonus: Augmented Reality Book Cover

Just made an animation for #ColorMonster and attached it to #AugmentedReality using @eyejackapp

How are you feeling today? #SEL #SOCIALEMOTIONALLEARNING #artsed #arvrinedu pic.twitter.com/4R6d0OYirS

— Tricia Fuglestad ☕ (@fuglefun) November 10, 2019