Calabash bowls

1st grade studied Ghana and the Calabash fruit. I was very happy to find (after I decided to do this lesson) that I actually had an authentic Calabash bowl in my room (thanks previous art teacher!). We made ours from paper products and used patterns to decorate them. Here are some images and resources.

PowerPoint

Kente Cloths

2nd grade studied the use of color as a symbol with Ghana's Kente cloths. We made our own looms from cardboard and weaved yarn using 3 colors to make our own Kente cloths.

PowerPoint

Samburu Necklaces

I found some great resources from the Once Upon an Art Room blog and used many of her pictures for my PowerPoint. We looked at the Samburu tribe of Kenya, discussed African color meanings and created our own Samburu necklaces from paper plates using color & pattern.

PowerPoint

Jazz paintings

5th grade rounded out Black History month with Jazz paintings. We looked at original jazz paintings and discussed what they said about life in New Orleans. We collaged instruments and sheet music first, then drew buildings, street signs, and street lamps on top of that. We finished them by adding paint and stenciled letters.

PowerPoint

Clay masks

As much as I did not want to do an African masks project (I felt it was a bit too standard), it was perfect for this project. It was 4th grade's turn for clay and it was our African unit, so it fit right in. We looked at traditional African features in art and created our own masks.

PowerPoint