Unit 3
Kindergarten
VAPA Lesson
Big Question:
How do you get to school?
On the Move!
Cloud 9 Commute
Background:
Whether it be on foot, by school bus, or on a bike, students arrive at school. All around town, people are on the move in
cars, by train, and even by helicopter. With a little imagination, we could think of some other unique ways to travel. In
the spirit of movement, this art lesson is definitely color on the go.
VAPA Standards:
Develop Perceptual Skills and Visual Arts Vocabulary
1.2 Name art materials (e.g. clay, paint, and crayons) introduced in lessons
Analyze Art Elements and Principles of Design
1.3 Identify the elements of art (line, color, shape/form, texture, value, space) in the
environment and in works of art, emphasizing line, color, and shape/form.
Skills, Processes, Materials, and Tools
2.3 Use lines, shapes/forms, and colors to make patterns.
Communication and Expression Throgh Original Works of Art
2.4 Paint pictures expressing ideas about family and neighborhood.
Derive Meaning
4.1 Discuss their own works of art, using appropriate art vocabulary (e.g. color, shape/form, texture).
Make Informed Judgments
4.3 Discuss how and why they made a particular work of art.
4.4 Give reasons why they like a particular work of art they made, using appropriate art vocabulary.
Lesson Objective:
Students will celebrate and experience movement as they spin, roll, and direct a tempera covered marble in repeated
motions across a transportation iconic image, making an increasingly complex traffic pattern design on the surface.
Materials:
Transportation templates (see Appendix)
Tempera paint
Marble and bowl
Tub, baking tray, or large bowl
Tape
Colored construction paper 9” x 12” for backing
Procedure:
1. Review the transportation methods from Unit 3. Discuss how students get to school, and how people
commute around town. Ask how they might get to school if they could choose their favorite way to travel.
2. Students choose a template that represents their favorite way, or wishful way to travel.
3. Tape the image into the bottom of a tub, baking tray, or large bowl.
Put a marble in different bowls ¼” to ½” filled with tempera paint. Swirl the marble, and place it on the
edge of the transportation template.
4. Rock the tub/tray from side to side, causing the marble to be “on the move” across the surface. Keep
dunking the marble in the paint, approximately 4 times, to get a good amount of each color on the paper.
Eventually, the marble will repeatedly roll across the paint track, making the paint change directions.
5. An adept child steering the marble will be able to make the marble change direction in the middle of their
template. Zoom! Zoom! Switch! Zoom!
6. Change colors, and repeat the process with multiple color schemes.
Quick tip from right to left, and the marble really zooms!
7. Remove from the tub, and allow to dry on a flat surface.
8. Cut out the template, and glue to the back of a colored sheet of construction paper.
Think of a unique title, that puts a clever “spin” on their transportation favorites.
Rush Hour Buster
Closure/Discussion:
Roller Derby
What is your favorite way to get to school? Were you able to overlap different colors and get color to
completely fill your picture? Why did you choose the colors you did? How are the zig zagging, criss crossing colors like
the way people travel on the roads of our city every day? Were you able to make the marble change direction, change
in the middle of the picture? How did you balance the marble, and make it slow down or speed up?
Assessment:
Score 4: The marble changing direction in the middle of the picture. Ultimate steering ability.
Score 3: Mixture of crisscrossing colors with good coverage of the picture.
Score 2: Limited color choices with some coverage.
Score 1: Mostly negative (blank) spaces with colors running the same direction.
Appendix Templates
See below.
Bike
Earthmover
Schoolbus
Helicopter
Horse
Hot Air Balloon
Jet
Motorcycle
Racecar
Rocketship
Rollerskate
RV Camper
Sailing
Scuba
Submarine
Surfer
Tractor
Train
Truck
Viking Ship
Walking