O’Keefe Flowers (Get Kids to Draw BIG!): Free Lesson Plan Download

Grade Level: 3-5 Art Education Lesson Plan

Art Elements: Color and Space

Art Skills: Drawing Large

Making Connections: Art History

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I had nearly written off teaching Georigia O’Keeffe to 2nd grade students.  The last two years had proved to be less then successful.   The flowers were too small, I wasn’t happy with the materials I used, and nothing was “hall worthy” in my eyes.  So I went to my amazing art team, and asked them what their tips were for helping kids to draw big.

Tips for Kids to Draw BIG

1. Tell them the flower feel off right off the paper!  This was such a cute suggestion!
2. Students MUST touch all 4 sides of the paper with their object
3. Give several examples and non examples of what is the right size and what isn’t
4. Give students many different examples of TYPES of flowers to ensure variety
5. Review the word OVERLAPPING and talk about how petals overlap

I can do this! So, armed with this bag of tricks, I used them all on the first drawing day with students.  I have to say, none of these tips were something I didn’t know, I just needed a reminder of how to best uses these tips and I also needed to not introduce just one of these, but ALL of these. So, I did, and it worked!

Here are some of the initial drawings, which I had the kids outline in Sharpie when they were done drawing.

After students outlined with Sharipe, I had them also define some parts with colored watercolor markers.  Then, the filled in the spaces with watercolor. If students choose a cool color for the flower, I asked them to do a warm background. If they had a warm colored flower, I asked for a cool background. This was a great review of Warm and Cool Colors for the students as well.