Negative Space People: Free Lesson Plan Download

Grade Level: 3-5 Art Education Lesson Plan

Art Elements: Space, Proportion

Art Skills: Cutting, Gluing

Making Connections: Art History, Physical Education

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I like this lesson because it combines positive/negative space and the human form.  I find that positive and negative space can be challenging to teach for understanding, especially if students are working with abstract forms.  The human form makes just makes sense and students have fun modeling and drawing each other.

I have changed up this lesson over the years to incorporate current events and peak student’s interest.  It is also a great lesson to adapt to meet the needs of your students.  Here are a few more ideas:

Advanced options:

• Try to make the Olympic rings by using 5 circles instead of 3 squares.
• Create a series of a poses from one movement (for example: a cartwheel, karate move, dance move).
• Let students create more than 3 poses horizontically or vertically.
• Try to make the people relate to each other or touch in some way

Accommodations:

• Have students pose for each other while they draw.
• Have a wooden human artist model for students to manipulate and draw from
• Use a human form tracer.
• Draw a stick person in the desired pose and then “bubble” around the stick man.