K-2nd Grade Springtime Art: Creating Balance

Our K-2nd grade springtime art helps students of all ages apply the theory of balance.

If you’re looking for an easy art project to add to your homeschool plan or to round out a season’s unit study, try this fun and easy project!

While we know as adults that balance isn’t just about using the same number of items, it’s a hard concept for younger students to understand.

Start your lesson by sharing that today, you’re going to do an exercise using same number of elements repeatedly. Then you’ll see how everything feels when you get done.

Springtime Art: Creating Balance

Have you discovered the magic of Tim Hopgood’s art yet? He brings classic songs to life with beautiful imagery. One of our favorites is Walking in a Winter Wonderland, and this project is based on What a Wonderful World.

I could spend an entire year creating art projects in our home based on his books alone. They’re lovely and inspirational. Exactly what I think children’s art should be.

Creating Your Balanced Floral Bouquet

Step 1: Gather Paint and Supplies

Choose 2 colors for your flowers, 2 for your leaves, yellow, and two additional colors for details.

If you don’t have a reusable paint palette, you can use anything a bit thick and sturdy. Even old toilet paper rolls cut open and laid flat would work.

Step 2: Paint Organic Yellow Floral Centers

Make 5 yellow floral centers loosely grouped together as you would find them on a bush.

This is a great opportunity to teach kids how to fully wash their brushes before they move on to a new color.

Step 3: Paint 5 of Each Main Element

Choose two different shades of red to loosely paint flowers. Use 2 strokes in a “C” shape to connect around the yellow centers.

Use those same two red colors to create flowers without centers.

Choose two shades of green to create leaf shapes. Use two longer strokes that overlap to create your leaf shape.

Step 4: Add Contrasting Elements for Interest

At this point, you can differentiate your lesson based on your student’s age and interest level and the time you have available to devote to details.

Some details you might choose to add would be yellow ovals for bees and light blue butterflies. The author added music notes throughout each page, which were fun!

After your paint is dry (acrylic dries faster than you might think) use oil pastels or black acrylic paint to add antennas and wings to the bees and butterflies, and veins to the flowers. You also want to add a stem so the flowers aren’t floating loosey goosey.

Step 5: Discuss Balanced Elements

I tend to forget this step, but to get the full value of the lesson, ensure that you find ways to complement your student’s use of the target principle before cleaning up.

You might note that I intentionally lost count of my butterflies and painted six. We discussed whether this made the butterflies feel like they were the focus of my painting or if they felt out of place, or if they fit just fine.

I don’t focus on right or wrong answers. Because it’s art. There really aren’t any. There are guidelines, but at this age, I focus on teaching a love of art and we work on learning to analyze and discuss it.

How do you infuse the principles of art into your homeschool art lessons?

Other Springtime Art Projects

If you love this lesson, you’ll likely enjoy the other K-2nd grade art projects below:

• How to Draw and Paint a Family of Springtime Ducks
• Sweet Easter Bunny Drawing With Kids

Don’t Forget to Pin This For Later

Please follow and like us: