Joel Scholten | Elementary Art

These apples have outgrown the lunchbox. First grade is painting BIG, inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe’s larger than life flowers. And yes, first graders can absolutely do this. We start by sketching with red paint. No pencils, no erasers, just figuring it out with a brush. Then we trace our “keeper lines” with black paint, add shadows, and let everything dry. Next week, we dip and flip our brushes in red and another color, like yellow or sour apple green, to create those beautiful apple streaks. Add a highlight, paint a stem and leaf, and then go hog wild with painterly brushstrokes in contrasting background colors. Along the way, these young artists are practicing scale, line, contrast, highlights, shadows, color mixing, and brush control. That’s a lot of learning tucked into one very large piece of fruit. High expectations and low stakes can live in the same art room. We break the process into manageable steps, make room for experimenting, and give kids permission to keep going when a brushstroke surprises them. We are practicing, not perfect. These apples get to have a little personality. Supplies: • Large heavyweight drawing paper • Tempera paint in red, black, white, yellow, green, brown, and background colors • Paintbrushes in assorted sizes • Paint trays or palettes • Water cups • Paper towels • Table covers Save this Georgia O’Keeffe inspired apple painting lesson for your next first grade art project, and tell me: would your students be more excited about painting giant apples or going wild with the backgrounds? #FirstGradeArt #ElementaryArt #ArtEducation #ArtForKids #PaintingWithKids