Art and technology integration in Kindergarten

I have teamed up with or tech teacher, Allison Schlageter, to integrate art and technology. We are going to do a photography unit with kindergartners, focusing on finding patterns. They will use the new iPads to take their photos and learn some basic editing skills. Today during tech time, they explored their classroom with the iPads and took a few photos of repeating patterns and objects around the room.

Kindergarten artists learn about patterns, lines and designs

A one day vacation with Friedensreich Hundertwasser

Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser (December 15, 1928 – February 19, 2000) was an Austrian artist(who later took on New Zealand citizenship).  Say that ten times fast! 


Hundertwasser's original and unruly artistic vision expressed itself in pictorial art, environmentalism, philosophy, and design of facades,postage stamps, flags, and clothing (among other areas). The common themes in his work utilised bright colours, organic forms, a reconciliation of humans with nature, and a strong individualism, rejecting straight lines.


Although Hundertwasser first achieved notoriety for his boldly-coloured paintings, he is more widely known for his individual architectural designs. These designs use irregular forms, and incorporate natural features of the landscape. TheHundertwasserhaus apartment block in Vienna has undulating floors ("an uneven floor is a melody to the feet"), a roof covered with earth and grass, and large trees growing from inside the rooms, with limbs extending from windows.


Click here to read more. 


Here are some of my favorite paintings by Hundertwasser:

Third and fourth grade artists looked at many examples of Hundertwasser's work.  His artwork often depicts specific buildings and places from around the world. Students were asked to think about where they would like to go if they could take a one day vacation anywhere in the world.  Then they drew their destinations in the style of the artist. We used a mixture of black paint and white glue to outline the pictures, then painted then with liquid watercolor paints.  

Kindergarten Pattern Hearts

It is never to early to start teaching about the principles of design and the elements of art.  Kindergarten artists discussed LINES and PATTERNS before using Sharpie markers to draw a heart and fill it in using as many different types of lines and patterns as possible.  We used liquid watercolors to paint the hearts.  It is hard to see in the photographs, but I added pearl medium to the paints so that the hearts sparkle festively!

My example:

(I often hesitate to show an example of finished work because some artists feel that their work needs to look exactly like mine.  In this case, I think having an example to refer to helped the young artists with getting the size of the hearts right and gave them some ideas for different types of lines and patterns.)

Pattern Owls, Peacocks and Other Birds

For our school-wide Original Works fundraiser, fifth and sixth grade artists made pattern birds.  We looked at many different artists' interpretations of owls, peacocks and other birds.  I posted many of them to my Pinterest page.  Check it out here.  Students used brightly colored watercolor paints and crayons and didn't worry about making their product look realistic. Results are beautiful and a lot of fun!