Kandinsky Art - The iPad Way

I love art, but cleaning up afterward is not my favorite thing!  We did a really fun collaborative project in my classroom the other day that I just have to share!  To prepare for my lesson, my teaching partner found an old art print, you know, the large prints that we all have tucked away in a closet somewhere?  First, I took a picture of it so I could show my students what it looked like before I cut it up.  Next I drew lines on the back and equally divided it into 18 pieces.  After numbering each piece, I cut the pieces.

Wassily Kandinsky's "Man on a Horse"

 I chose to do my lesson on Kandinsky's "Man on a Horse."  The pieces weren't too detailed, so I felt like my students could accomplish the task without getting frustrated.    I taught the students a few details about the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, then explained that we were each going to try to re-create a small piece of his art work, then we would put our iPads together at the end of the lesson to see how we did.

I love how my teaching partner thought of showing the students how the art was divided into pieces on the Smart Board.

 

Using the app, Drawing Pad, students used the paint brushes to draw their part of the picture.

Since I had more students than puzzle pieces, I assigned two students to work on the same piece.  But only one of their iPads would be used at the end for the collaborative project.

After the students completed their piece we put the iPads together to see how we did.  As students brought up their iPads one student was assigned to wake up the iPads when they went to sleep.

Not bad for the first time, right?  Next time we will do even better since now we see the importance of:  1. All use the same background color   2. Put the iPads down the right way and not upside down (see the 4th iPad from the left on the top row)  3.  Draw the picture with the iPad the portrait way and not landscape (see bottom row).

 

Drawing Pad is an app we use a lot in my 2/3 combination class.  You can purchase it for $1.99 at the App Store.  We use it in math instead of little whiteboards.  When I demonstrate a new concept to the class, they do it along with me in Drawing Pad.  We also use Drawing Pad for art across the curriculum, to insert our own art work into our writing in apps such as Book Creator or Pages.  For the holidays each student created a picture in Drawing Pad for their parents that we put into small frames from the dollar store.  It was the perfect gift for parents!   

Have you used Drawing Pad in your classroom?  How do your students use their iPads to create art?