Kids Art Lesson on Henri Matisse

After searching Pinterest and the internet for a couple of weeks, I put together a lesson plan for my K-5 Homeschool art students on Henri Matisse.

List of Supplies:

• 12"x12" or 11"x14" Stretched Canvas(one for each student)
• Colored Cardstock
• Sponges
• Foam Brushes
• Mod Podge
• Plastic Plates to use as palettes
• Scissors
• Sample cut-outs to trace if needed

I had set up a display of children's books on Henri Matisse. My library had a wonderful selection to chose from!  The title that I liked the most and pertained to our lesson was this book:

After I read the book to the kids, I brought out my laptop and showed them this video of Henri Matisse working.  The kids couldn't get over his large scissors!

I let the kids pick any colors that they wanted from my stack of colored cardstock.  Most did not have a problem jumping right in and cutting away.  I did have some cut-outs of organic shapes that I had made for students that seemed stuck but I only had one child use them.  Each shape was attached to the canvas via Mod Podge.  They used cut-up sponges to do this.  I have to emphasize to the kids that the Mod Podge would dry clear.

Here are some of the works that the students did:

Rebecca, age 10

Genivive, age 10

Lily, age 8

Joseph, age 8

Lynn, age 10

Joseph, age 8

If you are interested in learning more about Henri Matisse and what he dubbed "his second life", this short video gives some good background info.

Thanks for stopping by!