Tree Slice Kandinsky Circles

This lesson is inspired by Kandinsky’s Study of Concentric Circles and Squares.

Kandinsky- Study of Circles

TALKING POINTS

Color Wheel - Primary Grades

Kandinsky

Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian artist best known for his vibrantly colored abstract art.  He aimed to bring his works alive through his works through the use of color.  Learn more about Kandinsky.

Color Vocabulary

  • Color Wheel:  The color wheel or color circle is the basic tool for combining colors. The first circular color diagram was designed by Sir Isaac Newton in 1666.
  • Vibrant: Bright, having or giving a sense of life to
  • Abstract: using elements of form (as color, line, or texture) with little or no attempt at creating a realistic picture–the end product might not be recognizable
  • Primary Colors: For our purposes, the three primary colors are red, blue, and yellow.
  • Secondary Colors:  The three secondary colors (green, orange and purple) are created by mixing two primary colors.

Materials:

  • 1 3″-4″ tree slice per student.  Pre-bagged by teacher.
  • Crayola Slick Stix
  • 6 sheets of 8.5 x 11 copy paper cut into quarters.
  • A sharpie marker

What to Do:

  1. With the students seated on the carpet,  show Study of Concentric Circles and Squares.  Talk a little about Kandinsky and color vocabulary.
  2. This project will be completed as a center with up to six students at a time.
  3. Practice:  Hand out a paper quarter to each student.  Have them practice drawing concentric circles starting with the lightest color first.   Point out:  They do not need to press hard, the slick sticks should glide across the paper, they should fill the entire width of the circle, there shouldn’t be white in between the colored circled.
  4. Hand out a tree slice to each student in your group.  Wait to put names on them.
  5. Repeat the process above using the tree slices.  If the student messes up they can flip their slice over and use the other side.  There are only enough slices for one per student.
  6. Once the student has completed the work, put their name, teacher name, and year on the back with a black sharpie and set it aside.  Place completed slices into ziplock bag

For the Gallery

Place completed slices into ziplock bag and leave in the Reading Room to store for the gallery.

Leave a comment