Art around the world

Get kids thinking about -- and drawing -- space and air, land and sea.

You'll Need

  • Large sheets of construction paper, black and blue
  • Charcoal or colored pencils (including white)
  • Brad

Learning Stages

By Molly O'Shea
Artist

After 14 years of designing on the computer, it was volunteering as art docent in her son’s kindergarten classroom that made Molly realize how much she loved working with her hands. Her blog, Love the Everyday, is dedicated to turning everyday objects into something beautiful. She has a degree in Studio Art from UCSD and lives with her husband and two sons in Encinitas, California.

Kids think about land, sea, air and space travel with this interactive art project.

If they are able, let kids do all the tracing, cutting, assembly and drawing. An adult needs to help by making a hole for the brad.

Assembly

  1. Use a large bowl or plate to trace a circle out of one sheet of black construction paper. The circle should be almost as wide as the paper, or about 11 inches. Cut out the circle.
  2. Trace 8-inch and 5-inch circles out of the blue construction paper. Cut out the circles.
  3. Stack the circles onto the full sheet of black construction paper: first the large black circle, then the medium blue circle, and finally the small blue circle.
  4. Punch a small hole in the center of all layers using a pencil tip or other sharp object. Push the brad through the hole and fold out the ends.

Drawing

Have your child draw land shapes on the smallest blue circle to represent earth (for my kindergarten class, I just preprinted a globe). Then draw land and sea transportation on this layer.

Now have them draw different modes of air travel on the larger blue circle, and different modes of space travel on the black circle. Use a black marker or pencil to draw the outlines on the blue paper, and use a white pencil to draw the outlines on the black paper. Then fill them in with colored pencils. Kids can use their imaginations to come up with different modes of travel. If they get stuck, I’ve created a page of simple vehicle icons that kids can copy.

On the very back piece of paper, have kids draw a moon and some stars. Now they can spin the circles and watch their drawings fly around the world.