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Day of the Dead


We are finally finishing up our Oil Pastel Sugar Skulls in 4th grade this week and learning about the Mexican Holiday Dia de los Muertos


On week one I introduce the lesson with books and videos such as this one below.



We used chrome books and ipads to learn to draw skulls using this awesome site: 

http://www.art-is-fun.com/how-to-draw-skulls



The student's drew the skull big on Tru Ray Black that I cut into a 9 x 12 size of construction paper. 
Good paper is the key to keep it from falling apart in the water at the end. They traced all pencil lines with a small piece of white hotel soap.  
The lines appear gray.  Then they begin coloring all the white first with small circular strokes being careful not to go onto the soap line. It takes about two class periods to color.



here is a picture of the small chunks of white hotel soap bars.


Put the paper into a tray of water to wash away the soap. I dry on newspaper on my drying rack.
They oh and ahh at this time.....

Finished just in time for the hanging up before the holiday. 


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Comments

  1. MaryOctober 23, 2015 at 5:00 PM

    These look great! I love the graphic quality.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ShellyPOctober 23, 2015 at 5:39 PM

    These are just wonderful!! Love them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Beth CarterOctober 24, 2015 at 2:46 PM

      I am glad you do. Thanks for the kind comments.

      Delete
  3. ArtMuseOctober 24, 2015 at 1:19 PM

    This project is a great take on the day of the dead projects I've seen. I love the close-up of the skull. The soap you use a straight up plain white soap? The results are fabulous! I have to try this next year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Beth CarterOctober 24, 2015 at 2:48 PM

      I am glad you asked. I forgot to include a picture of the soap so I went back and inserted it. Yes plain white soap cut into small chunks. Thank you for the comment.

      Delete

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