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Elementary [1st-5th] Management

Musical Chair Portraits! First Day Activity

Created on August 09, 2012 by LauraLuebbert

The first day of school can be long for young students. Try this for seat assignments. You will need 8x10 paper and drawing tools. Give each student a sheet of paper as they enter and take their seat. Then, instruct them to draw a large face shape on their paper. Next, when the music starts, they must find one person, say hello and ask them to draw a facial feature on their paper (swapping papers). When the music stops, they find an available seat. This should continue around the room with students searching out different partners each time to draw a feature. After about 6-7 turns, they should have a face with all the right parts on their paper. Whereever they end up in the room is their seat to begin the year. As they add details to their portraits, you can talk about classroom expectations, etc.

38 Keeps, 5 Likes, 1 Comments

THE PLAN
1 session; 50 minutes per session
A fun way to begin the first day of school in the art room. Students will use this activity to get their seat assignments.
White drawing paper
Drawing Media (pencils, crayons, markers, etc.)
(glue) optional
(chalk) optional

Need these materials? Visit Blick!
You will need 8x10 paper and drawing tools. Give each student a sheet of paper as they enter and take their seat. Then, instruct them to draw a large face shape on their paper. Next, when the music starts, they must find one person, say hello and ask them to draw a facial feature on their paper (swapping papers). When the music stops, they find an available seat. This should continue around the room with students searching out different partners each time to draw a feature. After about 6-7 turns, they should have a face with all the right parts on their paper. Whereever they end up in the room is their seat to begin the year. As they add details to their portraits, you can talk about classroom expectations, etc. (optional would be to let the students draw with glue over their portraits and then chalk them in once the glue is dry). They have to rub the chalk on a tissue and then apply so they get a very muted portrait.
Real and abstract portrait paintings.
This is a fun way to get students active and participating in the art room on the very first day of school. They might meet a new student that's not in their class too!

  • RVArtist 08/27/2014 at 05:51am
    This is a really fun idea! It reminds me a little of the Exquisite Corpse game that my student love. I may not do this the first day AS I'm going through my procedures, but maybe afterwards. It would be great opener to a lesson on surrealism or Picasso. Thanks for sharing!