KANDINSKY Fall Trees Art Project for autumn and Dot Day guided lesson 1st-3rd

Need a versatile art project that will work for Dot Day, Fall, explores the art style of Abstraction and teaches about famous artists? This multi lesson art plan introduces students to the wonderful media of paper painting and collage, inspired by the works of Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky - known as the father of abstraction. 

Your students will love creating this landscape painting with abstract ‘Kandinsky Circles’ trees. With an art focus on the art elements of LINE, SHAPE, SPACE & COLOR (colour), this lesson has tons of built in choice for differentiation, while keeping the skills taught consistent across the class, to save your sanity. Designed for 1st Grade through 3rd Grade students, there is also a big focus on building fine motor skills - an important area of development for younger learners.

❤️ Take the guesswork out of teaching art, avoid the epic fails that result from not having the time to trial the lesson or media yourself before teaching it.

I’ve done it all for you and trailed this lesson with my own students, aged 5-6, K-1st grade. I am both a general ed classroom teacher and currently practising as a Visual Art and Digital Media specialist educator, teaching students from ages 4-12, at a primary school.

❤️ What if I change teaching levels to upper grades in the future?

No problem - older students will have better fine motor control, so you can add complexity and more personal choice into every stage of the project.

❤️ How will this resource help busy teachers, who are nervous about teaching art?

No worries - I’ve got you! This lesson comes as a 90+ slide, full colour  PDF teacher guide presentation. All steps are clearly explained and photographed, from start to finish, giving you the confidence to deliver a series of quality visual art lessons to your students.

❤️ All the materials & skills are also clearly listed for you. It’s like having an art specialist with you in your classroom. The PDF slides are  purposely designed in landscape orientation to share with your students as a presentation on your large screen. This extra visual support will prove useful to you and your students, particularly for diverse learners, and will also save having to repeat the same instruction or demonstration, 100 times a lesson.

Select VIEW > enter full screen for presentation mode. Then use the arrow keys on your keyboard to drive a smooth slideshow experience. You'll look like a pro :) Encourage students along the way, to follow choice options and create their unique artwork, while being guided by the information on the demo slides.

PRAISE FOR KANDINSKY'S GARDEN  (already enjoyed by over 75 educators)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Amazing value, this resource is super engaging and my learners absolutely loved the activities. Made teaching art really simple for me too, thank you!”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Fantastic resource....kids artwork was fabulous!”

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ “Thank you for a lovely resource. It is easy to understand & use especially that I am not an arty person. It is also lovely to find and use locally produced resources.”

⏰ How long will this project take to finish? 

This art project will span multiple lessons, depending on the age and stage of students and the size of paper and media you or your students choose. Chunk into small manageable lessons, to allow for drying time. Between 3-6 lessons.

View the PDF & Video previews above, then add to cart and enjoy, knowing you will soon have beautiful artwork on the walls and students glowing with pride!

❤️ So what is special about this resource?

Kandinsky’s Garden  is NOT a superficial art or craft option. As a specialist in this field, I write lessons that encourage deeper, cross-curricular learning and make meaningful connections to other subject areas. This IS an art lesson that:

• focuses on fine-motor development with using stencil tracers and scissors
• uses shapes like circles in varying sizes to sort  (Math - Geometry, Measurement),
• introduces the concept of Seasonal cycles and their effects on Nature (Science),
• teaches about the concept of change (How the world works, Science & Visual Art).

Inspired by the works of master artists - Vassily Kandinsky. This lesson plan can be the perfect companion art project for students inquiring into 

✏️ literacy based on ‘The Dot’ by Peter Reynolds - with themes like, being unique,

neurodiversity (Kandinsky had Kinaesthesia), building resilience & being a risk-taker,
trying new things & Dot Day 

✏️ themes like: art history, WW1 & 2, innovation, bias vs open-minded, 

     nature, plants and Earth Day, 

Students can express their unique ideas through personal choices and modifications, while working through the guided project. Pausing in places to discuss next steps with students, check understanding and explore potential student responses or modifications, bringing personal creative ideas to the tutorial. This addresses the Viewing & Responding to artwork objectives in a purposeful way. 

✅ What is included in the Kandinsky’s Garden Art Project?

A 90+ slide PDF teaching support document for step-by-step guidance and reference, purposely designed in landscape orientation. To share with your students as a presentation on your large screen, select VIEW > enter full screen. Then use the arrow keys on your keyboard to drive a smooth slideshow experience. You'll look like a pro :) 

• a materials list
• step-by-step instructions
• visuals for reference 
• student and teacher examples of work in progress and completed (ages 5-6).
• guidance with assessment - Learning Intentions included for the International Baccalaureate & New Zealand standards at levels 2-3  / Phase 2-3 which will closely aligned to assessment standards you may be using
• guidance and examples for Student Voice reflection/ assessment - either use orally with the slide, or print for students to fill out as a record of their learning. Alternatively export that slide as a jpeg from the PDF and post for digital reflections like Seesaw. 2 versions plus US/UK spelling option.

✅ What knowledge, techniques and skills will my students learn?

This PDF includes step-by-step support & teaching instructions for:

• Identifying & using LINES, SHAPES, SPACE and COLORS (colours) in artworks, 
• Making painted paper, 
• Using the scratch-back technique to add line patterns, 
• Use stencils to trace circles of varying sizes
• Develop technical (fine motor) skills for tracing, cutting, glueing and composing, 
• Respond to art created by artists and by my friends, 
• Reflect on my own knowledge, skills, progress and artwork.

✅ That sounds great! So what about the Visual Art focus?

1. LINE - identify and use line types in scratch patterns
2. SHAPE - identify and use 2D shapes to compose artwork
3. COLOR (colour) - identify and use warm and cool colour values, for effect, use colour values from darkest to lightest, 
4. SPACE achieved through layering elements
5. ABSTRACT ART - investigate the works of Wassily Kandinsky

✅ Bonus inclusion:

• a short intro lesson that builds a collaborative class mural perfect for Dot Day or back to school first day mini art project
• 12 line styles pattern cards
• bulletin board display information about the artist Wassily Kandinsky in the form of a Social Media profile, including posts, images, video links and an autobiography. You can read more about this unit on my blogHERE
• Multiple student worksheet options

View the PDF & Video Previews above, then add to cart and relax, knowing you have just saved yourself heaps of time and effort!

✅ Where can I find more art lessons like this one?

1. You can browse all my art lessons and support resources provided as PDF presentation lesson HERE: VISUAL ART STORE
2. If you would prefer the added support of guided video tutorials, browse my growing collection in this custom category HERE: ART LESSONS WITH VIDEO TUTORIALS

⭐️ Save the One Teacher’s Journey store to your favourites - click HERE.

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Created by Timea Willemse, © One Teacher's Journey, © Help Me Learn