The man with the big mouth - Paul Klee

Made by a student of grade 3

Benodigdheden:

1. drawing sheet A2 size


2. brushes


3. tempera paint


4. pencil


5. black marker


6. scissors


7. glue


8. coloured wallpaper

Paul Klee (1879 – 1940) is a German/Swiss painter. His work belongs to modern art. Klee developed mainly as an autodidact and left more than 9000 artworks. In 1912 he saw the work of Picasso and Malevich and met Robert Delaunay, who believed colour is the most important element in a painting. After a trip to Tunisia in 1914 Klee started to paint more colorful and abstract. He painted landscapes, portraits, animals, mythology, mysterious machines. In his work he combined abstract and figurative shapes. Klee 's work cannot be described in one single word. Surrealism, cubism, abstraction are terms which are applicable to his paintings. He is classified by expressionism. (Source: Wikipedia)

Show the painting 'The man with the big mouth' on the digital board. Write 'yes' on the left and 'no' on the rigth. Type the following sentences on the board:

• He has a big mouth


• His nose is exactly as long as his chin


• He has curls


• He can smell good


• He is afraid


• His nose looks like a knife


• The eyes are blue


• He doesn't seem nice


• He looks pissed off


• He has no ears


• He has white teeth


• His face is composed of puzzle pieces


• The colours are bleak


• I only see bright colors

Have students drag the sentences one by one to the right spot.



The students draw a face from the side. The nose has to be as long as the chin. Draw two eyes. Divide the face in surfaces. Colour each part with tempera using only mixed colours just like Paul Klee did. Only the eyes should be painted in clear blue.

Wait until the work is dry and outline all color patches with a black marker. Cut and paste the artwork on a coloured piece of wallpaper.



This project was done in grade 3/4. For higher grades: draw the face with only one line, so without lifting the pencil.

 Door Zahra, groep 5

Source : Paul Klee voor kinderen, by Birgit Brandenburg 

Related Posts:

Collage owls

Made by a student of grade 3

You need:

1. black construction paper A4 size


2. newspaper


3. brown wrapping paper


4. scraps of coloured paper yellow, brown, red, black


5. glue

View photos of owls on the digiboard and discuss the salient features: shape, big eyes, legs, number of toes, feathers on the head (these are not the ears!).



Tear small pieces of brown paper for the  branch and paste them on the black sheet. Tear yellow paper strips for the legs and paste them on the branch. Tear the head of the owl from a newspapert - if it works with the plumes coming, otherwise paste them later on. Tear strips of newspaper and wrapping paper for the body.

Paste the head and the strips of the body. Tear a circle of brown wrapping paper for the eyes. Paste in this one a maller black circle and then a yellow circle. Tear a red beak.



Source: Artsonia.com

Related Posts:

Singing in the rain

Artwork made by a student of grade 1

You need:

1. white drawing sheetA2 size


2. crayons


3. liquid watercolour


4. brush

Students draw a person under an umbrella and colour it in with crayons. Then they draw raindrops with white crayon. Paint the entire drawing with liquid watercolour.



Be sure that:

• rain falls from top to bottom;)


• under the umbrella is no rain


• rain is transparent, so we draw with white on white!


• rain forms puddles on the ground

Related Posts:

One colour city - group work like Alisa Burke

You need:

1. drawing sheet A1 size


2. drawing sheets 10 by 20 cm (A4 size cut in three) 


3. various colouring materials: crayons, oilpastel, colour pencils, watercolour paint, markers, tempera etc. 


4. fine black marker 


5. liquid water colour paint 


6. big brush


7. scissors


8. glue

An artwork I came across on Pinterest from Alisa Burke was the inspirations for this lesson. Show Burke's work and discuss it: all houses in the same colour, windows are white, everything is outlined with black marker, houses uizen hebben één kleur, de ramen zijn wit, alles is zwart omrand, the houses aren't just next to each other but behind each other and (overlap). That means you cannot see the bottom of the houses that are not on the first row. 

Students form groups of four and discuss together the colour they'll choose. One of the students paints the background: use white crayon to draw stars or clouds and then paint the entire sheet with with liquid watercolor. Leave about one inch white along the edges.



On the smaller sheets students draw high houses, with windows and doors and decorations. Colour with the material of you choice. Outline the house and windows with black fineliner and cut it out. Be sure the group draw together about 15 houses.

Lay the painted houses on the large sheet to get a beautiful collage. Note that you do not see undersides of the houses that are not in the front row.

Made by students of grade 5/6

Related Posts: