Whatever the Weather - 5th & 6th

I was asked for ideas for 5th & 6th on the theme of weather. Some of the weather ideas I posted last week could be used with more senior classes but here are a few more suitable for 5th & 6th.

1. Looking & Responding 

Don't forget that you can include this in a lesson or have a stand alone lesson on it. A search in Google images will bring up a plethora of famous artworks on your topic. 

The topic here is weather and here are the paintings I found. 

The Liffey Swim by Jack B. Yeats. (Top)

Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son, by Claude Monet. (Bottom Left)

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat. (Bottom, Middle)

The Umbrellas (French: Les Parapluies) by Pierre- Auguste Renoir. (Bottom Right)

Responding can simply be a discussion about the painting, it can be a written piece such as a poem, or it can be creating a piece inspired by the artwork. 

This is a wax resist that appears to be inspired by ' The Umbrellas' by Renoir. 

2. Diorama 

I love dioramas! I used make these as a child with my Aunt. I used to make a hole in each side of the box and put a straw through. Then cut out people or animals and stick them to the straw to create a miniature theatre. Dioramas work for nearly any topic and allow for lots of creativity.  

They are a nice project to work on over a number of weeks and can be linked with other subject areas. 

How about creating a diorama to show the water cycle? 

3. Mixed media

A mixed media city scape in greys and blacks with some coloured rain. Newspaper, painted paper, magazines, coloured paper and card is used to create the buildings in shades of grey. 

The cloud is made by painting card with a thick layer of grey paint. A fork was used to make wavy lines to create texture. A sheet of white paper was laid on top to create a print. Once dry a cloud shape was cut out.  

4. One Point Perspective 

Deep Space Sparkle has a great lesson on one point perspective. This is suited to 5th or 6th class. Children can be given a selection of weather situations to be depicted in their picture. 

www.deepspacesparkle.com

5. Expand an image

Print out images from the web, use photographs or cut images from magazines which show a variety of weather types. Each child chooses one image and glues it to a white page. They then expand the images using paint, oil pastels, colouring pencils, etc. 

www.artprojectsforkids.org

6. Illustrate a poem

Illustrate a poem or a passage based on your chosen theme. I think this magazine collage on a cereal box perfectly represents a sunny day. 

7. Turkish Sun Catcher

From Prim Ed's Awesome Art & Craft (Book 3). This resource book has lots of nice ideas suitable for older classes. 

These sun catchers are made from plastic bottles. Coloured tissue is glued inside and designs are drawn on the outside in black permanent marker. 

A few more ideas that could work with your topic of weather are,

- Lighthouse Construction (make circuit for science integration)

- Brid house /feeder ( science/ geography)

- weather vane (science/geography)

I hope I have given you some inspiration😊