I have two videos to share with you about drawing portraits! Both of these tie in with the portraits I drew of the young activists in NO VOICE TOO SMALL.  

Watch my mini art class on visual storytelling in portraits, recommended for grades 3-8, This video is seven minutes long, and delves into a little bit of portraits in art history before introducing the #MeetTheArtist meme. I then walk you through how to create your own using my template or on a blank sheet of paper. 

Download the printable #MeetTheArtist drawing prompt page!

Some kids absolutely love the freedom of playing with line, shape, and color without trying to make their art look like something realistic. Others may have a hard time letting go of the concrete, or of ways of drawing familiar shapes like hearts or stars that they have been taught.

This free, downloadable class introduces kids to some famous abstract artists, and to some of the basic elements of design: line, shape, and color.  It includes a game and a simple,  name-based painting project that makes abstract art and color theory accessible to elementary age kids (or preschoolers with a bit of help from an adult) 

CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO DOWNLOAD THE PDF: 

Download this free printable drawing prompt for your classroom or home use! 

1. Print out the frame template onto colored card stock.  (download below) 

2. Carefully cut out heart, leaving edges intact. (Younger children may need assistance getting started.)
3. Fold paper on center fold line.
4. Use glue stick to glue photo into inside of frame. 

5. Glue interior of paper together.
6. Decorate with handprint, stickers, crayons, markers, or wherever your imagination leads. 

Small cardboard box (reduce, reuse recycle!)
Pink or red paper for cutting out hearts (if desired, use the template to print 6 hearts to a page)
Used postage stamps cut off envelopes
Glue stick
Stamps and stamp pad for “cancelling” the stamps
​Crayons or markers
“Treasures” to put in the box, like rocks, feathers, pom poms, buttons, beads, or other found objects

Pro tip: avoid the problem of kids cutting one heart out of the center of piece of paper by printing out this heart template that fits six hearts to a page. I like to print it onto pink card stock. 

LOVE, MAMA is fiction, but the illustrations in the book are based on my research into the animals and built environment on real Antarctic islands. I even had the chance to talk with scientists who work in the Southern Ocean about the animals they saw in their work - and what kind of souvenirs are available in Antarctic research station gift shops. 

Cool facts: 
Chinstrap penguins actually collect rocks.  They will even give them to each other as gifts. (And also fight over them, like human siblings.) 

Kipling and his Mama live on an imaginary island in a real part of the world.  Chinstrap penguins make their homes on the rocky islands in the Weddell Sea - between the southern tip of Argentina and Antarctica. ​ All of the animals in LOVE, MAMA live or migrate in this part of the southern ocean.

This is the southern-most post office in South America - located in Tierra del Fuego National Park, Argentina. It is staffed by human postal workers, but it looks like birds and seals could easily take over. 

Interested in learning more? 
Download this free educational guide created by Deb Gonzales!  It's full of STEAM-infused activities and printables for K-2 students. All are aligned with common core standards.