Scream Portraits
First grade students looked at Edvard Munch's The Scream. I asked them to brainstorm different reasons why someone might have a scared face and what characteristics that face might have (open mouth, raised eyebrows, etc). I then asked them to create a bald person looking really scared on their paper. The bald people were colored in with crayons.
The final step to this project was the most fun. Students added watercolor hair using a straw technique. They dripped a little bit of wet paint along the top of their person's head and then used a straw to blow the hair up and away from the head. The results were scary and entertaining at the same time!
This project worked well as in interdisplinary project. After the projects were finished, the first grade teachers used them as a writing prompt for students to create scary stories in the classroom.