Painted Ladies

This project was heavily inspired by one of Patty's lessons over at Deep Space Sparkle. I really want to link the lesson but I'm having trouble finding it! She had her students do pen and ink drawings of Victorian houses that were so fun to look at.

We have a fair number of Victorians around Portland so I knew it would be a subject matter my students were familiar with. I did this project with 4th grade and it took three 40 min class periods. My students in both classes were really engaged and interested in this project. Girls and boys alike. I think the students really embraced the idea of creating their ideal home/house.

To make sure all students had a good start and were working at the same speed I gave them a basic house template that we traced onto watercolor paper.

We looked at photos of Victorian houses for ideas. We discussed the flair, detail and the fun nature of Victorians. We looked at all the colors used on Victorian houses and students were excited to create their own house.

I then slowly guided students top to bottom on how to make their house unique. I demonstrated several types of roofs, windows, shutters, gables, dormers, bay windows, doors, front steps and the foundations.

Students then traced over all of their pencil lines with their black crayon or sharpie. Then students painted their houses. We agreed you had to use at least 3 colors, or at least shades of a color to make your house pop.

Last students cut out their houses and glued them onto black paper so they made a neighborhood and then added stars into the sky with glitter paint.

One HUGE mistake though! When we glued the houses onto the black paper we ended up covering the names. Next year I will have the students put a name label on the grass right under their house.