Shaping Up With Picasso

Shaping Up With Picasso lesson plan

Look at the world like Pablo Picasso did, analyzing geometric patterns. Create a Cubist still life, focusing on the shapes you see with your Picasso viewpoint.

  • 1.

    Look at one of Picasso's early Cubist works, such as <i>Pot, Glass and Book</i>, or "Green Pan and Black Bottle." Find geometric shapes in the paintings.

  • 2.

    Arrange a simple still life on a table with objects that interest the age group. Stuffed animals, building blocks, and toy cars might interest young children.

  • 3.

    Find geometric shapes in the still life. Describe them to each other.

  • 4.

    Draw these geometric shapes, using a different color Crayola® Oil Pastel for each shape. Complex forms, such as a teddy bear, will have several geometric shapes, each in a different color of pastel.

  • 5.

    Cover your work area with newspaper. Wet one completed object with a Crayola Paint Brush and clear water. Then fill a brush with one color of Crayola Washable Watercolors and paint the wet surface. The wash will unify the individual geometric shapes into

  • 6.

    Fill each of the remaining objects with a wash of watercolor.

Benefits

  • Children find, recognize, and describe geometric shapes in the artwork of Pablo Picasso, and understand the basic concepts of Cubism.
  • Students analyze geometric patterns in real-life forms, and develop visual descriptions of them.
  • Children create shapes seen in a still life, and use a watercolor wash technique to unify their drawings.

Adaptations

  • With young children, begin with a stack of unit blocks in a shape that resembles a favorite truck or doll, for example. Draw the blocks. Then place the toy next to the blocks, and compare the two still-life arrangements.
  • Older students can analyze facial features of a posed classmate for geometric shapes. Begin with several sketches. Finish with oil pastels and watercolor.
  • Younger students, or those with visual impairments, could hold an object such as a bottle or a toy. Students describe forms they feel that are circular, square, or triangular. Sculpt a 3-D, geometric version of the object using Crayola Model Magic.