Swirls and Smiles

Swirls and Smiles lesson plan

Beautiful poetry, art, and music are such wonderful ways to express your ideas and feelings. For brilliant Swirls and Smiles, explore the amazing technology of Crayola® Color Switchers™ Markers.

  • 1.

    Read poetry or listen to music that describes emotions such as anger, love, fear, anticipation, frustration, sadness, or happiness. What words do poets use to convey their feelings? How do musical melodies, beats, and words evoke a mood?

  • 2.

    Find a poem or song that expresses your feelings. Or you could write your own poem or music describing an emotion that you have experienced. Challenge yourself to use new and interesting words and melodies.

  • 3.

    In the visual arts, each color seems to have its own unique personality. How do colors such as pink, red, black, white, blue, and yellow affect your moods? Could line, shape, form, and/or texture also be used to convey feelings?

  • 4.

    Apply the elements of the visual arts (color, line, shape, form, texture) to create a drawing that portrays the emotions in your poem or music. With Crayola Color Switcher Markers, create a background.

  • 5.

    Flip the Marker and apply the special color switcher to create vibrant patterns, swirls, symbols, and dots. How much of each color will best reflect the mood?

Benefits

  • Students read a wide array of poems and/or listen to music to identify feelings that the works convey.
  • Students select or write their own poems or music about a feeling or emotion and then create a drawing to show that feeling visually.
  • Students recognize that emotions can be visually demonstrated with color and other elements of the visual arts (line, shape, form, texture).

Adaptations

  • Students write a short story as if they were a color, such as "Mr. Blue," and draw a picture to enhance their stories.
  • Students investigate and create a poster on how colors are used in nature both by inanimate and animate things for camouflage, habitats, and warnings.
  • Students write an acrostic poem that highlights aspects of a chosen color. An example would be <STRONG>RED</STRONG>: <BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><STRONG>R</STRONG>oasted peppers<BR><STRONG>E</STRONG>nergy<BR><STRONG>D</STRONG>aring </BLOCKQUOTE>