D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E M E M B E R S’ C L U B !1

DEEP SPACE

SHAPE OF MY HEART

D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E M E M B E R S’ C L U B !2

What you’ll need:

12” x 9” white 90 lb watercolor paper oil pastels

Liquid watercolors or Pan or cake watercolors

table salt

Medium size all-purpose brushes Water containers

Objectives:

Literacy connection

Identifying shapes Wet-on-dry watercolor technique

Salt on watercolor technique Introduce positive and negative space

Shape of my Heart

D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E M E M B E R S’ C L U B !3

Liquid watercolors are a joy to

work with. They come in

concentrated form and all you

do is add a small amount of water. I add less water to light

colors such as yellow and green,

but a bit more water to blues,

pinks and reds. It’s best to

experiment to discover the color intensity you like best.

You can read more about liquid

watercolors here.

If you don’t have liquid

watercolors, use can use the

regular pan or tray watercolors.

liquid Watercolors

The Shape of My Heart by Mark Sperring and

illustrated by

Alys Paterson is a great alternative to a typical

“Valentine’s Day” picture book. It’s a gentle story with

colorful illustrations that teach color, shape and

community.

D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E M E M B E R S’ C L U B !4

When you read the book you can

discuss the different shapes you see in

the book. Some children like to draw

fanciful shapes like teacups and

cupcakes, but you can encourage the

basic shapes like, circles, diamonds and

triangles.

Children can use as many colors of oil

pastels as they like to draw the shapes.

To draw a heart, place two dots on the

paper: one near the top and one near the

bottom of the paper. Place oil pastel on

the top dot and draw a big curve up and

towards the right hand corner. Curve line

around and steer towards the bottom dot.

Repeat on other side.

This is an easy strategy for teaching young

children to draw a heart.

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D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E M E M B E R S’ C L U B !5

Painting with watercolor: For this lesson I suggested you could use either

liquid watercolor paints or pan watercolor

paints. I used both.

This is what we did:

• Use a medium all-purpose paint brush (the

kind that comes in the paint trays are fine)and

paint all the different shapes the same color

as the oil pastel. So if you drew a yellow

circle, paint the circle yellow.

• The children can chose to leave the

background of the heart shape (positive

space) white or paint it in. Some children

added lines or other graphic details inside

their hearts.

• Use liquid watercolor to paint the background

(outside the heart shape). I spoke briefly

about positive and negative space. Paint the

background (negative space) with two or

three colors of liquid watercolor paint. To

control this, I set two small plastic containers

(salsa cups w/lids) filled with selected colors

on each table.

• While the paint is still wet, sprinkle a pinch of

table salt over the wet areas. This creates a

lovely, sparkly effect!

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D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E M E M B E R S’ C L U B !6

Color me! Can you draw a decorative border around the heart? How many different shapes can you

find? How many shapes in all?

D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E M E M B E R S’ C L U B !7

First Grade Heart

Shapes

D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E M E M B E R S’ C L U B !8

You can change this lesson by using shapes and lines together to form patterns. My second

group of 1st graders did the same basic steps, but instead of “salting” the negative space, the

children left the paint unaltered. They also drew their shapes with a black and white oil pastel

instead of various colors. Different results, but still easy.

D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E M E M B E R S’ C L U B !9

I LIKE MY ART BECAUSE…

MY NAME IS:

circle the supplies used in this art project

my supplies:

D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E M E M B E R S’ C L U B 10

CREATING Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work — Collaboratively use

imaginative play with materials—use observations to prepare for artwork

Organize and develop artistic ideas and work — Explore materials to create

artwork—demonstrate safe & proper procedures—identify and classify through

drawing

Refine and complete artistic work—use art vocabulary to describe choices in art-

making

Presenting/producing Analyze, interpret and select artistic work for presentation— explain why some

objects, artifacts and artwork are valued over others

Develop and refine artistic work for presentation — ask and answer questions of

where, when, why and how artwork should be prepared for presentation/

preservation.

Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work — identify the roles and

responsibilities of people who work in museums and art settings

Responding Perceive and analyze artistic work- select art that illustrates daily life experiences to

others—compare images that represent the same object. Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work — interpret art by categorizing

subject matter and identifying the characteristics of form

Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work— classify artwork based on different reasons

for preferences

Connecting Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art- identify

NATIONAL CORE ARTS STANDARDS-FIRST GRADE

X

X

X

X

X

X

D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E M E M B E R S’ C L U B 11

CREATING Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work — Brainstorm multiple approaches to

art and design—use of various materials to make art

Organize and develop artistic ideas and work — Explore materials to explore personal

interests in art-making—demonstrate safe use/cleaning—repurpose objects into

something new

Refine and complete artistic work—discuss/reflect with peers about choices when creating

artwork

Presenting/producing Analyze, interpret and select artistic work for presentation— categorize artwork based on

a theme or concept for an exhibition

Develop and refine artistic work for presentation — distinguish between different

materials or artistic techniques for preparing artwork for presentation

Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work — analyze how art exhibited

inside and outside school contributes to communities

Responding Perceive and analyze artistic work- describe aesthetic characteristics of the natural world—

categorize images based on expression Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work — interpret art by identifying the mood

suggested and describing relevant subject matter and identifying the characteristics of

form

Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work— use learned art vocabulary to express

preferences about artwork

Connecting Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art- create works of

art about events in home, school or community life Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural and historical context to deepen understanding —create works of art about events in home, school or community life

NATIONAL CORE ARTS STANDARDS-second grade

X

X

X

X

X

X

D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E M E M B E R S’ C L U B 12

• Today I will learn about GEOMETRIC SHAPES, so that I CAN identify them in the book,

Shape of my Heart by Mark Sperring. I will use these illustrations to inspire my own art by

drawing a large HEART filled with different shapes using OIL PASTELS.

• Today I will learn about COLOR and WATERCOLOR TECHNIQUES, so that I CAN use

WET-ON-DRY for my shapes and SALT on WATERCOLOR for my background creating a

I CAN STATEMENTS FOR SHAPE OF MY HEART

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

As you read Shape of My Heart with the students, you can have students describe different

shapes based on the illustrations. Ask them to refer specifically to the images when

describing the types of shapes (geometric or organic) or any other information they gain

from looking at the illustrations.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.1 Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing

about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure.

Students address this standard when completing the artist statement worksheet of this

packet (page 9). They are writing their opinion about the artwork they made based on how

it was created and how they were inspired.

CCSS.Math.Content.1.G.A.1 Distinguish between defining attributes (e.g., triangles are closed and three-sided) versus

non-defining attributes (e.g., color, orientation, overall size); build and draw shapes to

possess defining attributes.

COMMON CORE STANDARDS FOR SHAPE OF MY HEART