Bird's-Eye-View Snowmen (4th)

It seems to me that all of my lessons end up deriving (or directly coming) from something that I've seen on Pinterest - and I'm okay with that.
#1 - I always connect the projects that I find on there to the standards I have to teach anyway.
#2 - I teach more effectively because I am honestly excited to do the project with my students.
#3 - It keeps me on my toes in terms of problem-solving. Quite often I have to figure out the steps on my own, find the best ways to achieve them, and sequence them correctly.

With that being said... yes this is another one inspired from a pin on Pinterest (I believe originating from Mrs. Knight's Smartest Artists) . :)
I've been wanting to do this for the past year... and I finally got around to doing it!
I began by talking to my 4th graders about perspective and point-of-view and how changing the point-of-view in an image can make a composition more interesting.

Then it was on to the project - aerial perspective snowmen!

To begin I gave each student a sheet of 18"x12" and 9"x12" white drawing paper.
Using a Safe-T Compass (a project in itself), students had to create 3 circles in pencil on their papers (see sizes in image below). Once they were done drawing that, they traced over their pencil lines with a light blue chalk pastel, and then smudged the pastel inward with a quick brush of their finger.

As they were finishing drawing their circles and adding the blue chalk pastel, I walked around the classroom with a stack of different colored construction paper and let students choose which base color they wanted for their scarfs. On this paper, they drew a 3" radius circle and two rectangular pieces for the hanging part of the scarf. To further decorate, I gave students color-stix to add more color to their scarf. I told them that in order for the scarf to look more cohesive, they needed to make a radial design in the circle and a linear design on the hanging parts.

As they continued to work, I also went around the class and passed out a 12"x12" sheet of blue paper for their gluing base, a 6"x4.5" piece of brown paper for the stick arms, and a scrap piece of orange for the carrot nose (the eyes were drawn in with black sharpie).

Once they finished drawing and cutting out everything, it was time to start glueing.

Once again I absolutely LOVE the results my kids got and they were really excited about getting to create a piece of artwork with a different point-of-view. So often they create pieces at eye-level (landscapes, cityscapes, portraits, etc...), so this was an exciting change for them! :)