#9 Dream Houses
Grade Level: 1-3
Description/Objective
Students are introduced to some of the basic shapes found in a house such as: squares, rectangles, half circles, columns and arches. Using marker and watercolor, they will design a house they would like to live in.
Time
45 minutes
Materials
3/4" drafting tape for border on edge of paper (1-2 rolls, 60 yd.) OPTIONAL
Chalkboard and chalk
Pictures of different kinds of houses - Victorian, Colonial, igloos, etc. (various selections from different cultures and climates)
8-1/2" x 11" or 9" x 12" white kid surface vellum bristol paper (1 per student)
#2 pencils (1 per student)
Erasers (1 per student)
Permanent non-toxic black fine tip Sharpie brand markers (1 per student)
Watercolor paint - 8 or 16 color Prang or Crayola brand best. (2-3 students can share 1 set)
#8 or #6 watercolor brushes
Water containers
Procedure
1. Optional - Teacher or older students should tape border before start of activity and carefully "untape" after work is dry to create white border.
2. Ask students to think about what kinds of shapes make up their house. Allow time for visualization. Start them off by drawing the first shape mentioned on the chalkboard. Have students come up and draw the other shapes. All of the shapes covered in the objectives should be drawn as well as any others the students suggest.
3. Display photographs of different kinds of houses, preferably from different parts of the world. Ask the students to point out examples of the above mentioned shapes. Note any unusual locations for houses (house built on stilts over water, tree houses, etc.).
4. Ask the students to imagine what kind of house they would design for themselves. Allow time to imagine.
5. Using any combination of the previously mentioned shapes have students draw and design their house with pencil.
6. Markers are used to trace over pencil lines making them more bold and to add pattern, texture or detail.
7. Have students use the negative space (space around the house) to suggest something about its location (for example trees in a forest, water by a lake, sand on a beach, etc.).
8. Watercolors are used to add color to the house and its surroundings. Encourage the students to be aware of color contrast. The house should be different enough in color from the background as not to blend together.
Subject Matter Integration
LANGUAGE ARTS: Students imagine and write a description of their dream house. Ask them to think about what would be the first thing they would see as they walked through the door, what their favorite room would be, and what would make their house different from most houses.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Architecture unit provides opportunity to explore cultural differences throughout the world, along with why one type of construction is used over others in different areas of the world (weather, tradition, expense, etc.) 5th graders and above discuss different types of "homes" including homeless, homeless shelters, apartment, duplex, single family house.
GEOGRAPHY: Locate on a map areas of the world where different types of homes are located.
Variations/Extensions
1. Instead of drawing and painting their houses, students can cut shapes out of construction paper and glue them together, adding the details with marker. Different texture paper such as sandpaper and corrugated cardboard can be combined with the colored paper scraps.
Square Rectangle Circle
Half Circle Column Arch