Chinese New Year Lion Dancers

Today has been a very fun day! I am so humbled to find out that I won “Teacher of The Year” for our School!!! What an honor!! I am very blessed to be in such an amazing school with such talented artists and incredible teachers! I LOVE MY JOB! I created this lesson for First Grade and Second Grade to Learn about the Chinese New Year and see some of the brilliant designs in the Lion Dancer costumes.

First we watched this Fabulous video

chinese lion dance from mounin on Vimeo.

Then we did a Draw Along. I do not do this very often, but the younger kids get a real boost of self esteem after a draw along. Within the steps there are loose parameters to allow self expression and individuality. They all end up looking different in the end! They feel good about themselves, and learn a few new techniques along the way!

I do this first step for kindergarteners to get them started, but the others can do it themselves.

Pupil, iris, reflection of light ( momma circle, daddy circle and baby circle for the younger ones)

I call that a roundy triangle that is not pointy

Two “C’s” that start on the outside of the eyeball for the cheeks, then a “rainbow line” connecting them

I tell them to draw “smiley lines” for the tongue and under the teeth

a roundy triangle horn and some zig zag line beard fur

a “wiggle waggaly” line above the roundy triangle

When we finish the Lion, we made the fireworks with dots and “follow the leader” lines, and embellished with oil pastels

We used liquid watercolors to paint

gold tempera for accents

Then did a watercolor resist for the sky

I started with 1st grade today and it was very successful! They enjoyed the lesson and could not wait to come back and finish!!