4 Stunning Collaborative Art Projects To Build Empathy And Imagination
While the skills developed in the classroom are often the focus of each day’s lesson, art education’s value lies in the range of applications. In addition to learning the elements of art, the art classroom is the perfect place to learn about the valuable elements of life. Here are four projects that can help teach your students how to work together, build their imagination, and develop their sense of empathy.
Collaborative creation on the octopus canvas shows how blending colors and textures can unite diverse student talents.
The Benefits of Collaborative Artworks
Group art projects are a valuable activity when it comes to building empathy in young people. As they work together, students will gain mutual respect as they share in the act of creation. Encouraging students to be positive and supportive of their peers can help foster a sense of empathy as they learn more about their peers through art.
Collaborative Flowers
Collaborative flowers are a great collaborative art project that allows students to create a large art piece together. Each student creates a petal of a flower making a beautiful and vibrant collaborative project that is perfect for school beautification.
To start, students paint a design on a piece of tagboard. Students will then receive a randomly painted tagboard from which to cut out the petals of the flower. This collaborative step makes each person feel like they have ownership over the entire project and not just their individual petal.
Once all the petals are cut out, students arrange them around a felt circle on a bulletin board or large paper to create a community flower.
Collaborative Octopus Canvas
Creating a collaborative octopus canvas is a great way to get students to work together while using a variety of different techniques and materials.
First, sketch out a large octopus on a poster board. Students can then work together to paint the background of the posterboard blue like the ocean. Students can then work together to paint the octopus orange.
Once the octopus and background are painted and dried, students then work together to add tissue paper on top of the canvas. Students can apply a piece of tissue paper to the canvas and paint on school glue to adhere it to the surface. This is a great technique for adding texture to your paintings. After all the glue dries, students can work together to add pink polka dots to the octopus and outline the entire drawing in black paint or permanent marker.
Mandalas
Bringing together four individual pieces into one vibrant mandala celebrates the power of shared creativity and unity.
Creating mandalas can be a relaxing and rewarding experience for students of all ages. When you add in collaboration, these group art projects become even more rewarding. To begin, provide each student with a quarter sheet of paper and a variety of dotting markers or sponge dabbers.
Instruct each student to add curved lines of dots across their paper to make a quarter of a circle. When students have filled up their paper with curved lines of colorful dots, their work can be combined with three of their peers to make one full-circle mandala.
Students will love the relaxing endeavor of painting mandalas and the excitement of seeing the finished product when four pieces come together. This project is also a great opportunity for cross-curricular application when discussing the history of mandalas and the culture of India.
Cactus Project
The crazy collaborative cactus project is a group art activity that utilizes scrap paper and materials to make one of the coolest art projects for collaboration.
Students first begin by working together to draw the outline of their cactus. They then painted the background of their cacti with black tempera paint to give a better contrast between the black background and the bright colors.
Next, students should divide the inside of their cactus shape into a few different sections. Each student in the group can be assigned a section to decorate. Encourage students to add patterns, lines, and shapes to their section to give it a unique look.
Once the inside of the cactus is created, it is time to add the spikes! This is where recycled scrap paper can be a great resource. Have students cut out triangles from all the different scrap paper around. Encourage students to use a variety of different scrap paper and cardboard to add variety to the spikes. Once each group has their spikes cut out, they can glue them around the outside of the cactus creating a fun art collab. Students will enjoy that they can create something together while also having ownership of their individual parts.
You can also do the cactus project as an individual activity! Check it out here.
More GREAT IDEAS:
Designed specifically for classroom use, these worksheets provide a template for your students to explore the concepts of tints and shades while developing their artistic skills. Whether you're looking for a way to enhance your art curriculum or just want to inject some creativity into your classroom, these worksheets are sure to inspire your students!
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Get to know Amanda Koonlaba!
Hi! I’m Amanda. Teaching children to be creative thinkers is my greatest joy. I’m here to help you bring that same joy to your classroom.
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