2nd Grade "Snowman Scoops"

The inspiration for this lesson came from this ornament I have had hanging on my tree for many years.

As the winter months come around most every grade creates some sort of snowman in their classroom.  I challenged myself to think of a different way students could make their snowman. This year as I was putting up the Christmas tree it came to me.  Let's make snowman scoops!    I did this lesson with 2nd graders and they loved the idea of making their snowman into an ice cream cone.  This was a very simple, successful two day lesson.

On Day 1 we drew three "snowman scoops" and a cone.  Students then watched me demonstrate how to paint in the snowman.  Students talked about how my snowman looked real and we problem solved together why it looked the way.  The answer was shadows and with that we talked a little bit about making drawings and paintings look lifelike by using value and shadow. 

To paint the scoops we used white paint first. Without rinsing paintbrushes we dipped a little bit into the light blue and painted our shadow about 1/4 of the way making a crescent shape. Using dark blue paint we went around the edges of the light blue.   Then, using a paper towel students wiped off any excess paint and dipped it in the brown  for the cone.  To add a highlight they dipped their paintbrush in the white.

On Day 2 using a combination of sharpie marker, oil pastels, and colored pencils students added all details to their snowman.  I drew on the board for them different accessories their snowman might be wearing like hats, mittens, scarves, etc.

They turned out so fun!

Teacher Sample