Wayne Thiebaud

Wayne Thiebaud is one of the California greats - famous for his gentle paintings of beautifully arranged baked goods. This is a fun lesson for kids because it is so easy to relate to his happy art, and it's a stirring activity to imagine row upon row of delectable cookies, pies, cakes, donuts, etc. It's also easy to customize for different ages.

Materials: cardstock for template, scissors to cut the cardstock, large white paper, sharpies, and chalk pastels

Presentation: find slideshow here. Some simple facts about Mr. Thiebaud (pronounced "Tee-bo") are included in the slide presentation. Additionally you can read about his life here and here and share what seems relevant to you.

Activity: pass out cardstock squares and have the kids draw a shape of their choice with sharpie to be their template. Have them think of something sweet a la the paintings they saw in the slideshow - a lollipop, donut, cupcake, slice of pie, etc. {To do this in younger grades, you could have the templates already cut depending on the time you have - or even make copies of papers with the shapes already drawn, and skip to the coloring with chalk pastel step.} Then have the kids place the template on their white paper and outline their shape with sharpie. Have them repeat as they like on the page: show them how they can make rows, or whatever kind of pattern they like. Once the shapes are drawn, the children are to use the chalk pastels to fill in their shapes.