Navaho Rug Paintings in First Grade

 

Now that Dot Day is long past, my first grade artists have been learning about line and pattern. We're using the same materials, oil pastels and pan tempera, but with a new set of learning objectives. I am fortunate that my parents were collectors of Native American art, so I have a treasure trove of resources to use for my autumn lessons. For this lesson on line and pattern, I brought a Navaho rug for the students to study up close.

We observed lines, patterns, and colors and touched the rug to feel it's texture.

The students also learned how the rug was made and
how the fringe was the warp on the loom.

Once everyone had a chance to study the Navaho rug, they returned to their tables to create their own lines and patterns with oil pastel on 90# paper. Pan tempera was used to add more color to the patterns. The final touch was the addition of some very simple fringe, made from precut strips of colored construction paper.

 

 My sample

 



A few students decided to make a double layer of fringe...love that!

 

 

This was a successful introduction to line and pattern. During the coming weeks, the students will be using these same concepts for printmaking and simple weaving.