In this tutorial, we’ll make some art with watercolors, like I use in The Future Book, which was written by this episode’s special guest, The Library of Congress and Every Child a Reader appointed National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Mac Barnett.
Mac is also my oldest friend, but that honorific has been sidelined for the time being while he’s got his medal to brandish. He also writes about picture books over at Looking At Picture Books.
Now back to our art class—
I painted this book with a mix of watercolors, inks, and gouache (which is a semi-opaque sort of of watercolor), but I used all that stuff the same way I do watercolors, so no need to be fancy— a simple watercolor tray and brush will do.
Here’s the lesson plan:
Read The Future Book aloud.
(About 10 minutes.)
Pass out these art supplies:
WATER (in a small cup)
BRUSH
PAPER (Printer paper won’t hold water, but 80 or 90 lb paper won’t cockle much and is much cheaper than watercolor paper.)
WATERCOLORS
(& a paper towel is always helpful)
Ask kids if they would like to make some art with the illustrator of the book you just read, then play the video at the top of this post. Or, if you prefer, it’s also on Youtube.
(About 20 minutes; a 3 minute intro, a 15 minute real-time paint-along art lesson, followed by a visit from Mac, who joins me for the last 3 minutes or so.)
Extend the painting activity to 45 minutes by prompting kids to paint a pet they’ll have in the future. Copy these steps onto your board to remind them some of the techniques we just learned:
If you really want to sound official, this technique is called painting “wet in wet”. Pretty on the nose.
If you want to print the lesson to keep (or share) here it is in a 1-sheet:
📄 Download a printable PDF lesson plan here.
If your kids made some art they want to share with me and Honey, put it in the comments here, or tag me on IG. It’s part of my job to keep tabs on the up-and-coming talent out there. Here’s my art, all dry and “developed like a Polaroid”. (I may lose the room for a second there.)
Next episode is an art class for Have You Ever Seen a Flower? so get some colored pencils at the ready. And may I humbly ask, if you have other librarian, teacher, or parent friends you think would like to share this art class with their kids, you consider forwarding this email to them? It’s free to subscribe— a thank you for reading and using my books in your classes & houses.
Til next time, you smell like a baby!
Shawn
