Kindergarten: Shape Fish

In this lesson the kindergarteners learned about different shapes (circles, squares, and triangles) and then we brainstormed ways to create fish and other ocean creatures using those shapes. 

My original plan was to have the kids use stencils to trace different shapes, cut them out, then arrange and glue them into fishies.  

Unfortunately, even after multiple and differing explanations, the kids' eyes were still glazed over! Many kids mistakenly glued down the stencils instead of tracing, cutting, and gluing their own shapes.  

As the very first art lesson of the year, I made the mistake of adding too many moving parts for these kindergarteners.  Adding the stencil step would have been appropriate a bit later in the year. 

Luckily, I was able to alter the lesson for the other section of kindergarteners I saw the next day.  I eliminated the stencil step, created the different shapes myself, and then let them do the rest.  It went over much better.