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Unlikely Creations

Unlikely Creations

An exercise in pure imagination! Students take an Oops and turn it into a piece of art.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Paper

Steps

  • Step 1

    Read Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg to the class. The message in the book is simple: mistakes can be beautiful too! Students explore creativity by creating art out of an Oops.

  • Step 2

    Have students make a variety of “mistakes” such as a smudge, paper rip, bent corner, crumpled paper, a scribble, whatever they come up with. Then instead of students working on their own “mistake” have them trade with a classmate.

  • Step 3

    Students examine their “mistake” and use their imagination to turn it into a piece of art. Students can use classroom art supplies like Crayola® Washable Paint, Washable Markers, Colored Pencils, Glue, Scissors and paper.

  • Step 4

    The artwork depicted in this lesson plan shows a paint smudge that was turned into a comet, a paper tear turned into a stingray swimming in the ocean and a crumpled piece of paper turned into a beautiful flower. Allow student imaginations soar while learning that mistakes can be turned into beautiful art.

  • Step 5

    Students write a paragraph about their transformed art. Have them create an original story or explain how they came up with their idea.

Standards

LA: Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.

LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade level topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.

VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

Adaptations

Do you keep a scrap box? If so, instead of students creating “mistakes”, have them choose from the paper scrap box to create a new piece of art.

Read other books focusing on creativity to the class. The Dot, Ish (Creatrilogy), Sky Color, all by Peter H. Reynolds, are a few suggestions.