My students love exploring different art techniques and tools, and I have enjoyed finding art activities for them to explore and get creative with. We tried this math art project with oil pastels and watercolour paints inspired by Miss M’s Art Room post.
Prep the Math Art Project
To complete this art piece we used (affiliate links):
- watercolour paper (use code creative15 at checkout for a discount!)
- pencils
- oil pastels
- liquid watercolours
Use a ruler to draw a grid on the watercolour paper to create 9 equal spaces. You can photocopy this page onto watercolour paper or draw the grid on as many pieces as you will need for your class.
Day 1 of the Math Art Project
On the first day, students used a pencil to write the numbers 1 to 9 in the grid. I sat with them to focus on proper number formations. Once I was able to check their numbers, they used oil pastels to trace over the lines of the grid, and the numbers they had written.
I really love how the neon colour of this oil pastel set turned out. It made their work really vibrant!
Day 2 of the Math Art Project
For the second day, I mixed some liquid watercolour paint and had students paint each of the rectangles in their grid. Because they used oil pastels, the paint did not cover up the numbers. They could decide if they wanted to use different colours for each rectangle, or do it all the same colour.
Display
I really love how their paintings turned out – and they look so nice displayed in our classroom! A fun pop of colour!
We were able to work on so many skills with such a simple activity, and it was very engaging for my students.
Let me know if you have any questions in the comments!