Channeling Kandinsky

I will not take credit for this project idea, I found it on a fellow blogger's site Create Art with Me.
I had been exploring the work of Kandinsky with third graders when this lesson popped up on my blog feed.  Students had practiced listening to the colors in classical movements and drawing with markers as the first process.  I hadn't been sure I would be able to really achieve having them listening and creating successfully and had decided to test the waters, so to speak, with markers the first day.  Week two, they progressed to watercolors as they listened to music and then I saw this post and knew a third lesson would need to be added to my plans.  This lesson took a bit more direction and planning and more stop and starts.  First I instructed students to only draw lines and shapes as they listened to the music using a basic color pencil.  After about 4-5 minutes, the length of a musical selection, the pencils were put away and replaced with watercolor pencils.  The instructions were to add color but not to color in the entire page.  Students were reminded that this was not a coloring page and that in the third step we would be manipulating color and moving it so white space would be needed.  Again the music played for a selection and then the watercolor pencils were traded for water and a small brush.  Students were encourage to move the color thoughtfully and not to just add a water wash.  I am really pleased with the variety of results obtained and can hardly wait until all the classes have finished so I can post these on the hallway bulletin board!