Attention span of 3rd/4th graders (re: art)

[LisaR]

DD has a great opportunity this summer to teach art. Yes, I am helping her with her first lesson plan since she has never done this before. We are wondering about the attention span of 3rd/4th graders. Obviously each child is different, but would most kids that age be able to focus on one major project for three hours or are they still at an age where they become bored quickly, lack attention to detail, and will need multiple short projects to keep their interest?

 

[Liberty Belle]

DD has a great opportunity this summer to teach art. Yes, I am helping her with her first lesson plan since she has never done this before. We are wondering about the attention span of 3rd/4th graders. Obviously each child is different, but would most kids that age be able to focus on one major project for three hours or are they still at an age where they become bored quickly, lack attention to detail, and will need multiple short projects to keep their interest?

That's tough because I think there's a world of difference between third and fourth grade. I'd say to be safe multiple projects would be safer. Is this just a one day deal? If it's week long, could she do one big main project that they worked on for an hour a day and then smaller projects the rest of the time?

 

[LisaR]

That's tough because I think there's a world of difference between third and fourth grade. I'd say to be safe multiple projects would be safer. Is this just a one day deal? If it's week long, could she do one big main project that they worked on for an hour a day and then smaller projects the rest of the time?

Each camp will be four days a week. Each week will have a country theme so not only does she need enough to keep them busy, but it has to be relevant to a specific country. The goal is to get them to produce quality art instead of tons of projects where they just threw it together, but I am just not sure how much one can expect from that age.

 

[StephMK]

I would choose a couple of bigger projects but break them into steps. Maybe they could go to different stations for each project in the course of the 3 hours? Then by the 4th day, they would be finishing all projects instead of one at a time. And maybe have some smaller fill in projects for those who might not have stick with any of them the whole time or finish early.

What countries are they studying?

 

[Liberty Belle]

Each camp will be four days a week. Each week will have a country theme so not only does she need enough to keep them busy, but it has to be relevant to a specific country. The goal is to get them to produce quality art instead of tons of projects where they just threw it together, but I am just not sure how much one can expect from that age.

How fun! And lucky you; I'd love to help plan that!

I think if she split up half of the day doing a big project and then the rest doing smaller projects, it would work. And/or stages like the pp mentioned.

For instance on, say, "Italy Week", they could do sculptures of your daughter or their neighbor or something as a big project that would take all four days and then day one do a paper architecture project (white architecture elements glued on to black paper to create a building) and day two could be a flag craft (weaving the flag colors onto a white piece of paper or sewing together strips of fabric, etc).

 

[scrapquitler]

That's tough because I think there's a world of difference between third and fourth grade. I'd say to be safe multiple projects would be safer. Is this just a one day deal? If it's week long, could she do one big main project that they worked on for an hour a day and then smaller projects the rest of the time?

I like this idea. I have a 4th grader, but he's a boy, and there's no way that he would be able to work on one project for hours at a time. He could do an hours long project if it were broken up into sections with something else to do in between times.

Two summers ago he went to an art camp (it was like 9am-Noon for a week). They did a long ongoing project that they worked on each day for a while, but they also did smaller projects at the same time, so that each day they worked on several different things, and the teacher made sure there were different types of projects (not just drawing, for example, there were also clay projects, and painting, and sculpture with wood/wires/etc, and printmaking, etc).

I think that you also need to build some time for physical movement in the schedule. Especially if there are boys in the class...they are going to need to move and have a break sometimes. Maybe you can incorporate some sort of physical activity into the process of creating the project so it goes together. But most boys that age are not going to sit for more than an hour or two without some sort of moving around, no matter how exciting and interesting the project is.

 

[LisaR]

She was an art assistant at a summer camp for three years and this other place hired her to be the head teacher so she is VERY excited! At her old studio, they had the main project, but when a child finished early or was bored, they had an array of self-directed things to choose from (beads, finger paints, clay, etc). This new place actually has much better art supplies, but it sounds like they want them working on very specific themes. So if a child is bored and grabs the beads, s/he can't just make anything, it would have to be in line with the theme, at least that was how DD interpreted it.

 

[HannaBelle]

I taught art for several years and I think 3 or 4 hours for 1 project would be a lot for even my high students to focus on.

The 3rd and 4th graders loved working with textiles. Weaving seemed to be the favorite activity. We did bags, belts, bracelets, key chains& After the students learned the basic idea behind it they got to choose the project they worked on. A teacher I worked with also brought in her sewing machine and would help the student make a pillow from their weaving. The students had to bring in an old pair of jeans they could cut up. The pillows turned out great, just make sure you student makes a large weaving.

We also used burlap to create ship pictures. The kids had access to felt, buttons, yarns and all kinds of items they could sew to the project. Of course, it does not have to be limited to ships. I could see this project working well for any subject. They love choices, it makes it project their own.

Clay is always a hit at every age. One of the favorite projects was making a bell. Make the bell portion from a pinch pot, allow the kids to sculpt the handle (I always narrowed it to animals) and have the early finishers make beads for everyone. The kids always loved these, I felt like I was able to teach a bit of basic hand building and they got to make a little sculpture which is what they want 98% of the time.

Edit to ask... Is it 3 or 4 hours in one sitting or 1 hour a day for 4 days? 3 or 4 hours in one block is too much but 1 hour over 3 or 4 days is totally doable and will keep their interest. Just have an alternative activity for your earlier finishers.

 

[LisaR]

I taught art for several years and I think 3 or 4 hours for 1 project would be a lot for even my high students to focus on.

The 3rd and 4th graders loved working with textiles. Weaving seemed to be the favorite activity. We did bags, belts, bracelets, key chains& After the students learned the basic idea behind it they got to choose the project they worked on. A teacher I worked with also brought in her sewing machine and would help the student make a pillow from their weaving. The students had to bring in an old pair of jeans they could cut up. The pillows turned out great, just make sure you student makes a large weaving.

We also used burlap to create ship pictures. The kids had access to felt, buttons, yarns and all kinds of items they could sew to the project. Of course, it does not have to be limited to ships. I could see this project working well for any subject. They love choices, it makes it project their own.




Clay is always a hit at every age. One of the favorite projects was making a bell. Make the bell portion from a pinch pot, allow the kids to sculpt the handle (I always narrowed it to animals) and have the early finishers make beads for everyone. The kids always loved these, I felt like I was able to teach a bit of basic hand building and they got to make a little sculpture which is what they want 98% of the time.

Edit to ask... Is it 3 or 4 hours in one sitting or 1 hour a day for 4 days? 3 or 4 hours in one block is too much but 1 hour over 3 or 4 days is totally doable and will keep their interest. Just have an alternative activity for your earlier finishers.

Thanks for the ideas! It is three hours per day for four straight days. They will have a snack break. DD is would like to read a short story at the beginning of each class that will be relevant to the project (ie: a story book describing the details of the Taj Mahal before they start constructing their own). Good idea??

 

[DarthMama]

My son is in 3rd grade now, so he's in the right age group. It would be very tough for him to work on a single project for that long a time -- and moving around breaks would be a great help to keep him happy. His age group is definitely capable of doing careful, detailed work (to give you an idea of what they can do, for Cub Scouts at this age they start to use pocket knives for carving), but too much time doing the same thing makes them a little stir crazy. Hands-on stuff is definitely what his age group likes doing.

I like the idea of a story to start things out to give a little context to the project.

 

[HannaBelle]

Thanks for the ideas! It is three hours per day for four straight days. They will have a snack break. DD is would like to read a short story at the beginning of each class that will be relevant to the project (ie: a story book describing the details of the Taj Mahal before they start constructing their own). Good idea??

Books are an excellent idea. I taught art from an art history perspective. We always started with an artist, talked about their style and why they might have chosen to do things a certain way. Then we did something similar. I especially liked to pair what I did in art class with what they were studying in the classroom. IMHO it helps the kids understand the society as a whole when you can blend art with history and science. You could draw to the music of the time period and emphasis communicating the feeling of the music through line and color choice.

You might even be able to find an age appropriate fictional book from the same time period to read to them while they are working. Kids that age love to be read to. An audio book would be even better b/c then you can help students while everyone listens.

I do think you are going to have to break up what they do. Maybe do 1 week long project and 1 finish in a day project for each day? Start with the finish in a day project and when they finish they can move on to the week long project.

 

[Wendy31]

We homeschool, &, last year, older DD & DS took part in a monthly art class offered through our local art museum.

The class began at 9:00 am & ended at 12:00 pm (so 3 hours). The students were ages 5 through 12 years of age, & the instructors split the students into 2 age groups (5-8 & 9-12, I believe).

During the 3 hours, they took a tour of the art museum to focus on the particular art style of that day's class - for example, one month, the class was mixed media. The next month, the class was photography. Once they were back in the classroom, the instructor spoke a little bit more on that day's art activity. A couple of times, she read a storybook that focused on the particular art activity. One month, the class was focused on a particular artist & the artist's "style," so the instructor talked about the artist & gave the students a "biography" of the artist.

The students spent the rest of the class time creating one piece of art that was focused on the topic.

After each class, DD & DS came home w/ pre-printed notes/info about that day's art lesson & 1 art protect related to the art lesson.