3rd Grade Learns about Wayne Thiebaud

My third grade students always love learning about Wayne Thiebaud. They're always fascinated that he's over 90 and still paints! I think he's quite an inspiration. And his dessert paintings are so happy; who doesn't love them?

After looking at Thiebaud's cupcakes and a few other paintings, the students learned about how Thiebaud used tints and shades to make the items look real. Shadows are important in realistic painting! Then, the students mixed their own tints to create these cupcake paintings.

After completing cupcake paintings, the students made clay cupcakes! These are created from two pinch pots, one inverted for the lid. We rolled the bottom pinch pot on corrugated cardboard to get ridges. The students also learned proper slipping and scoring techniques to attach the cherry. These cupcakes are a small jar, and the cherry serves as the handle for the lid. The students loved this project!