Students will explore how colors, shapes, textures, movement, sound, and media can express emotions and personal experiences. They will investigate: How can colors, shapes, and textures help us express our emotions, and how can we make art that shows happy, sad, calm, or excited feelings? Through material exploration and collaborative artmaking, students will compare shapes and test how different designs communicate feelings, connecting to CCSS Math K.G.B.4 and NGSS K-2-ETS1-2. The experience will culminate in a shared exhibition where students present an original artwork, describe its feeling, purpose, and story, and listen empathetically to others’ interpretations.

Students will explore how colors, shapes, textures, sounds, movement, tempo, and volume can express happy, sad, calm, or excited feelings. They will create visual and media art that tells a life story, identify its purpose, and describe the emotions and experiences evoked by artworks and performances. Through hands-on investigation, students will describe and classify art materials by observable properties such as color and texture (NGSS K-PS1-1) and identify, describe, and compose shapes while sorting artistic elements into categories (CCSS.Math.Content.K.G.A.2, K.G.B.6, and K.MD.B.3). They will collaborate on artistic choices, listen with empathy, use feedback to revise, and present and reflect on how their work answers the essential questions.

Students will create an emotion art collection using colors, shapes, and textures to express happy, sad, calm, and excited feelings. They will make drawings, paintings, collages, sculptures, short digital media pieces, and movement sequences while sorting materials by observable properties and using, naming, counting, and comparing shapes. Small groups will combine visual art, music, movement, or recorded images to tell a shared story about a memorable experience and document how different materials create different effects. The project will culminate in an “Art of Feelings” gallery and performance where students identify each work’s purpose, describe their reactions, and share how different media create different experiences.

Begin with an “Emotion Gallery Adventure” featuring short music clips, simple dances, animated media, and artworks that use varied colors, shapes, and textures. After each experience, students name or show the feeling it evokes, connect it to a personal memory, and sort and count responses by emotion (CCSS Math K.MD.B.3). In small groups, students investigate safe art materials, ask which features could communicate a chosen feeling, and collaboratively create and share a quick artwork, addressing NGSS K-2-ETS1-1. Gather to ask, “How can colors, shapes, and textures help us express our emotions?” and “How can we make art that shows happy, sad, calm, or excited feelings?”

Host a “Feelings Through Art” gallery for families and another class, featuring visual and media artworks that use varied colors, shapes, textures, and materials. In small teams, students organize displays by emotion and observable material properties, then sort, count, and compare artworks in each category, addressing NGSS K-PS1-1 and CCSS Math K.MD.B.3. Students share each artwork’s purpose and personal story through recorded narration, expressive music, or a short dance, then answer how colors, shapes, and textures express emotions. Visitors name the feelings or memorable experiences the artworks create, and students use this feedback to reflect on their artistic choices.