Watercolor Cakes

This lesson was inspired by my love for Wayne Thiebaud. I tried out this lesson that I found
 here ->   http://ksmaghini.blogspot.com/2011/05/good-enough-to-eat.html?m=1     with a group of 6-9 year olds and this is the result! Enjoy!

Materials: 
Watercolor Paper
Pencils
Sharpies
Watercolor Palettes
Watercolor Brushes
Salt
Rubbing Alcohol
Rulers

Visual Arts Standards: 
26.B.2d

Objectives: 
Students will be able to create a work of art using three different watercolor techniques.
Students will be able to incorporate more than three patterns into their cake layers.
Students will be able to experiment with different ways in which to manipulate watercolor paint.

Step 1:
Using pencil and a ruler, carefully create a border around the edges of the watercolor paper. I let my students make theirs between 1 and 2 inches.

Step 2:
In the middle of the bottom of the paper draw a line about a quarter of the way up the page and create the cake stand from this line. I made mine have a large skinny oval on the bottom edge and then a skinny cylinder in a middle and a large skinny plate on the top.

Step 3:
 Make the cake! Starting with the biggest layer, create smaller rectangles on top until their is no longer any room. The edges will have a stair-step pattern.

Step 4:
Add that pattern! I had my students create a different pattern in every layer of cake. Have fun with this part!

Step 5:
Add a topper! My students all added their favorite desserts to the top of their cakes. They had donuts and cherries and ice cream, oh my!

Step 6:
Outline all of those pencil lines in sharpie!

Step 7:
Carefully fill in the patterns with watercolor. Be careful putting two colors next to each other when they are wet, they will blend.

Step 8:
In the background, go to town using different watercolor techniques. I had salt, rubbing alcohol, and oil pastels available for my students. The salt and rubbing alcohol require the paint to be wet for it to work, so work quickly!

Step 9:
If you hadn't already add a border, I asked my students to create a repeating pattern in their borders and they could color it any way they wanted.

I hope you have as much fun with this lesson as I did!