Holy Week

Elementary grade students will capture the events of Holy Week through drawings in this fun art Lenten art project.  This project covers Common Core Standards for Religion for grades 2-5.

Grade Level

2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th grade. This project was created by 3rd grade students.

Objective for Holy Week Art

Elementary grade students will capture the events of Holy Week through drawings in this fun art Lenten art project.

Time

4+ – 30 min lessons

Materials

• Black Sharpie Marker – Sharpie Permanent Marker, Fine Point, Black, Pack of 5
• 12×18 Watercolor paper – Canson XL Series Watercolor Textured Paper Pad for Paint, Pencil, Ink, Charcoal, Pastel, and Acrylic, Fold Over, 140 Pound, 12 x 18 Inch, 30 Sheets
• Brushes – Acrylic Paint Brush Set, 1 Packs / 10 pcs Nylon Hair Brushes for All Purpose Oil Watercolor Painting Artist Professional Kits
• Liquid Water Colors – Sargent Art 22-6010 10-Count 8-Ounce Watercolor Magic Set
  • Or this mini version for homeschooling – Sargent Art 22-6210 10-Count 4-Ounce Watercolor Magic
• Kleenex for blotting paint
• Oil pastels – Pentel Arts Oil Pastels, 50 Color Set (PHN-50) or crayons or colored pencils
• Ruler
• Silver Sharpie – Sharpie 39108PP Fine Point Metallic Silver Permanent Marker, 1 Blister Pack with 2 Markers each

Inspiration/Artist

I was inspired to make this project from this awesome site Catholic Icing: Click Here

Instruction with Questions

First

This is a great version of Holy Week by The Beginners Bible series.

The Story of Easter – The Beginners Bible

Second

Review the timeline of some of the main events that took place during Holy Week. * I want to make a note here that one year I put “Betrayal” earlier than another version. Both make sense in their own way.

I wrote these on the white board and then asked students to recall what they remember about that event. Then I ask them to consider what kinds of images could be used to illustrate each event.

• Palm Sunday (palm with ideas of how to draw one)
• Betrayal (hand with silver coins)
• Washing of the Feet (feet and water or a bowl of water with feet)
• The Last Supper (Eucharist)
• Garden of Gesthemane (vines and flowers or someone sleeping)
• Denial (Remember the Cock that crowed? Rooster)
• Crucifixion (Cross)
• Resurrection (stone moved away, sun shining, butterfly)

Third

Depending on the level of your students either by grade or ability, you may want to guide them through making their own chart using a ruler, or you may want to prep these ahead of time.

This gallery of photos will show you the steps for creating the chart on a 12×18 size piece of watercolor paper. The ruler splits the middle of the page at 6 inches. The columns are at 2″, 6″, 10″, 14″

Fourth

Students write Holy Week in any “font” style they choose in the small column area. Then they copy the board and label each area with the event of that week. I recommend doing this very slowly and one box at a time. Students who struggle with learning challenges may need guidance on this part moving from left to right.

Fifth

Once the words are labeled, students draw their images. Remind them to draw large images that fill the space. Next, they trace over all the pencil lines with sharpie marker.

Sixth

After students color in their items with either crayon (this is what I used) or oil pastel (and throw on some silver sharpie to those betrayal coins), students paint. I highly recommend having them use yellow first before painting any other colors. This will keep it bright and clean.

Check out these finished Holy Week art pieces!