Indian-Inspired Art Using Paper Plates

I’m a little late on completing this project with my students, but the results have turned out lovely. You may remember that back when were studying India we made maps and had several guest speakers come in. I also had the chance not long afterward to travel to India to build churches with my daughter. (You can read more about the trip here.) During that time period I wanted to find a way to incorporate an art project into our social studies lessons, so we made these painted Chinet paper plates.

After sharing with the students several examples of Indian-style patterns and color choices, I turned them free to draw and then paint on their own plates. The texture of Chinet paper plates is easy to work with because it holds tempura paint well, dries quickly, and prevents the colors from bleeding together. As part of the lesson, I only provided students with primary color paints and they had to mix their own secondary and tertiary colors. Once the paint was dry, they went over their lines with a permanent marker. I then attached them to our walls using duct tape.