Friendship Gallery

Art Activity

What do friends like to do? Children will share with their classmates activities they enjoy doing with friends by creating a friendship portrait.

WHAT YOU NEED

• Roll paper, butcher paper, or wallpaper
• Small pieces of drawing paper
• Crayons, colored markers, and pencils
• Scissors
• Tape, paste, or glue
• Photographs (optional)

WHAT TO DO

1. Brainstorm with children the kinds of activities that friends do together. Here are a few to get children started: a team sport, eating lunch together, playing a board game, sharing a secret.

2. Have children work in pairs to create friendship portraits. One child in each pair lies on a panel of paper, and the other traces his or her outline. Then partners switch positions and repeat the process so that each child has an outline.

3. Children begin by labeling their portraits with their names. Then they fill the outlines with scenes of activities they especially enjoy doing with friends. Children can draw right on the paper or make small drawings and attach them to the outline. Some children may wish to bring in photographs from home of themselves and friends and add them too.

4. Post the portraits around the room. Encourage children to move from portrait to portrait (as they might in a museum), studying each picture and looking for things they themselves enjoy. Then bring them together to discuss similarities and differences they noticed among their classmates interests.