Curated OER
Wired with Alexander Calder
Kids consider how the body functions and moves, how each structure has a specific movement and purpose. They apply that idea as they construct a sculptural piece that moves. For inspiration they look to the work of Alexander Calder,...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Flying Fish Mobiles – Kinetic Sculpture
Budding artists experiment with balance and movement as they learn about Alex Calder and his kinetic sculptures. They'll view several of Calder's pieces and review biographical information, then they'll work through the artistic process...
Curated OER
Calder Mobile
Students investigate the sculptures of Alexander Calder. They view and analyze pictures of various types of sculptures, discuss how mobiles are a type of sculpture, listen to the book "Roarr: Calder's Circus," and create a class mobile...
Education World
Every Day Edit - Alexander Calder, Artist
For this everyday editing activity, learners correct grammatical mistakes in a short paragraph about Alexander Calder, the artist. The errors range from punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and spelling.
Curated OER
Create a Butterfly Mobile
Students construct a butterfly mobile. In this visual arts lesson, students use rice paper, watercolors, a coat hanger, and wax paper to create a unique butterfly mobile. Students use photographs of butterflies to construct a realistic...
Curated OER
Alexander Calder: Master of Balance
Students build simple mobiles. For this equilibrium lesson, students investigate the functions of three types of levers as they analyze artwork by Alexander Calder. Students then create their own simplified mobiles.
Curated OER
Sculpture: Statues, Monuments, and More
Students explore some of the components of sculpture through a variety of artists and their artwork. The six lessons of this unit utilize the sculptures experienced when students were studying American history and the Native Americans.
Curated OER
Art and Technology - Design - Alexander Calder
Students gain an awareness for the work of Alexander Calder, study a variety of utilitarian objects and discuss their purposes, and create graphic of a utilitarian piece using computer graphic software.
Curated OER
Calder's Balancing Acts
Students learn the vocabulary of contemporary sculpture and distinguish between abstract and realistic sculpture, mobile and stabile, biomorphic and geometric. They write equations using Calder's mobiles
Curated OER
Spiral Patterns in Art
In this art worksheet, students view a picture of Alexander Calder's sculpture "Black, White, and Ten Red." They analyze the sculpture by first finding the "rule" in the Fibonacci sequence. Students read a paragraph about where the...
Curated OER
Wire Circus
Second graders examine the life and work of Alexander Calder. They create a wire sculpture on a cirucs theme of their choice. They work on these projects in groups. They utilize telephone wire, or any thin wire cut to manageable lengths.
Albright-Knox Art Gallery
Albright Knox Art Gallery: Kinetic Art Mobiles
Alexander Calder invented two new kinds of sculpture: mobiles and stabiles. In The Cone, he combines elements of each-a stabile, or non-moving sculpture, connected to a mobile, or moving sculpture. In this lesson, learners use their...
South Carolina Educational Television
Etv: Artopia: Sculpture Critic: Bird by Alexander Calder
One-page article explainshow Alexander Calder uses humor in this hanging art piece called Bird, describes how the mobile is constructed, and gives a short biography of the artist. Students can then answer questions about the sculpture,...
Marilyn J. Brackney
Imagination Factory: Create a Butterfly Mobile
This site provides information on Alexander Calder, the inventor of the kinetic sculpture known as the mobile, as well as detailed instructions on how to create your own butterfly mobile. Included are "Tips and Tricks" to making "a more...
Other
Calder Foundation
A comprehensive site with a biography, time line, and images. The text in this site is suitable for older students, but the pictures and images will be loved by all.
Art Cyclopedia
Artcyclopedia: Listing of Kinetic Sculpture Artists
ArtCyclopedia's list of kinetic sculpture artists from the twentieth century. There are links to the sculptors' bio and works.
Curated OER
Kids at Art: Create a Butterfly Mobile
This site provides information on Alexander Calder, the inventor of the kinetic sculpture known as the mobile, as well as detailed instructions on how to create your own butterfly mobile. Included are "Tips and Tricks" to making "a more...