I recently posted my 1st grade Eric Carle art project- Here’s the 4th grade project I put together for another teacher in our school.  I got a great deal on canvases at Michaels this year (Under $1 each for the 8×10 which are normally $19.99 for a 10 pack).

So.. we used those 8×10 canvases and coated them in a 50:50 mix of white Elmer’s glue and water.  The kids chose a color of tissue paper and covered the canvas.  Some coated overtop with the glue mixture and some didn’t so they all look pretty unique.

The canvases dried overnight and then the kids used oil pastels to do their drawings.  The tissue paper gave them a “smooth” surface and the oil pastels were 100 times less messy than paints.  The 4th grade class was pretty big so this allowed them to try some new ways of creating art (with the tissue paper on canvas) and made it easier for the teacher to contain the mess.