1. I had pre-drawn the grid on the 11" x 15" watercolor paper, but the students had to trace it heavily with a dark crayon. Afterwards, they painted each rectangle a different color. I had them use my liquid watercolors in spill-proof cups to speed up the process.
2. The watercolor sheets were taken away to dry and the students practiced making leaf prints with white acrylic paint on black paper. It was quite messy, as I knew it would be, but they did all have a lot of fun.
3. After about 20 minutes of leaf printing, I set up a station with one plate of black acrylic paint and one with white. I wiped any excess paint off the hands, and the students made hand prints on the watercolor paper. The hands were flipped for the bottom row to make a checker pattern.