Unit Plan 5 (Grade 2 Art): Color & Mood
Grade 2 art unit where students explore warm and cool colors to express feelings, create mood, and use color contrast to guide focus.
Focus: Explore how color can express feelings, create mood, and guide focus in simple compositions.
Grade Level: 2
Subject Area: Art (Visual Arts • Creating • Responding)
Total Unit Duration: 1–3 weeks, 50–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
In this unit, students discover how color can do more than just “fill in” a drawing—it can help show how something feels. They explore warm colors, cool colors, light and dark values, and bright vs. dull colors to see how each can change the mood of an artwork. Through looking at examples and creating their own color-based compositions, students begin to make intentional color choices that show feelings such as happy, calm, excited, or sad, while also noticing how color can help show the most important part of the picture.
Essential Questions
- How can color show how something feels in a picture?
- What are warm and cool colors, and how do they change the mood of artwork?
- How can I use color on purpose to help the viewer know where to look first?
- How can I talk about how color creates mood and focus in my own artwork and in others’ artwork?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Identify and sort warm colors and cool colors, and describe how they can feel (e.g., warm = cozy, cool = calm).
- Use color intentionally in a simple composition to show a chosen feeling or mood.
- Describe, in simple language, how color in an artwork helps create mood and focus.
- Arrange colors so that one part of the artwork stands out as the main focus (e.g., brighter or different color).
- Share their artwork and explain at least one color choice and what they wanted it to show.
Standards Alignment — 2nd Grade (NCAS-Aligned)
- VA:Re7.2a — Describe how elements of art help create mood and focus.
- Example: Students explain how bright colors make artwork feel cheerful.
- VA:Cr2.2a — Use elements of art (line, shape, color, texture, value) intentionally in artwork.
- Example: Students use thick and thin lines to show movement.
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can tell the difference between warm and cool colors.
- I can choose colors on purpose to show a feeling, like happy, calm, or excited.
- I can use color to help one part of my picture be the main focus.
- I can talk about how the colors in my artwork make it feel a certain way.
- I can tell how the colors in a classmate’s artwork help show mood and focus.