Art Lessons for Kids
This just might be the most adorable owl painting ever. Inspired by 4Catslife’s owl painting I saw on Pinterest, I took no shame in trying to copy the piece as best I could. My kinder classes were the lucky recipients, but this lesson is easily adaptable to any age group. Supplies The supplies are simple: [...]
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Artist James Rizzi has been providing my art students with fabulous inspiration this Fall. After finishing another James Rizzi art lesson before class was over, some students continued on the Rizzi path and created these adorable birds. The 2012 James Rizzi Wall Calendar (English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch Edition) is a great visual aid [...]
If you have some extra corrugated cardboard and a few bored kids, try creating these abstract fish and owls. I won’t lie. It took a while to cut out 65 fish and owl shapes plus the notches and mouth openings, but my Kinder students loved creating this cute project. Very hands-on, creative and fun. Kinder [...]
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Is there anything more adorable than watching little kids paint? Only if its watercolor paint! The brushes might be the smallest these five-year-olds have ever worked with and I sense the paint feels dainty to them. They are oh-so careful! This art lesson is a great introduction to the world of color. Paint mingles, spills [...]
I’ve said it before and I’ll said it again; don’t underestimate Kinders. Yes, they can be a tad bit rambunctious at times but reign them in and you got an eager audience. I love teaching this grade level. When the line of twenty tiny bodies walk through my door in September, the reason I teach [...]
It’s no secret that I love owls. Kids do, too. For this lesson, I gave my sixth grade students a few “owl” options. They could draw a realistic owl, a whimsical one or an owl in flight. I demonstrated basic drawing techniques for all three and provided a few black and white illustrations that I [...]
Chalk pastels give the dramatic color intensity of tempera or acrylic paint with almost no prep time. Chalk gets a bad rap as being too messy. For the little ones, it can be. Persuading mounds of dust into intricate corners is not for the impatient student. That’s why most of my chalk projects occur after [...]
My last class with my first and second grade students was on Tuesday. I only had 15 classes with them, so when the last class arrived, it felt very sad and short. Most of my lessons are designed to fit into 2, 45-minute sessions, so when I need a one session lesson, I really need [...]
Woohoo! My first attempt at an “art video”! My second grade students completed these in one 44-minute class. It’s a pretty simple lesson… no-fuss bird drawing using oil pastel then paint with liquid watercolors. Perhaps the simplest lessons are the best? Enjoy! Second Grade Watercolor Birds
Tropical Birds are a wonderful way to teach a variety of lessons: color wheel basics, color mixing, drawing techniques. For this lesson, I focused on the drawing aspect. The children used oil pastels to color in their parrots, but the project would be stunning if you used tempera paint with black outlines. See this post [...]
I have something for owls. Maybe it started with the Harry Potter books, but it seems as though owls are everywhere! Over the years, I’ve collected quite a few owl art lessons. Here are a few of my favorites: Torn Paper Owl: Much dexterity is needed with this project. Second graders drew an owl onto a [...]
For some teachers, the biggest obstacle for teaching art lessons is lack of supplies. This 24-page booklet features four art lessons developed for grades 3 & 4 that use basic art supplies: paper, paint & a drawing tool (oil pastel or pencil). These lessons offer tips and tricks to shorten art instruction time and give options for [...]
Parrots are an art room staple..for lessons, I mean. They are easy to draw and even more fun to paint. I love this lesson because, no matter what the child’s perceived artistic ability, most will be totally surprised with how well they did. For this lesson, which took three-45 minute class times, we started with [...]
Pie in the Sky by Lois Ehlert I was organizing stacks of art the other day and came across these beautiful pieces. I featured these birds in my “Art and Literature” PDF Booklet but wanted to share the images with all of you. This project was highly successful, meaning that children embraced the project with so [...]
This is a super easy project for middle elementary kids. I like to demonstrate how to draw a tropical bird using the steps below. As I’m drawing, I explain how it’s easy to alter the shape of the body, shape of the beak or the expanse of the wings, etc. Depending on how well the [...]
