Art Lessons for Kids
A while ago, I stumbled across the most adorable children’s books. Do You Have a Hat? written by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by Geraldo Valerio features the hats of some very famous individuals: Goya, Lincoln, Carmen Miranda to name a few. It’s a great read for the classroom; funny, brief, historical and visually dynamic. Since the [...]
Pin It
Based on the books by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle, my What Do You See? Art Lesson booklet contains three adorable art lessons for the younger set. Children create their own painted paper for either a brown bear, panda bear or polar bear and use templates to create their own bear. Alternatively, the polar [...]
Pin It
Couldn’t resist creating an art project based on the book Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Beuhner. I read the story to my first grade students and then we got busy creating a dark night sky with either tissue paper skyscrapers or houses in the background. Mod-Podge kept everything in place and added a nice little sheen. [...]
Pin It
Barbara Jean Hicks is a beloved children’s book author from Port Hueneme, California. If you visit Barbara’s website, you’ll discover that she is not only a writer, but a lover of cats! I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing Barbara recently and as a tribute to her adorable book Monsters Don’t Eat Broccoli my first graders created some [...]
Pin It
Children’s picture books make the best art projects. Sometimes I use the illustrations for inspiration, other times, I read the book to the class and create an art lesson around it. If I read a book, it’s mostly fiction, but every now and again, a non-fiction book makes a perfect read-aloud. Here are my favorites [...]
Pin It
Art and Literature is a natural combination. Art lessons flow directly from the illustrated pages and right onto my student’s art tables. For this 23-page Art Booklet, I have chosen three beautifully illustrated books and created kid-friendly, classroom-tested art lessons for you to use. Each lesson has a supply list, photo-tutorials, gallery of actual student’s [...]
This is an adorable, skill-loaded art project that you can do with your little ones. The book Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? is a perennial favorite in Kinder classrooms. The book is about as perfect as you can get but strangely enough, really hard to incorporate into an art lesson. I racked [...]
Libraries have always been my happy place (next to Starbucks). I love the old book smell, the hushed conversations and the assemblage of school art on the walls. It’s where I go to find inspiration for my art lessons. It can be overwhelming searching for ideas if you don’t have anything particular in mind, but [...]
Of all the art lessons I do with my kinder classes, the Eric Carle inspired seahorse project is my favorite. It’s a great way to teach painting techniques (both tempera and watercolor), cutting and pasting skills and offers a wonderful canvas for free expression. I use templates for the seahorse but some children draw their [...]
What’s the biggest thing in the ocean? According to the giant squid in Kevin Sherry’s book I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean, he is! I’m The Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry This lesson was inspired by Meg Duerksen’s Whatever blog. Here is her Squid Art Project that she did based on the [...]
I love paper: craft paper, painted paper, wrapping paper, colored paper…you name it, I have it! In my art room, students make their own painted paper all the time. As a result, we have loads of extra paper scraps that I can’t bear to throw out. The next five art lessons turn my paper scraps [...]
If you’ve been following my blog for any time length of time, you might have noticed that in addition to art, my biggest love is books. I incorporate books into my art lessons every chance I get. They’re my biggest source of inspiration when it comes to dreaming up lessons and books are usually the [...]
Here is another lesson inspiration from the book, Wow! America! by Robert Neubecker. A journey across the United States brings us to the great Grand Canyon. Layers of rock, canyons and eroded arches appear endless, broken up only by the slight variations of colors. This lesson focuses on creating depth in a picture. The concept here, [...]
Wow! America! by Robert Neubecker is one of my favorite resources for art lessons. I love his dynamic illustrations. This picture book inspired this Space Shuttle art lesson. I created this lesson for my Kinder class but see how art teacher Hannah Millard from Highland Elementary adapted this lesson for fourth grade. I think the results [...]
Salmon are beautiful. Period. The tangerine flesh screams yummy…accompanied by a tangy ginger sauce or on a bright blue paper! This project was inspired by the book Wow! America! by Robert Neubecker. The illustrations in this sadly out-of-print book are engaging and fun. Just like my kinders. To begin, start with a bright orange piece of [...]
