Art Lessons for Kids
Modigliani portraits have become an art room staple, thanks in no small part to Kathy over at Art Project for Kids for providing a simple, fool-proof technique for imitating the elongated faces famous to Amedeo Modigliani. I copied Kathy’s project a couple of years ago with my sixth grade students where we created the Modigliani [...]
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This is part two of my quest for determining the best medium for primary portraits. Last week my first grade students created beautiful oil pastel portraits. I love oil pastels as they are super easy for prep and clean-up but on the downside, they require a great deal of patience. Little ones don’t often have [...]
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My fifth and sixth grade students have been working with chalk pastel recently. We’ve done tropical birds and just finished these stunning rainforest animals. Watch the video (link at bottom of post) to see the kids at work. To begin, use a black oil pastel to draw a rainforest animal. I provided a few simple [...]
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 [...]
Van Gogh’s “Wheat Fields with Cypresses” is one of my favorite paintings. There is a distinct separation between the foreground, middle-ground and background, making it a perfect example for a landscape lesson. The Landscape I used 3 pieces of paper for this project: 12″ x 18″ white paper, 8″ x 18″ blue or purple paper [...]
Want a quick, easy project where every student is successful? This is it! The best part about teaching art is seeing how my students respond to a new lesson. I’m not a scientist, but boy, it sure is interesting to see if my expectations line up with reality. This lesson exceeded it. Continuing with my [...]
A trip to the library last fall yielded a plethora of art ideas. Keith Baker’s Big Fat Hen is filled with fabulous illustrations. Colorful, vibrant, detailed and adorable. Perfect for fifth grade! Similar to my chalk lizard project, this lesson produces fabulous results even for the self-proclaimed artistically-challenged student’s. Big Fat Hen by Keith Baker I [...]
There is nothing cuter than a snowman, except a “kinder-created” snowman. Watching little fingers stick paper noses and top hats to wet paint is utterly adorable. Since most of my students have never seen snow (Santa Barbara!), I talk about how to make a snowman, focus on the big, medium and small concept that is [...]
I teach this lesson every year. It’s fast; only takes 2-55 minute sessions, reinforces blending skills and offers practice on still developing fine motor skills. Supplies: Chalk Pastels 12″ x 18″ black drawing paper 1 bottle of white school glue per student Display a variety of flower pictures (old calendars are great) on the white [...]
Leapin’ Lizards! One way or another, I try to fit in a lesson involving my least favorite species of all…lizards. Hate finding them in my backyard, but I admit, they’re way too fun to draw. For this lesson, I demonstrate my strategy for drawing lizards on the white board. This is the key to the [...]
Drawing with glue has always been a favorite art project with my students. It really doesn’t matter what the subject is: the technique is the same and the results are always spectacular. I’ve always used black construction paper for the background, feeling that the chalk contrasts better than with any other color. Of course, glue [...]
I discovered this lesson while browsing through the Artsonia site recently. Gulf Elementary in Cape Coral, Florida displayed this beautiful Under-the-Sea chalk art on their school page. Although no lesson plans accompanied the piece, I experimented and came up with my own. I used this lesson for fourth grade students but could be used for [...]
This is an easy lesson to do with any grade level. I introduced this to third graders who seem to really grasp the chalk techniques. Starting with a black oil pastel and a piece of black paper, I had the children draw rolling hills, rounded mountains and finally, a sun/moon with concentric circles. I encouraged [...]
A classic glue and chalk pastel lesson. Using a 12″ x 18″ sheet of white or black construction paper, instruct the kids (directed art) how to draw a cat. You can come up with your own version. I encourage the kids to follow the directions in this lessons as problems arise if the kids don’t [...]
