Art Lessons for Kids
Continuing along with my Fairy Tale Royals art unit, fourth grade students used the classic double-loading paintbrush technique and drawing with black paint to create these stunning Fairy Tale Royals. Starting Off To begin, hand each student a piece of 12″ x 18″ white drawing/construction paper. Place small tubs of black liquid tempera paint (mixed with [...]
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My Kinder students joined in on the fairy tale fun by learning how to turn lines and shapes into a castle. By combining squares, rectangles, triangle and a few half circles, Kinders created their very own castle. You don’t need many supplies; a 12″ x 18″ piece of regular drawing paper, some liquid watercolors and [...]
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Castles are a sure thing in the art room. Every grade level loves to make castles and I often do a castle project with my fourth grade students. But this time, I wanted an easy, two-lesson project better suited for my second grade students. The castle project from Knights and Castles Things to Make and [...]
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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 [...]
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Here is a great lesson that uses oil pastels/crayons and watercolor for a classic resist lesson. Very easy to draw, this Princess and The Pea project can be achieved in two, 45-minute class sessions. This project was inspired by a Princess and the Pea art project on the Easely Amused website, a children’s art workshop in Mississippi. [...]
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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. [...]
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Matryoshka dolls are wooden nesting dolls originating from Russia. They are handcrafted by folk artists and often feature a woman wearing a traditional Russian dress and scarf. Many dolls seen today can carry many themes ranging from political leaders to cartoon characters. For my second grade students, these nesting dolls are the perfect vehicle for [...]
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This art project was a huge success with my Kinder students. If the project looks familiar, that’s because it is! We created our cardboard owls and fish before but this time, my Kinders created a cool habitat for their little abstract friends. Making the fish To start, we followed the same instructions for making the [...]
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Joan Miro, a Spanish artist who studied in Paris, is best known for his whimsical abstracts. Many of his paintings combine lines and colors that create wonderful shapes that may or may not tell a story–depending on your perspective! I love teaching Miro as his art is so engaging. For little ones, I like to [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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My Kinder students created adorable kinder portraits with an added twist…crowns! It gave me the opportunity to break out my jars of glitter and allow my smallest students to express themselves through line and color (and a bit of sparkle!). Drawing the Portraits The process is pretty simple and requires few art supplies. Give each [...]
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This is an easy art project that you can do with any aged child. Birch trees offer a dynamic contrast to many backgrounds. The opportunities are endless. I did a tissue paper background with my sixth graders in this multi-media birch tree collage and used watercolors for this Monet inspired birch tree art lesson. Artsonia has [...]
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Here is an easy art project that takes minutes to complete. After studying Friedensreich Hundertwasser, and creating a colorful collage, some of my fifth grade students finished early. Instead of doing random free-choice art, I handed them a small piece of watercolor paper (9″ x 12″), some colored waterproof markers and a pan of watercolor [...]
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This Georgia O’Keeffe inspired art lesson is quick, easy lesson that all grade levels will enjoy. Needing a one-lesson project for the end of my sixth grade art rotation, I was inspired by an O’Keeffe art print on my wall. But instead of focusing on the center of a flower and creating a detailed drawing, [...]
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