Art Lessons for Kids
I made a vow at the beginning of the year to step out of my teaching comfort zone and introduce art projects to my students that may not be something I would normally gravitate to. These line drawings were such a thing. Other art teachers have done this lesson and according to their blogs, quite [...]
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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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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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 [...]
Here is a very easy watercolor lesson for any grade. Simply add puddles of liquid watercolor paint (or well-watered pan watercolors) onto watercolor paper. Before the puddles “dry” tap the paper onto the table surface to create streams of paint. These are the flower stems. After the paint dries, the artist can use chalk pastels [...]
Fourth grade students practiced brush techniques last week. Not just for applying a flat layer of paint, brushes can stipple, dab and speckle. Students received a 6″ x 12″ piece of plain drawing paper, a small and medium-sized brush and a tub of black watered-down tempera paint. First tree: Draw a medium to thick trunk [...]
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 [...]
Half art lesson, half free-choice project, pre-historic fish has been very popular with my fourth grade students. Based on the book Rators, Fossils, Fins & Fangs by Ray Troll and Brad Matsen, I photocopied pages from the book plus created a few of my own drawing aids and set out lots of supplies. The kids [...]
I’ve done this lesson many times now, usually with my fourth graders. I think the process is quite magical but unfortunately it has a low success rate. By that I mean, students are usually frustrated or bored with the lengthy process (about 3-4, 50-minute sessions). Basically, the idea is to draw a picture (in this [...]
Here is a cute lesson that I did a while ago with my second grade students. It’s a great lesson for cutting skills which I think by second grade is pretty crucial. The steps to draw the snake are fun and easy but creating the grass can be challenging for many second graders. If it [...]
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 [...]
Kandinsky’s concentric circles are an art room staple and for good reason. The opportunity to explore color is nonthreatening and children can see how powerful mixing colors can be. For this lesson, my students folded a piece of white 12″ x 15″ paper into quarters. Then, with tempera paint, they painted a circle and expanded [...]
This Chinese Vase Art Lesson is a simple, fast and effective lesson. The original idea came from Artsonia, but it’s been so long, I can’t remember the original source. I had this odd green color of construction paper in my art cabinet and couldn’t decide what to do with it. When I saw the bright [...]
This watercolor fish art project takes a while (about four-45 minute classes) but it is worth it. It’s also worth having watercolor paper, no matter how inexpensive, as this project is a wonderful opportunity to experiment with watercolor paints. Regular paper really doesn’t do the drawings justice. Believe me, I’ve tried! I have to admit, [...]
