Deep Space Sparkle – Art Lessons for Third Grade

Homophones & Art Lesson Plan

March 4, 2013 By Patty Palmer 2 Comments

Homohones-and-Art

What do homophones, homonyms and art have in common? Not much but the book, Cat Tale by Michael Hall does an amazing job of incorporating the two.

In this single, subject lesson plan, children create secondary colors from primary colors without even using a paintbrush. Inspired by three adventure-seeking cats who spend the afternoon chasing words, including homophones and homonyms, this book bridges reading skills and art.

The book provides wonderful visuals to support their tongue-twisting adventure and offers art students the chance to explore shapes, movement and self-expression. Perfect for children in grades 1-3.

Click here to read more…

Filed Under: Art and Literature, Color Wheels & Theory, First Grade, Second Grade, Third Grade

Valentine’s Day Heart Project

February 6, 2013 By Patty Palmer 11 Comments

Pointillism-Hearts

Pointillism and Valentine’s Day collides with this easy, abstract art lesson for third grade kids. On a piece of sulphite paper (12″ x 9″), kids used Q-tips dipped in liquid tempera paints to color in their abstract hearts. Using purples, reds and white gave this project a most definitive Valentine’s Day look.

To read the rest of this post, click here

Filed Under: February Holidays, Third Grade

Valentine’s Day Art Lessons

January 23, 2013 By Patty Palmer 7 Comments

Valentines-Day-Art-Lessons

Here are two fail-proof 9-page art lesson plans that will add a spot of color to your winter classroom…. The Shape of My Heart Inspired by the book, The Shape of My Heart by Mark Sperring, this 9-page art lesson plan introduces young children to shapes, watercolor techniques and positive and negative space. Full-color photo [...]

Filed Under: February Holidays, First Grade, Second Grade, SHOP FOR LESSON PLANS, Third Grade

Literature Inspired Art Lesson Plans

January 20, 2013 By Patty Palmer 7 Comments

Literature-Inspired-Art

My last Dr. Seuss art lesson was created two years ago and has become one of my most popular lessons of all time. Building on the same theme, I created three more Dr. Seuss lessons that are easy to do and fun for the children to create. This 21-page lesson plan booklet provides three lesson plans that include direct-line instruction so even the most art-challenged teacher can teach with success!

Perfect for celebrating Dr. Seuss Day or for anytime you want to add a fun, easy and colorful addition to your classroom walls, the following lessons hit the mark:

The Cat in the Hat: Follow a directed line drawing of this mischievous cat and paint with a simple technique. Stop here or glam it up with a colorful background.

Red from Hop on Pop: Red, a character in my favorite Dr. seuss book, Hop on Pop, children will enjoy drawing this cute character and paint a colorful mop of hair.

Red Fish, Blue Fish: A very easy directed line drawing creates a fanciful and very Dr. Suess-like fish. Chalk pastels make quick work out of this adorable art project.

Click here to read more….

Filed Under: February Holidays, First Grade, Second Grade, Third Grade

The Snowy Day Art Project

January 17, 2013 By Patty Palmer 5 Comments

A Snowy Day Art Lesson

A Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats is a perennial favorite in art rooms. The text is simple yet it easily brings round memories of my childhood days in Atlantic Canada; cold, raw and filled with possibilities. My Southern California students have very little, if not any, experiences with snow. A few have gone on ski trips but I suspect that might be the extent of it. Still, with the help of this book, I show them that it is not always possible to wear shorts year round.

Click here to read more…

Filed Under: Art and Literature, Third Grade, Winter Art

Fun with Art Movements

January 4, 2013 By Patty Palmer 6 Comments

Fun-with-Art-Movementswith border

Fun with Art Movements introduces Impressionism, Expressionism and Cubism to young children with three easy, colorful art lessons. Inspired by Van Gogh, Monet and Picasso (you can’t get any better with these three!) this 23-page booklet shows how to introduce these art movements in a fun, exciting way through coloring pages/drawing guides, full-color tutorials and special techniques.

Click here to continue reading.

Filed Under: Famous Artists, First Grade, Fourth Grade, Kindergarten, Second Grade, SHOP FOR LESSON PLANS, Third Grade

Holiday Collage Project

December 6, 2012 By Patty Palmer 2 Comments

Holiday-art-collage

Sometimes children need a lesson free of instruction, standards and expectations. My third graders finished the final steps of their watercolor projects and instead of doing free-choice art time, I set out collage supplies. My directions were simple: create a holiday scene of your choice. I suggested houses, trees, snowmen…anything quick and easy. On the [...]

Filed Under: Seasonal, Third Grade, Winter Art

Easy Picasso Faces Art Project

September 16, 2012 By Patty Palmer 11 Comments

Easy-Picasso-faces

Everyone is looking for a quick and easy art lesson that children can complete in under 45 minutes. This oil pastel and watercolor painting fits the bill! The supplies are simple: 9 x 12′ 90 lb watercolor paper, black oil pastel and liquid or pan watercolor paints. Start by showing how to draw a simple [...]

Filed Under: Famous Artists, Third Grade, Watercolor Projects

Ceramic Elephant Art Lesson

May 29, 2012 By Patty Palmer 6 Comments

ceramic-elephant

These baby elephants are adorable. My third grade kids created them in the very same manner as the ceramic pigs, but instead of little ears and a snout, the children created big flapping ears and a trunk. In order to be successful with the hollow form method of making an animal, the children must have [...]

Filed Under: Animals, Ceramics, Third Grade

Ceramic pig art project

May 21, 2012 By Patty Palmer 11 Comments

clay-pigs art project

It’s never to early to teach little children how to make a basic pinch pot because when they master one, they can make just about anything in ceramics. This little pig is two pinch pots scored together, with added legs, head, snout and in this case, a curly tail. How to make a pinch pot [...]

Filed Under: Ceramics, Second Grade, Third Grade

Underwater Hippo Art Lesson

April 15, 2012 By Patty Palmer 9 Comments

underwater-hippo-art-project

Who doesn’t love hippos? Aren’t they the strangest creature? My second and third grade students agree and we discussed the anatomy of the hippo as we drew their robust bodies. Using a basic oil pastel and watercolor resist, the children turned their drawings into an underwater collage. This lesson was inspired by the lovely illustrator, [...]

Filed Under: Animals, Second Grade, Third Grade, Watercolor Projects

Modern Masters Art Lesson Plans

April 1, 2012 By Patty Palmer 6 Comments

The-Masters art lesson plans

Modern Masters introduces children to the wonderful world of Van Gogh, Cézanne, Chagall and Matisse. Using famous paintings to understand the artist’s styles, children reproduce their own paintings. These lessons are classic examples of how mixing art history with simple techniques can create the most beautiful works of art that every parent will want to [...]

Filed Under: Famous Artists, Fifth Grade, Fourth Grade, SHOP FOR LESSON PLANS, Sixth Grade, Third Grade

Van Gogh Flowers Art Lesson

February 6, 2012 By Patty Palmer 9 Comments

Van-Gogh-Flower-art-project-1

A perennial favorite of mine, Van Gogh inspired flowers is a lesson I try to do every year with my third grade students. Sometimes my medium varies. A year ago I tried tempera painted flowers and I loved the results. I even made it into a PDF art lesson so you can see exactly how [...]

Filed Under: Famous Artists, Third Grade

Laurel Burch Cat Art Project

January 18, 2012 By Patty Palmer 11 Comments

Laurel-Burch-Art-Lesson

I’ve been admiring this art project for a while now. VK Bowerman’s Laurel Burch Cat project is colorful and fun. VK doesn’t have a website, only a Flickr account, so I can’t provide a website. But please visit her Flickr page and prepare to be inspired by wonderful work. I studied VK’s project and visited [...]

Filed Under: Animals, Famous Artists, Second Grade, Third Grade

Princess and the Pea Art Lesson

January 1, 2012 By Patty Palmer 15 Comments

Princess and the Pea art

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. [...]

Filed Under: Fairytales, Third Grade, Watercolor Projects

Archives