Love is in the air

One of the largest differences between teaching elementary and high school is the dominance of seasonal art at the elementary level. I frequently hear the kids complain that we don't do anything "special" at this level for holidays. This year I may try slipping in some seasonal-ish work with my older students and see how it's received. It would be interesting to simply include some love themed works with my samples but not necessarily pitch them as "valentine" projects and see if the kids run with it. When I look through my curriculum there are already many assignments that could fit the bill. 

First up we have the composite shape lesson. This is a budget friendly lesson that can be completed with ball point pen on any type of paper. I normally give my students free reign to use idioms, oxymorons and metaphors to create a visual pun. With a little tweaking, the shapes or puns could be love themed. Here are two examples:

"Sweetheart"

"Change of Heart"

This next lesson is already a favorite because it checks so many boxes. Color theory, paintbrush practice and control. Symbolism. Abstraction. Students normally pick a lyric from a song. Simple enough to change it to be a love song.

This lesson was done with my 5th grade students and is a great one for middle school. Another low budget option. This was an old dictionary that was sitting on my shelf for ages. Students illustrate a quote on top. A great intro to design concepts, symbolism, calligraphy and/or typography.

And of course the pop art word sculpture, which is always a crowd pleaser with my art 1 students. What if they redesigned the Robert Indiana Sculpture instead?

What would you add to the list? Could you see your students having an interest in holiday / seasonal themed work?

Elementary Art Winter Lesson Round Up

I'm not sure why the month of January seems to have 300 days, but if you're feeling the post holiday slump, here are some of my favorite winter themed elementary art lessons.

 My K-5 budget at one of the four schools I taught was exceptionally low, so I intentionally included lots of low budget options like collage and marker printing to help you stretch your supply budget. Beneath each image is a link to the original blog posts with more photos, samples and details.

Grade recommendations:

Clay snowmen: Grades 1-2

Read the original post with more photos and info here.

Torn paper landscapes: K-2

Original post with fun "snowman charades" activity here

Marker Print snowflakes: Grades 3-5

Original post with more details here

Snowmen marker prints / crayon rubbing:2-4

Original post for this lesson here

Notan Snowflake: 2-4

The original post and book recommendation are here.

Arcimboldo Snowmen: all grades

Original post here

Sweater Weaving: 1-3

Original post can be found here

Starry Night Snowman Shadows: K-1

Original post for this lesson here.

Polar Bear Prints - 4-5

Original post can be found here.

If your New Year’s Resolution was “working contract hours” you can snag these from my TpT shop and get back to Netflix over this long holiday weekend!

Updated Lady Liberty Lesson

I just updated my copper repousse statue of liberty lesson to included a guided drawing page then realized I never published the liberty collage lesson that I did for several years. 

It's always fun to do at the end of the year to use up scraps of paper. I think this project started when inherited a room that had PILES of faded green paper.

For a fun twist you could also have students marble paper for the background for a fun cloudy sunset or you could try the firework painting technique that's all over pinterest.

Here's a link to the original post on the collage project and a link to the lesson plan. 

This is a link to the repousse post and a link to the lesson. The repousse (or copper tooling) is a great activity for summer camps.

I have the guided drawing sheet posted free on my Facebook Page. Go ahead and grab a copy for yourself.

Spring Art Lessons Your Students Will Love

The days are slowly getting a bit longer and that can mean only one thing. Spring is just around the corner. Was it just a few weeks ago I was shoveling out from under 35" of snow? While spring in the northeast can be very unpredictable, I'm choosing to believe that warmer days are heading our way. The following lessons are getting me in that spring time state of mind.

First up are these adorable drawing pages for St. Patrick's Day leprechauns that will make any leprechaun craft for kids more adorable! These drawing pages have step-by-step instructions along with lots of choices and a roll & draw game so that each leprechaun will look unique. This set also includes a writing activity for students to describe how to catch a leprechaun and what wishes they would want to be granted by the lucky leprechaun.

One of my favorite things about Expressive Monkey's Resources is that there are always so many ways to use each set. Whether you need to differentiate within one class, or want to teach a topic across a band of grades, you can easily up the level of difficulty by choosing which variation is best for your students.

-

This Pysanky Egg lesson has great visual step by step directions from KinderArt. Students of all ages can complete this successfully. I love the way the bold color of the oil pastel pops off the dark paper.

-

Next up we have this super fun spring landscape from Look Between the Lines. Teach students about creating depth in art through a spring landscape scene. Color and overlapping to create depth are taught and is perfect for 2nd through 6th grade. I really love that this project can be done from home with limited materials. Such a smart way to go for those of us teaching remotely this year.

-

Spring is very windy in many parts of the US. What a great time to teach a lesson on making kites. This koinobori lesson is great for K-3. A simple way to include symmetry into your class. I love to pair this lesson with the book "Pattern Fish" by Trudy Harris. An optional haiku activity provides a fun interdisciplinary closure opportunity.

-

What could be cuter than this? Students learn about shapes and patterns to create a cattail and dragonfly scene. This project can be created with a variety of materials and is perfect for 1st through 5th grade. 

-

March is women's history month. The Drum Dream Girl is one of my favorite books for elementary students.  While scratch art is the suggested medium, students can be successful with a wide variety of supplies. 

Students will feel empowered by this true story and inspired by the brightly patterned illustrations within its pages. Original post here.

-

Spring is the perfect time to incorporate nature themed lessons and to explore the outdoors. Students that are participating from home will relish in the opportunity to get out into the sunshine to gather inspiration from their own yard.

Perfect for late elementary through high school students, students are taught about mono printmaking using gelli plates, leaves, and watercolors to create unique works of art. 

-

Even your youngest artists can handle this adorable painted paper stained glass lesson. 

What a fun way for students to practice color mixing, cutting and pasting. Gorgeous results every time. Pair it with your favorite Eric Carle book.

-

Are your students eagerly awaiting spring break? This art lesson is inspired by the book "Action Jackson" and "Rabbityness." This two session lesson is always a crowd pleaser K-3.

-

Of course spring is always a great time to dust off your favorite art history lessons. Why not introduce Van Gogh's sunny sunflowers and have students create their own vases full of flowers?

-

What are your favorite spring time lessons? How are you modifying them for this unusual school year?

February Art Projects Your Students Will Love

If you're looking for a way to bring a little love into your classroom without an overt "Valentine" theme, here are some of my favorite art lessons. In elementary school, chances are students will be slipping all kinds of heart shaped drawings into their work, whether you ask for it or not.

Love bug scratch art project. Original post here.

Notan design conversation hearts. Original post here.

Valen-dine Expressionist heart weavings. Original post here.

Georgia goes 3D. Who doesn't want flowers for Valentine's Day? Original post here. 

Updated clay flower version here.

Pop art Val-Pal's. Original post here. 

Scherenschnitte. Why not extend their love for cutting paper snowflakes into February? Original post here.

While the following lessons were not originally intended to be Valentine themed, I think they would lend themselves really well. 

Paul Klee Messages of Thanks, could become messages of love. Have students use words from songs or poems. Original post here

Illustrated quotes. Again, search for positive, uplifting quotes about love and friendship. Original post here.

What's your favorite go-to lesson for February?

Winter Book Round Up

One of the things I miss most about leaving the elementary level (besides their cute faces) would be children's books. I really love a well illustrated story. So this week, I'm sharing my favorite winter themed books.

Polar Bear Night. (Or Polar Bear Morning) by Stephen Savage

You can't go wrong with either book. Last year I paired it with a fun printmaking lesson. You can read see the original post here.

Who Will See their Shadow This Year by Jerry Pallotta

This is great for groundhog's day connection, teaching shadows in art AND it covers a ton of weather illustrations. I like to pair this with my snowman shadow lesson because in Pennsylvania, it' snows through March. That lesson has been reinvented a few times, most recently with a Starry Night twist.  The first time I used the book, we did some skinny sculptures. Original post here.

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

 is an amazing book to connect your slightly older artists with the science and math of snowflake design. 3rd-5th have enjoyed this lesson with projects like my notan snowflake and the snowy winter scene with marker prints.

No Two Alike by Keith Baker

This is a fun book for students to observe differences. Let them make two birds with different details. Or two snowflakes cut from the same sized paper. Endless possibilities for your smallest aritsts.

Supertruck by Stephen Savage

I know, this is turning into a Stephen Savage fan page! But seriously. This book is great for boys, teaching basic shapes, perspective, shadows, and cityscape. So many ideas. Last year we did paper collages inspired by the book.

The Mitten by Jan Brett

This is a fun lesson to teach students about textures and patterns. If you're able to project the book in the room there are some fun hidden images on the pages. We've done scratch art and clay mittens inspired by this book.

Ten on the Sled by Kim Norman

This book pairs well with this lesson that I left for a sub. It worked really well K-5 by tweaking the instructions slightly for the different age groups. You can find that lesson here.

Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner

This is fun and inspiring for a variety of projects. I've done printmaking and landscapes with a variety of grades. One of our favorite things to warm up, is a game of "snowman charades." More info on that here.