Sunday, March 30th was Vincent van Gogh's birthday! I love Vincent and the story of his life. He was one of my favorite artists to share in the art room. When I was writing my book Find Your Way, a decide-your-direction art adventure, I knew I wanted to include van Gogh. I wrote Find Your Way to read to my students while they worked...and they were always fascinated with his artwork and his life.
In case you are not familiar with my book, YOU are the main character in the book as the events unfold in real time. It all begins, as most adventures do, in the art room. The reader decides which art adventure to take. When I read this book to my students, we voted on which adventures to go on...and they loved it! I share much more about reading this book to my students here.
In honor of this amazing artist, I thought I'd put together some of my favorite Vincent-inspired art lessons. I also created two FREE downloads just for you and your students to go with their very favorite van Gogh lesson...a James Rizzi and van Gogh mashup!
I always keep sheets like these in sheet protectors because...these kids are messy! You can find the sheet with the silly faces and more details on the lesson here.
Of course, mark making and brushstrokes are always important to chat about when learning about van Gogh. This second grade lesson focused on that while also talking about warm and cool colors.
Here's what the painting exploration looked like after the first day.
These second grade Super Hero Selfies were always a favorite lesson...it's one we did EVERY year! The sky was inspired by, you guessed it! Van Gogh! Lesson details here.
Most recently, I even made some buttons for a sweater and earrings...both from polymer clay. Lesson how-to here.
I'll leave ya with another illustration from my book Find Your Way! The book features 7 different artists, over 80 illustrations, 32 different endings, a biography of each artist and a project inspired by each artist too! It was a labor of love...I hope your students enjoy it as much as mine did!
I Hey, y'all! Have you ever tried doing a crayon batik with your students? It's something that I've seen art teachers do and have always wanted to try but...just didn't seem to know how to make it happen. Do I use ink or acrylic paint? Do the kids rinse it off or wipe it with a sponge? Do I dilute the paint or no?
I decided to give it a go and I will say this: there was a huge learning curve! I tried several methods and came up with what worked best for me.
But! Even if you don't go the batik route, the flower drawing portion of this lesson still yields beautiful results. Says me.
Now, if you don't want to go this route, you could use this flower idea sheet to create this lesson that I did with my second graders. It's always a hit and the results are so stunning:
You can find all the details for that lesson right here! In fact, you can find ALL of my favorite art lessons for spring in that link...and most come with video!
I've always wanted to do a crayon batik lesson. I learned some things along the way and I shared a lot of those tips in the video. But...here are some other things I'd recommend:
* Use thick paper Because this paper is going to be crumpled and then saturated with paint and water, it could tear easily if thin paper is used. I'm using 80 lbs. mixed media paper.
* Work small I learned this the hard way! Because students will be adding color by firmly coloring with crayon, be ready for a little coloring fatigue. A way around that is to use small paper. I used 6" and 4" squares. I wouldn't recommend anything larger!
* Use India ink, not paint I noticed that with acrylic paint, it didn't really stay in the crumbled areas once rinsed where the permanent ink did.
* Crumble the paper ONCE I tried crumbling the paper multiple times to add more cracks and you can see that in the piece that is in the golden frame. However, once I rinsed the ink off the paper, all those cracks caused weak spots in the paper and it did tear in a couple of places. Which leads me to my next suggestion:
* Rinse once and that's it! I would recommend students carry their artwork to you on a tray so as not to drip. Then, simply slide the artwork under the running water, allow the ink to rinse off quickly and then set on a paper-towel covered surface like a counter. This should be a quick process to keep the paper from becoming too saturated and fragile.
And...by the way...the "gold frame" I used for mine is actually a paper plate from Hobby Lobby! I spotted them a while back and had to get them to frame student artwork in!
Also! Are you going to NAEA next week? If so, I'd love to see you there! I'll be hanging out with my friends at Prang in their booth number 117. I'll be there on Thursday, March 20th and Friday, March 21st from 11am - 2pm. I'll have all of my books with me to sell and sign. Prang has some super fun hands-on activities planned for you that I know you'll love!
Hey, friends! I'm coming at you today with a fun lesson that's the perfect thing to introduce collage, ignite the imagination and review shapes...a Sandwich Collage!
I shared a similar lesson years ago and you can find it here. And, if you want to continue on the food theme, I have a whole unit of lessons for you! It's one of my fave themes and you can find details here.
For this lesson, all you'll need is construction paper, glue or a glue stick, scissors and maybe markers and crayons. I created this video for you to play for your students so...have fun!
For a quick link to the supplies I am using, jump over here!
I mentioned that this lesson would be a great way to reintroduce the element of art of SHAPES to your students. When I wrote my book Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes, I wanted it to go beyond the basic shape books I had on hand. So I dug into the first and second grade curriculum on shapes and made sure to include that.
As an art teacher, I focused on geometric and organic shapes. However, in the classroom, teachers talk a lot about sides and vertices. Which...I learned from my students! To support the classroom teachers and continue the education of shapes in the art room, I included the vocabulary and standards in my book.
Because Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes introduces so much, I recommend reading it in two parts! On the first day of the collage project, try reading about how line creates shape, the difference between organic and geometric shapes and what makes a shape. The first half of the book chats about geometric shapes, what makes them unique and how to tell them apart. From there, the book discusses organic shapes. Perhaps that could be discussed on the second day, when the artists focus on the organic shapes of the food they wish to include in their collage sandwich.
By the way, if you are interested in checking out free lessons and downloads, you may want to subscribe to my email list! You can do so here.
And often I share videos on YouTube before I have a chance to chat about them here. So...be sure to subscribe! You can do so here.
That time of the year when your classes may be a little LESS focused and a little MORE squirrelly. For me, that stretch between winter and spring break is always the longest. This is when the burnout always seems to hit me AND my students.
For that reason, I'm always looking to try a little something new and different this time of year. Something (anything!) to keep myself and the kids engaged and excited.
So, if that's you too, let me share my favorite way to create a calm and motived art class...while also integrating art history!
When I was in fourth grade, I had a teacher who would read aloud from a chapter book after recess. I don't remember what the book was but I do remember that it was something I looked forward to.
Several years ago, I had a very difficult group of fourth grade students. They were argumentative, loud and VERY unmotivated. I had one boy in particular who let it be known that art WAS NOT his favorite. I began to dread the class.
One day, I spotted a chapter book in my storage closet. I remembered my fourth gade teacher and thought...what if I read to them while they work? I loved it when I was a kid...
When the class arrived, I told them that I was going to read to them and taht they had to work quietly in order to hear. I animated the story with silly voices, sound effects and movement. When the clean up alarm went off, something wild happened: the kids and I were bummed art class was over!
From there, reading became my constant motivational tool. After I gave directions and students were settled in and working, I would read. And that boy who previously wasn't a fan of art class? He asked if he could sit CLOSER to my destk so he wouldn't miss any of the story.
While I felt like I'd hit the art teacherin' jack pot with this new tool in my tool belt, what I still wasn't lovin' was that I could never seem to find THE PERFECT book to read.
You see, I wanted to read an artsy chapter book. Something that would excite them about the world of art and art history. So...I wrote one!
I knew their favorite types of books were the ones where they could decide their adventure. And that's how Find Your Way came to be. It's a Decide Your Direction Art Adventure!
Find Your Way features 7 artists: Leonardo da Vinci, Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, Augusta Savage, Hokusai, Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet.
There are over 32 endings in the book for countless adventures!
The book is filled with quotes from the artists as well as adventures based on their real life events.
I created over 80 illustratios to help bring the book to life for your artists.
Also included are 7 biographies on each artist as well as 7 art activies.
I wrote Find Your Way while I was teaching. My students weighed in on my first, second and third drafts as I would edit and rewrite in the evenings and weekends. They enjoyed the adventures....and I know your students will too.
But you don't have to read Find Your Way to have an engaged and motivated class. Maybe start with a book or an author that you loved as a kid! I have always found that the best sources for inspiration are my own childhood interests.
Most of all, go easy on yourself, take a breath and have fun. This time of the year is tough! But so are you.
If you haven't, you might wanna! For the last four weeks, I've been sending out weekly free lessons and downloads! So...if you'd like to take advantage, you might want to sign up. And now...back to the program...
This lesson is just the thing to brighten these long winter days. My students always love creating a variety of silly faces. AND this lesson comes with some free downloads which makes it even better! Tap here for the free heart face idea sheets.
After I got such a good response from my Roll-a-Snowman download (another freebie here) , I thought I'd create one for this lesson too. This is the perfect way for your students to practice their heart drawing before diving into the lesson. Grab a copy of the sheet here.
I know one of the toughest things for students is actually...drawing a heart! To remove that struggle, I did create a heart template. This way, you can simply slide it into a sheet protector and let them focus on the drawing activity.
I did share how to draw a heart with simple steps and the rest of the details of this game and lesson in a video too! So...if you need a little break, let me help em out a bit. You can find the video here:
Feel free to use and share in your art making world!
And BIG THANKS to all of you for making the launch of my new book The Paintbrush Ballerina a success! I know when you order the book, you receive an email to leave a review. If you have the time to do that, I would so appreciate it. I read each one and it really means the world to me!
Don't forget, that I created a bunch of FREE downloads to celebrate the launch of my book. Be sure and grab 'em. You can find them here and here.
In case you are not familiar with my book, YOU are the main character in the book as the events unfold in real time. It all begins, as most adventures do, in the art room. The reader decides which art adventure to take. When I read this book to my students, we voted on which adventures to go on...and they loved it! I share much more about reading this book to my students here. 
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