Why You NEED Modeling Clay in your Art Room!

When I first started teaching my art room had NOTHING in it but a bowling pin, a Leonardo da Vinci board game with the pieces missing, a coffee can of broken crayons and...a TON of modeling clay. I cast the clay aside not thinking I'd ever have use for it. But when my curriculum called for a "clay unit"...and I had no kiln and no budget, this stuff came in super handy. Turns out, my students and I loved it and used it to explore more than just sculpting. It became a vital tool for learning lines, shape, texture and more. Here's how:

I love using modeling clay for early finishers, lesson review, preview to sculpture and more! I created these clay sheets just for you! Please feel free to use them in your art room. 

Also, I know a lot of you need to turn in lesson plans. My friends at Prang created one for you! You can download it here!

To purchase your modeling clay, here's what I'm using. 

Here you go:

This is a great sheet to use to introduce clay to your students! You can find all of these downloads here. 

I use this sheet after introducing line or when I'm doing a line review with my students. Of course, I read my book Larry the Line and this follow-up activity ties in perfectly! You can find my book Larry the Line here. 

I'm closing in on nearly 200 five-star reviews of my book Larry the Line! I love to see Larry in your art rooms...thank you so much! Get yourself a copy here.

Once my students learn about lines, we move on to shape...so I created these sheets so students can see how to use lines to create shapes. These sheets can be found here!

Of course, my book Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes is the perfect companion to these shape sheets.

You can pick up a copy of Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes here!

Thanks, y'all! Enjoy!

Let's Celebrate Vincent van Gogh: My Fave Van Gogh Art Lessons!

Hello, friends! 

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!

The complete lesson with instructional video can be found here. As for the free downloads, just tap the links below the illustrations!

Find the front of the drawing sheet here.

And the back of the sheet here! 

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. 

Since spring is here, doing a Vincent van Gogh inspired cherry blossom painting might be fun too! I have that lesson available here. 

I'm a big ole fan of Charley Harper so this lesson brings him and Vincent together in one super cute and fun lesson. Details with video here. 

There for a while, I was really into crafting this massive masterpiece murals with my students. They are a lot of fun...but a lot of work. When they come together...it's amazing! You can find details on this second grade Starry Night 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.

And here's our final touches with India ink. Full lesson here. 

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. 

Van Gogh also inspired my creations! I created this needle felted light up Starry Night dress and a Sunflowers sweater all thanks to him.

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!