15 of My Favorite Lessons for Dot Day!

If you are like me, then you often struggle with those initial first couple of art lessons. I find a theme always helps me get the wheels turning. And The Dot, a wonderful picture book by Peter H. Reynolds, is always a great place to start. 

I've used this book so many times in my art room that I actually had to buy a second copy as I wore the first one out! I read it ever year to all grades on one of those very first days of art. Speaking of, I shared a little of my first day in a blog post a while back...and realized I had not done a follow up post! I'll be working on that this week. 

For now, I thought I'd share my very favorite Dot Day lessons...all 15 of em! Many of these have videos that you are welcome to use in your art room as well as free downloads. As I share, I'll let you know the level of difficulty and time each of these requires. Okay, let's dive in!

Let's Create Round Things!

Let's kick things off with an EASY one (and a lesson that comes with a free drawing sheet and video!) For this one, you'll probably want to purchase the Prang Mixed Media Circles so that you aren't left cutting tons of circles yourself.

After reading The Dot, have students brainstorm and draw as many 'things that are round' that they can think of. Try sliding this free download into a sheet protector so students can draw on it with a dry erase...and save some paper!

Dots on a Dot!

Here's a fun and easy one that can also be done on the round paper: Dots on a Dot! I love to have a stash of colorful dot sticks in my art room because they come in so stinkin' handy this time of year! For my kindergarters, we usually just use one dot in the middle and paint around it with watercolor or tempera cakes. For my older students, I like to allow them to place a couple of dots and paint. They always look so colorful and fun! Lesson plan here!

Kindergarten Dots!

Here's the second lesson I do every year with kindergarten. You can see the little dot right in the middle. I have a video of myself teaching this lesson, including introducing painting to my youngest artists, here!

Dot Day School-Wide Collaborative!

If you have ALL of your students do that same kindergarten lesson, once the painting is dry, try having students cut it into fourths and piece it back together on a sheet of construction paper. THEN...put 'em all together! It truly looks amazing. You can see the lesson details and a look at the collaboration of my entire school here. 

Dot Day Stations!

Probably my all-time fave dot day lesson was this one where my students got to explore a variety of media from walk to marker prints to tempera paint and even spin art! While it was mighty messy with a lot of clean up, it was a blast! You can check out all the details here. 

To make things a little easier, I created short videos to show my students how to create at each station. If you'd like to use those videos or check them out, visit here! 

Printed Dots!

If you need a fast and fun activity, this is it! All you need are pizza pans from The Dollar Tree and some tempera paint. Allow the kids to paint on the pan and then pull a print by pressing paper onto the wet surface. You can find a videos and lesson details here. 

Paper Sculpture Dots!

I took my FAVORITE kindergarten lesson and just made the paper round...and viola! We had ourselves some dots! These are so fun springing from the hallway walls. You can find the lesson for this here. 

Cardboard Painted Dots!

A lesson that I LOVED and did over and again for years was this first grade painted dot lesson. We used cardboard pizza rounds (I found mine at Gordon Food Services) and tempera paint. We began the lesson with the black lines created with either bingo daubers or a paintbrush and India ink. Complete lesson here!

I loved hanging these with paper clips in the ceiling...they always lasted until the Fire Marshall came to visit. 

Coffee Filter Dots!

Of course, making a coffee filter dot is the good ole standby that never fails to look beautiful! However...I do have a word of advice: ALWAYS add the water and allow these to dry on Styrofoam plates. This way, they will retain the color...otherwise, the color will leave the circle and stain the surface below. Details here!

Also! Did you know you can buy those GIANT coffee filters? They are HUGE and would make epically fun dots!

Dot Day Sub Plans!

Need some sub plans OR...just need something simple because you are covering rules and routines with no time for the messy stuff just yet? Try this FREE download! 

Dot Day Weaving!

Feeling adventurous?! Why not try some circle loom weaving for Dot Day? It's actually the painting portion that you could stop at and skip the weaving...these painted plates always look so fabulous and the kids love making them. We use Chinet plates and tempera paint for the best results. You'll be amazed how pretty these turn out! Check the lesson here. 

Sparkly Dot Relief!

My third graders created these one year. They built their dots with Styrofoam plates before covering them in foil and coloring with sharpies. They were so simmery and sparkly in the halls. Details here!

Stitched Dots!

Okay, I only recommend this for small groups or kids who are in fourth grade and up! Once we got the hang of these, it was AMAZING fun and the kids loved it. But, just like learning anything new, there was a learning curve we all had to get over. I did create a video that helped a lot! You can check it out here. 

First Grade Flowery Dots!

Yes, first grade! This big mural hung outside the art room for months, it was just too pretty to take down. You can check out how we made it here. 

Okay...I actually have EVEN MORE Dot Day lessons but I'll leave you to check them out here. 

AND...did you know that I have an email list? I share lots of freebies and lessons there too. To join, just visit here...it will take you to my store with my books but a pop up will allow you to sign up for email.