14 of My Favorite Fall Art Lessons

It's officially my favorite time of the year: FALL! I love it mostly because I'm super into Halloween and all things spooky. I also love that the days are finally cooler...but I do hate that I have less daylight time. Regardless! Fall's my fave and this here post is full of my fave fall art lessons...

AND, like usual, these lessons are free and if you tap the link, you'll be lead to the lesson post which has all the details and (usually) a video for you to share with your students. 

So...here you have it: My Favorite Fall Art Lessons!

Let's kick things off with this Van Gogh-inspired haunted house! My students, especially my older ones, LOVE making spooky drawings. All the details can be found right here.

Who doesn't love MONSTERS for this spooky season?! I've got several in this blog post, starting with this one. I created this as a sub plan and my sub and kids loved it! Full video lesson here. 

This lesson was one I came up with years ago that I love doing with my third graders and up! Weaving is always a hit. Here's the video lesson here. AND a book I wrote with all sorts of fibers lessons like this one. 

Can you believe this is first grade?! I KNOW! Lesson with video and contemporary artist connection here!

I always do paper weaving with first grade and sometimes second graders at the start of the school year. This one is always a favorite. All the details here!

These leaves are PRINTED...with markers! An easy and fun printmaking activity that you can find out all the details about here. Complete with lesson video. 

Sunflowers are perfect this time of year. You can find tons of these flowers at Dollar Tree and they are perfect for making these Andy Warhol-inspired prints. 

One of my favorite things for this time of year: BLACK LIGHT. It's spooky and fun and the kids LOVE it! This lesson on monsters where we used neon paint and oil pastels was a hit with my fourth graders. Lesson and video here. 

Need a collage and shape lesson? WITH contemporary artists connections? Here you go!

Back in olden times, we didn't have these fancy things called Gelli-Plates. No, y'all, we had to make our own! And I share how in this post but...I wouldn't recommend it. It's not vegan-friendly. It's labor-intensive. And they don't last very long. So...splurge on those gelli-plates cuz you can still do this process!

Fall is the perfect time to paint landscapes! Here's an oldie (this lesson is almost 10 years old!) but one that I still love. 

Y'all, talk about a throwback: this lesson is from 2012! But it's one I have done for years because the results are always amazing. Check it out!

Do you have a class that's jsut ahead of the rest for some reason?! Need a fun lesson that they'll love? Here you go, video included!

I'll have more Halloween-ie lessons coming at you next week but until then...here's a fun collage project I know your kids will enjoy!

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In the Art Room: Favorite Fall Art Lessons!

Hey, y'all! It's finally fall-ish feeling around here and I thought it would be the perfect time to share with you some of my very favorite fall art lessons! If you follow the links, most of these lessons include videos for you to use in your art makin' world. To kick it off, here is a fave fall lesson of mine: First Grade Woven Owls!

I love this weaving lesson so stickin' much! You can find all the details both in my fibers book or right here in my blog post! 

Here's another fun fall lesson that I did with my first graders but would be awesome with older grades too. This one involved learning about a contemporary artist, painting, collaging and printing. So much! Details here.

If you are looking to create something a little spooky with your kids, I KNOW they will love this van Gogh inspired haunted mansion lesson. 

Marker prints are my favorite! So easy, such little mess and so stinkin' pretty! You can find out all the details on this lesson right here. 

If you need a beautiful fall landscape lesson in your life, then here you go!

All of my students loved creating these Loud Mouth Monsters last year! It rated pretty high on the fave project list. You can find out more and see a video here. 

Of course giving thanks and showing gratitude is always perfect this time of year (and all times of the year, right?!). Here are my three favorite gratitude lessons!

Another fun fall printing lesson can be found here. Instead of creating the printing pans, you can always use Gelli-Plates! 

This lesson I have done with my students as young as first grade! They love it and the results are always stunning. More details here.

I hope these fall lessons leave you feeling inspired. Happy Fall, y'all!  

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In the Art Room: First Grade Woven Owls

 Holy cats, I'm excited to share this first grade weaving lesson with y'all. I do a paper weaving project with my first graders each year and try to put a different spin on it each time. Here's a peak at last year's weavings: 

This year, I knew I wanted to do something a little different. Here's this year's weaving project, owls! Feel free to use this lesson in your art creating world:

What's the hardest part about teaching paper weaving? Creating the paper loom! I've been creating paper looms with my first graders since my first year teaching. So, like, for 100 years. I would like to say, I've got it down. Here's me teaching first graders how to create a loom:

The giant loom is a huge help. Also, that book, The Goat in the Rug, is a must have in the art rom. Here's our follow up lesson where we learn to weave:

I like to have my kids weave in a circle. I love this because it creates this fun atmosphere. It also allows me to sit in the middle of the circle and help those that need it. I also utilize a ton of peer tutoring at this time. Oh, you done? Go help Joe Bob over there, please and thank you.

 Pudgy first grade fingers KILL me, y'all!

 I'd like to take a moment to point out that I merely SUGGESTED rainbow weavings...but did not twist any arms. So pretty!

 The following week, we learned about abstract painting...well, as much as we could in our 30 minutes together. Here's the lesson:

 And here's the result. Not too shabby for 30 minutes and a whole lot of jibber jabbering by me, right?! Eat your heart out, Kandinsky!

 The following art class, we watched some great kid-friendly videos on owls before doing a guided drawing one of our own.

 This coming week, we'll begin to assemble and I'll be sure to keep you posted. I'm so excited about this lesson! I'd love to hear from you if you give it a go!

Until then, have a great week, y'all!

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In the Art Room: Ten Fave Fall Projects for Kids

Happy fall, y'all! Last week I shared with you MY favorite fall crafts...today I thought I'd share my Top Ten Fave Fall Projects for kids! Let's kick it off with this weaving project because it's one of my very faves.

1. Tree Weaving Lesson I usually do this lesson with my students in third grade and up. I developed this lesson after being tired of the same old weaving projects I'd done for years. This video was created for you, as an instructor...but you could totally use it with the kiddos!

You can see more of this lesson in my first blog post right here. 

 2. Fall Landscape Collage This lesson I just recently shared and I'm really excited about it. The kids learned so stinkin' much and had a blast while doing so. I cannot wait to display these in the hall. Here's the instructional video:

My other first grade classes are wrapping these up this week. I am looking forward to seeing what they create!

 3. Positive and Negative Gelli Prints When I initially did this project, I made my own gelli-plates. You can find the recipe here. What I don't love about making these plates is that, well, you have to make them and it's labor-intensive. Not only that, but if you are a vegetarian or a vegan, you will definitely be opposed to using the gelatin that goes into the making of these plates.

The good news is that if you own GelliArts printing plates, you can get the very same effect. And it's so much fun!

 4. Sunflower Gelli Plates Prints with Puffy Paint Nothing says fall to me like Sunflowers. I loved this Andy Warhol inspired project and so did my second grade kiddos...although I think it could have easily been down with my older students as well. 

When we displayed these in a square kind of Warhol-style.

 5. Leaf Relief Another great fall project that introduces kids to texture is this leaf relief project. This is a project that I've done successfully with kids of a variety of ages from second grade on up!

 It looks really fabulous with a painted and textured canvas background!

 6. Painted Fall Landscape Landscapes are always a fave in the fall and this one is no exception. You can find a video with more details of this project right here:

Here's a little more about this landscape here as well:

These were a crowd pleaser and really introduced the kiddos to so stinkin' much that's important to art makin'.

 7. Van Gogh-inspired Haunted Mansion True facts: I LOVE Disney's Haunted Mansion and so do my students. I have a 1969 Disney CD that is the telling of the story of the Haunted Mansion. It's like riding the actual ride: it takes you thru the tale of the mansion. Last year, I had a fourth grade class that was so interested in the story that I based an art project around it! You can check out the details here and the instructional video right here:

The kids had the best time creating these Spooky Starry Nights!

8. Printed Fall Leaves Discovering the magic of marker printing was pretty much a game changer for me and this project makes it so simple and fun. Let's talk about it:

So easy! And one way to use those pesky markers (am I the only art teacher who hates markers?! UGH.)

9. Fall Trees with Warm and Cool Skies So this project was actually done during a study of Asian art...but could so easily translate to fall! You can check out more of these beauties here.

 10. Collage Landscapes of Fall My sweet second graders are getting ready to embark on this project next week. I've not done this one in a couple of years and I'm ready to bring it back...they are so beautiful! This time around, I'll be creating a video so you can stay tuned for that...or just check the blog post here. 

Wow! I'm so excited for all, these pretties have me inspired! What are your fave fall projects? LOVE to hear about them.

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