All-About-Me Line Portrait Painting Lesson!

Hi, friends!

If you are like me, you like to kick off the school year with a couple of things: a getting-to-know-you style project and...a return to the elements of art with an intro to LINE. Which got me thinking...what if there was a lesson that could combine BOTH?!

And...so here I present to you...the All-About-Me LINE Portrait! (complete with two totally free downloads!)

So now...I wanted to share with you some ways for you to adapt this lesson to other grade levels. Let's start with the younger students like first grade. For them, I would consider using this lesson with just the emphasis being on learning and drawing lines. So after creating the border and the grid, have students draw a line inside of each box. 

In the video, you might have seen me reference one of my Larry the Line downloads. You can find those here. For my book, Larry the Line, visit here!

For students in second and third grade, you may want to consider using this (totally free) download!

With this, students can draw lines that tell a little about them. When displaying their work, consider creating a large version of this sheet to hang with the artwork! It's perfect for Open House as the students can share it with their families and really spend time talking about their artwork. 

This lesson was inspired by another lesson of mine...one called Getting to Know You paper sculptures. This is a perfect tie-in! If you have other grade levels that you are looking for a lesson for, you might wanna check it out!

Teaching paper sculptures the first weeks of school is MY FAVORITE THING EVER...so I'm a big fan of this lesson, with or without the idea sheet!

I also did a version of this for when my students create sketchbook covers! For this, we used tempera sticks. You can check out those details here.

PERSONALLY...I think THIS would make an amazing sketchbook cover! I plan to share more details on that idea soon but...imagine this folded in half and filled with paper and amazing artwork. So fun!

Now, for older students, you might want to allow them to fill out their own sheet! So I created a blank version and you can download it here.

Print these on colorful copy paper and display them next to the paintings for a real pop of color!

Now let's chat supplies I used:

* Ink filled bingo dauber

* Tempera Paint

* Ice cube trays for the paint

* 12" X 18" 80 lbs paper

* No-Spill water cups

* Paintbrushes

If you are looking for some pointers when using tempera paint, check out this blog post with my top tips and tricks!

As an alternative to tempera paint, I also demonstrate how to use watercolor paint! This works well as does tempera cakes. So...if busting out the tempera paint isn't something you are in the mood to do the first couple weeks of school, you could always try watercolor for less of a mess!

Enjoy and STAY TUNED! I have a ton of LINE lessons (and more!) coming your way! The best way to stay up to date is to join my email list! You can do it here.

Read more »

In the Art Room: Getting to Know You Paper Sculptures

Hey, friends! Today I'm sharing what my students, all of 'em, kindergarten through fourth grade, are working on to kick off the school year. I am calling them our Getting to Know You Sculptures!

If you follow me on Instagram, than you know I've been sharing a lot of info about this. I've gotten a TON of requests for the sheet...so I thought I'd share it with you.

I know this sheet has been unavailable for some time...the link has been fixed! You can get two sheets now! 

Here's one!

Here's the other! 

I wanted to create a lesson that the kids would love, would be easy for all to be successful at and help me out...I have to be absent for the next couple of days. So I knew I'd want something that would be easy and fun for my sub. I created a video for my sub (I always do...it just makes for much smoother sailing) and I thought I'd share it with you...just so you could see how I explain this lesson to my students. 

Note: I WILL NOT be using the sheet with my kindergarteners. Here is the lesson that I do with them...very similar but without the sheet of paper as their guide:

So far the kids have been LOVING this project and I am enjoying getting to know them! They've also been chatting to each other about why they picked what and it's so fun to hear them talk about it. I cannot wait to share with you how this lesson will progress...so stay tuned.

You might have noticed that I DO NOT use glue bottles. You can find out why here. 

Not gonna lie, storage is gonna be an issue until we get these hung up! I'm having some classes do theirs on a white background 12" square paper and others on black. For open house night, I plan to hang them in a checkerboard patter. The strips of paper are cut frmo copy paper.

In an attempt to stay organized, I'm keeping them clipped according to table colors. 

PLEASE NOTE...I love sharing lessons with you all and I do so for free. All I ask in return is that, if you use ANY of my lessons, please give credit where it's due. If you share on social media, please let folks know where you go the lesson from...this way they can benefit from the free resources as well. THANK YOU!

Read more »