16 of My Favorite Watercolor Lessons!

Hi, friends! 

Since I recently shared a tips and tricks video on all things watercolor paint, I thought I'd dive in with my very favorite watercolor lessons of all time. I have 16 of 'em just for you but before we get to those...I thought I'd share some of my all things watercolor.

Let's start with PAPER! If you'd like to check out the blog post on paper, visit here.

Now let's talk supplies! You can find my list of supplies right here.

For ALL of my watercolorin' tips and tricks, check out this video here!

If one of the things your students struggle with is BRUSH CONTROL (or just not abusing those poor paintbrushes!), might I recommend my Paintbrush Ballerina method? You can kick things off with my book The Paintbrush Ballerina and then dive into my free downloads!

First, I recommend using these (totally free) downloads. Slide them into sheet protectors and allow students to practice their brush control with just water. I'll show you what I mean and share the downloads here.

Once complete, students can 'graduate' to painting with watercolor paint in these fancy frames...and even earn a Paintbrush Pro certificate! Those downloads are here.

Now let's get to those lessons!

In my Tips and Tricks video, I share that one of my favorite things to do is create customized watercolor trays. I like to have a warm and a cool tray on hand as that allows my students to explore with watercolor paint without the messy/muddy paintings. Warm and cool colors are analogous which means that they not only sit next to each other on the color wheel but...they also look great when mixed! 

For this second grade lesson, students had to decide which they wanted to use: warm or cool. Then we traced a circle and created this sunset or sunrise scene.

Once dry, we created these silhouettes with India ink. You can find the lesson details here!

And see how we wrapped up the lesson here. Aren't they so pretty?!

Here's an oldie from over 10 years ago but LOOOOK how pretty! This is a similar process to painting the background with an exploration of Ming vases. Details here.

This one might be my favorite!

Another example of my students using the customized watercolor trays is this kindergarten rainbow lesson!

If you'd like to see my introducing watercolor paint to my kindergarten friends, visit here!

Now this lesson is usually one I do with tempera cakes BUT you could also do it with watercolor paint. It's the perfect rainbow follow up lesson for kindergarten (or any grade!). Lesson here!

So precious, I would frame it!

For another rainbow lesson, check this one out!

Now I never did a blog post on what we did with those rainbows but...I do have the evidence! I did this lesson EVERY YEAR (which is wild I never blogged about it) and they always made me so happy. We created the sun and cloud images and added them later. We used blue chalk to add color to the sky before we added the cloud and the sun.

Exploring abstract painting is always fun...especially when you can tie it in with the combo of crayons or oil pastels and watercolor. They always look so fab together! This could also be a super fun LINE review. Which seems like the perfect time to reread my book Larry the Line! Find this lesson here.

What do you do with the abstract paintings? Well, you could just admire their beauty OR...use them for weaving! Details on first grade paper weaving here!

Now I don't think I ever created a lesson on this one (my googling turned up empty handed) but what we did with the weavings was create these fun houses! To do this, we painted with tempera on a large sheet of paper a sky and the ground. Once dry, we cut out a house silhouette and glued it over our weavings. Early finishers had fun learning how to do a little bit of stitching!

Here's a spin on pattern making and resist! My first graders created these and you can find out how here. 

I love this lesson for learning how to do a fun wet-on-wet technique. In the video, I'll walk your artists through the process and they will love the magic! 

Once dry, students can use permanent markers to create floral designs on the watercolor paint. Find the lesson and the free download right here!

One of my VERY favorite things to do is create these texture cards for use with oil pastels and watercolor. I've created several vidoes on how to create these but...it's so easy! Just use tag board and glue to draw some line designs. I used the line ideas I created in Larry the Line.

To create them quickly, I cut a ton of those little cards and laid them all on a table before attacking them with lines drawn by my glue gun. Then my kindergarten friends used oil pastels to create texture rubbings!

From there, they painted over the texture rubbings with watercolor before using ink filled bingo daubers to add an alphabet. This lesson is always a hit! Also...those texture cards will last FOREVER. I made one set and used it for over 10 years! Lesson details here.

This lesson was created for a sub to use and the kids LOVED it! This one comes with a video and a free download. You can find it here!

The download is actually here! I just love this lesson so much!

Check out this fun one! This could be the next step in the house lesson  where your artists create little pop up houses. The most fun was in created the patterned background. Lesson details here.

Okay, so I didn't realize I had a thing for house lessons! The little road was my favorite part of this project. Find the lesson details and video here.

I love a lesson that ties in a couple of concepts. This one explores LINE (featuring Larry!) as well as the wet-on-wet watercolor technique. You can find the full lesson here.

I love a fun and funky art project and this one, which is also a shape review, is just that. You can find the video lesson here. 

Another shape lesson is this one! Both of these lessons are based on my book Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes!

Read more »

All Things Watercolor in the Elementary Art Room

Hey, friends! 

I don't know about you...but when The Countdown to Summer begins, I often start thinking about my life choices...aka How I Wanna Do this Art Teacherin' Thing Differently Next Year. Anyone else? So it's with that in mind that I thought I'd share with you my FAVORITE watercolor tips and tricks for the elementary art room. Here ya go:

These tips and tricks come straight from me having MANY moments in my art room where I saw something that made my left eye twitch and I paused to think:

What the heck did I just see?

AND who are these kids' art teacher cuz she needs to do SOMETHING. 

And that's when I realize...oh yeah. It me.

Now I've chatted MANY times about watercolor before. Having seen so much in my 25 years in the art room, I was always trying something new. So I can assure you, these are my sure-fire wins. 

As far as supplies goes, I have my list of favorite things right here, just for you! Now, like I mention in the video, I do work with Prang so that's why my supply list is Prang heavy. HOWEVER...they are also the only brand on the market that sells refills! And sells those empty trays (which I pushed hard for! So I hope you love 'em!) so...there's that.

Now I will be coming at you later this week with my very favorite watercolor art lessons. Watercolor is the perfect thing this time of year: it's low mess/low stress and everyone loves it! That is...if you give these tips and tricks a try.

And if you're still in the mood to fine tune your art teacherin' world, might I recommend this book? Last summer, I sold out! Which I think is because...summer is when everyone starts thinking about ways to improve their upcoming school year. 

ALSO...did you know that if you and your friends do a book study of my book, you can reach out to me for a zoom chat? Yep! I've done many with school districts and it's always a blast! I'm at cassieart75@gmail.com.

Happy May, friends!

Read more »

Let's Talk Watercolor! 12 Watercolor Tips and Tricks!

Watercolor is a staple in the elementary classroom and art room BUT...it can be a bit of a headache. I recently saw on an art teacher's Facebook group a teacher sharing a brand new watercolor tray completely demolished in just one painting session (well, demolished is an exaggeration; all watercolor trays can be cured with a simple rinse at the sink). It reminded me how much I have learned from teaching art after a million years...and all that I learned about teaching watercolor paint to kids. So I put all of the tips and tricks I could think of (I'm sure I missed some!) in a video. I'll list them below but if you wanna just watch then...here ya go!

Tip #1: Ditch those cases! 

I kick off the video sharing super cute vintage watercolor cases and then...I tell you to ditch the case. Trust me! You will save the sanity of dealing with messy watercolor cases. AND it will help the paint to dry between use. 

Tip #2: Remove black, brown and white!

THIS IS A GAME CHANGER!! Trust me on this one. You will send me letters, flowers, hugs and well wishes when you do. 

Tip #3: Customize your paint trays!

I have a rainbow tray, a warm tray and a cool tray. I want to create a flesh mixing tray too. 

Tip #4: Only buy refills!

So a big brand art supplier STOPPED making refills for their watercolor trays. I KNOW. However...my friends at Prang STILL DO! Hooray! You can check out all of my recommended watercolor supplies as well as those refills in my Amazon store! 

Tip #5: Use trays!

They capture the mess and make transport of supplies easy for you and your students. Need a supplier for trays? See my Amazon link...OR...check Dollar Tree's website! I often buy those trays in bulk on their website; I never see them in their stores. 

Tip #6: Try dog dishes!

I did add a link to these in my Amazon store BUT you can find them cheaper at Dollar Tree. These I actually do see in the stores!

Tip #7: Use wake up juice!

This might be the kids' favorite trick. They LOVE Wake Up Juice! They think it's so funny and my older kids love to use it independently. 

Tip #8: Teach proper brush care!

Isn't that the worst?! Seeing your precious paintbrushes ground to bits? Not to mention your paint pans demolished?! Try teaching a couple of my hacks: Ballerina Paintbrush and Pet the Kitten.

Tip #9: Cleaning the brush!

Nothing muddies up a paint set like not cleaning the paintbrush correctly. Get a sponge for this and thank me later!

Tip #10: Explain translucence!

So that kids know the difference between watercolor paint and tempera, you may want to explain the difference between translucence and opaque. 

Tip #11: No waster watercolor!

I'm getting tired of typing so check out the video on how I use every last drop of watercolor paint!

Tip #12: Let the paint dry out!

I share my simple hack for letting paint dry completely between use.

Now, I have chatted about watercolor paint in the past. You can see my video about watercolor here. And if you want to see me teaching watercolor to my students, you can check out this playlist! Or check out the one called A Glimpse Inside on my YouTube channel.  

Read more »

Introducing Kindergarten to Watercolor Paint!

How do you introduce watercolor paint to your students? We are heading into our third week of kindergarten in art class (or is it our fourth?! I think it's our fourth!) and we have already tackled our first and second art projects. With kindergarten, we move quickly through lessons! We are now going into our unit on line. In the past, my students painted lines with paintbrushes and ink. This year, we created them with ink-filled bingo daubers. I created a couple of short videos on that which you can find under my Reels tab on my Instagram. 

This is the same routine I use to introduce (or reintroduce) all of my students to watercolor. I also keep a spray bottle on hand that I call Wake Up Juice (in keeping with the theme of "waking up the paint") which I spray when the paint becomes tacky or dry. Here's our introduction...and a glimpse inside my art room with kindergarten:

I am updated my YouTube a lot...I've neglected it a lot! I have gotten hooked on creating short videos for Instagram...but will be updating my YouTube and my blog frequently. Be sure and subscribe to my YT so you can stay up to date!  To learn more about watercolor paint in the elementary art room, check out this blog post. 

Read more »