This Paul Klee/Mary Blair-inspired shape lesson was apart of a rotating stations that I did with my students. For my first thru fourth grade, my students rotated from station to station making a variety of shape-inspired art. These castles were one of the stations. The following art class, we added color and designs to these castles. You can check them out here!
Looking to dive into a little printing? This lesson is one I do with my kindergarten students but kids of all ages have enjoyed it! All you need are some foam stickers and a large foam shape for the background. I found these hearts at the dollar store but I've also used foam stars too! You can check out this lesson here.
Here is a little look at the printing plates created with stars in the background. This was apart of my shape making stations! Details on that here.
After students are finished printing with their plates, the plates can be turned into some super cool metal art! You can check out that process here.
If you are interested in doing elements of art stations in your art room, I made a video to walk you and your students through the process. You can find it here.
During 2020, I did a series of videos on robots...that all feature the element of art of SHAPE. This first one is all about drawing robots and using shapes. You can find that video here.
Did I mention that there are several TOTALLY FREE downloads? Yep! Check them out here!
I always love doing collagraphs with my students. Start hoarding those cereal and snack boxes as that cardboard is thin and easy to cut. These can be created by doing crayon rubbings as I did here or you could use brayers and printing ink. Find the video lesson here.
You could also take it in a totally different direction by covering the collagraph with foil and doing marker prints! This type of printing is always one the kids love! Details here.
If you've been hangin' around this blog for a while (I thank you!) then you might know that I love to make my own clothing. It started with a desire to craft clothing to teach a lesson in (a la Miss Frizzle) and then morphed into wanting to make everything in my wardrobe. One thing I never seemed to be able to accomplish: Designing my own fabric.
Well...when my book Larry the Line came out, I was able to do just that! But it was easy as the pattern from the book was a stripe pattern. So it naturally repeated making for the perfect pattern.
However, there were no stripes in my new book Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes. So I thought it would be a good time to learn how to design my own fabric. I was so excited with how it turned out! When I shared it on my Instagram, I promised I'd give a tutorial...and, so, here we are!
I hope this helps!
Now I always get dress-making questions too...which I share a little about in the video. However, I'm no dress-making expert. I just know what I like and what works for me.
For the bodice of my dress, I use a vintage Simplicity pattern #4343. If you search around on eBay or Etsy, you may find it. For the bottom, I use a circle skirt pattern and always add pockets.
Creating a pattern was very hard for me to comprehend initially. So I thought I'd kick the video off with a little Post-It tutorial. I hope that helps!
And, of course, if you'd like a copy of my book, Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes, I'd love to sign one and send it your way! You can find my books here. And THANK YOU for supporting my small business! I'm an independent seller so...I'm the author, illustrator, social media person, shipper, handler, you name it!
When I was in art teacherin' school, I could have really benefited from a class about how to read books to kids. I thought that if the story was good, the kids would just listen and enjoy. Oh no...there's so much more to reading a book to children and keeping them engaged! So that I would never forget, I created an acronym: SIMPLE. And in this video, I walk you through it!
Reading and engaging students with books is a fine art but...I've cracked the code! If you follow these easy steps, you'll have em hooked and saying what every teacher wants to hear: READ IT AGAIN!
The weather here in Tennessee has been hinting that spring is on the horizon! Of course, if we all wait a good 15 minutes, then that will change but, for now, I'm embracing the notion of spring! And, with that in mind, I thought I would put together a blog post of my very favorite art lessons for this time of the year.
Be sure and tap the link I've created for these lessons. Many of the lessons contain free hand-outs and/or kid-friendly videos. I know this time of year, before spring break, is exhausting. I do hope to help you out a little bit!
Okay, let's get started...
This first lesson is one I loved doing with my second grade students in the spring. We used HUGE pieces of paper, ink-filled bingo daubers and were inspired by the contemporary artist Heather Galler. Once our drawings were complete, we added color with liquid watercolor.
Seeing these large and colorful beauties in the hallways always brightened our days!
Of course, what better way to celebrate spring than with CLAY! My third graders spent a couple of 30-minute art classes creating these. This lesson was posted to my blog before I created video content...so that lets you know it's an oldie! But I do share step-by-step photos...which would be perfect to print out and provide for students.
This lesson could also be done with air dry clay! I shared that in my book Clay Lab for Kids which is FULL of 52 clay projects for those who do not have a kiln!
If you do have a kiln...I've got a lotta videos and blog posts all about clay. If working with clay frightens you a bit (trust me, I get it. I melted down a kiln once at the expense of $500...so, I GET IT), you might want to start here.
Since we are on the topic of clay, another fun lesson for spring would be these clay butterflies!
Not only are these super fun to create but also super fast! My kindergarten students created these butterflies in just one 30 minute class period!
If you are looking for more kindergarten clay lessons, check out this blog post where I put 'em all in one place!
Since we are on the topic of butterflies...check out these created by kindergarten! My other students were so interested in this lesson (and loved the printing process) so much that I ended up doing it with multiple grade levels.
A couple years before that, I did a similar lesson with second graders but used chalk for the wings. I thought they turned out so pretty! Lesson with video here.
The trees are already starting to blossom here so that means it's the perfect time for THIS lesson! I did this one with second graders when we were learning about Japan and each turned out so beautiful!
Got teachers asking for lessons for Mother's Day? This is one that my kindergarten students created that they loved! You can find the lesson video here.
In the mood for printmaking? My students LOVED creating these Warhol-inspired prints. We used sunflowers I found at Dollar Tree but real flowers would be fun to use too. Of course, when I busted out the Puffy Paint, that's when the real party started! Full lesson with video here.
Each printing plate yields two of these gorgeous prints!
Bringing nature inside is always fun! I've done so many variations of this leaf relief lesson and it's always a hit! You can find all of the details here.
I love this one with the watered acrylic painted on top!
Bright and cheery landscapes are always fun this time of year! A great way to review color mixing and mark making too. This was a hit with my fourth graders.
My third graders really knocked it outta the park with this lesson! They loved creating the details on the vases. I loved watching them explore warm and cool colors for their backgrounds. This lesson can be found in detail here.
In the mood for some fibers lessons? I'm not gonna lie: this project took A LONG TIME. So if you need something to carry you through to spring break...this might be it!
I promise this lesson won't take nearly as long...and the kids will love it! Especially once they get the hang of weaving. Video lesson here.
So...this lesson is labor intensive because you do have to put the mural together...but when I do large murals like this, they stay up for as long as the walls will hold 'em! This was hung at the start of the school year and left up until the end! Full details here.
Of course, the idea for that mural came from this one! I created this spring-y mural for Dot Day but I think it would also be fitting for spring. All the details here.
And there you have it! Over 20 art lessons for spring. I hope you find something here that you can use or are inspired by!
In case ya missed it...I wrote a children's book! Larry the Line can be found right here. This 48-page rhyming book for kindergarten up to second grade (and beyond!) will introduce all lines to students in a fun and engaging way. I promise, you'll love it!
AND...I've not told anyone this yet so...STAY TUNED! This is a series of books on the Elements of Art and the next installment is coming SOON (I'm so excited!).
If you've not checked out my other book Art Teacherin' 101, you might wanna! You can find the details here, just scroll down.
