Larry the Line Printable Snake!

Hey there! If you happened to see my last post, I said that I had a whole lot of LINE art lessons coming your way...and I wasn't kidding! Here's another one! This one is perfect for our younger students and it's a great project if you are short on time or just looking to do a review.

From what you have told me, your students LOVE Larry the Line so it got me thinking: how fun would it be if they got to have their very own Larry?!

With that in mind, I created this totally free download for you to use in your art makin' world!

I thought of a couple different ways you could use this free download: students could create the lines and add color with the medium of your choice, as I did here. By the way, you can find the line sheets here. 

Another idea would be to print a bunch of Larrys on some brightly colored copy paper and let students pick the one they want to add lines to. This would make the lesson shorter and allow more time to focus on lines. Again, the handout above is here.

OR! Use this sheet as an early finisher activity! Slide the sheet into a sheet protector and allow students to follow the steps and practice their line drawing on the sheet protector. At the end of class, they just erase! This would eliminate the cutting portion...which I know is a separate skill that needs to be taught thoroughly! (Which I can help you with here!)

No matter how you use this sheet, I hope you and your artists have fun with Larry the Line! Stay tuned, more to come!

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Line and Pattern Collaborative Painting!

Hey, friends! I'm coming to you today with a lesson that has been rolling around in my head for a while. I know this time of the school year, so many of us focus on LINES and I thought this painting project, that could serve as a school-wide collaborative, would be perfect!

Like my more recent lesson videos, I'm doing a little bit of a teacher-talk at the start of the video to walk you through the prep process. There isn't much but I do think it's important. 

By the way, for A TON MORE line lessons, check out this blog post!

Okay, let's dive in! 

For this lesson, you'll need:

* 9" square paper

* 9" square template if creating a collaborative mural

* Paint-filled bingo dauber, 1 per 1-2 students

* Tempera paint

OF COURSE you're gonna need a copy of my book, Larry the Line, right?!

I find that templates work great and just make one per table! Then the kids can add the tick marks so they know where to start and end their first lines. I think the mural would work best if those first lines were all the same. I decided to use a dark blue.

I've been using the Prang Tempera Paint and really loving how bold and bright the colors are. Looking for a crash course in using tempera paintin the art room? Check out my Top Ten Tips for Tempera Paint here!

If you do this lesson and post on social media, please be sure and tag me, I'd love to see what you and your artists create! Please do not rewrite this lesson and sell on TPT as your own...I hate to say that every post but, it happens!

Have a great week, friends!

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My Top 10 Favorite Line Lessons!

Welcome to my Top Ten Line Lessons!

Since I have been sharing so many LINE lessons on my blog lately (with more to come, yay!), I thought I'd create a blog post with ALL of my very favorite lessons on line. Consider this your one-stop-shop for all things Line-Lesson-y!

Of course, we have to kick things off with The Man, The Myth, The Legend: Larry the Line! All my line lessons begin with Larry so if you'd like to get yourself a copy of my book, you can do so here!

To kick things off, let's start in kindergarten! Right away, we dive into all things LINE by create a line sculpture on the very first day! By the third day, we are ready to put our line knowlege to work with these lines paintings. 

Did you notice in the photo how nicely the artist was holding their paintbrush?! That's because they know all about The Paintbrush Ballerina! This method of teaching painting will totally change how your artists handle their brushes and paint. 

For a little Paintbrush Bootcamp (with free downloads!) visit here!

After these structured paintings where we paint lines across out paper, we dive in with either watercolor or tempera cakes to add color. You can find this line unit here!

This line sculpture lesson is one of my all-time faves AND it's what I teach on my first day with kindergarten artists! I also recommend this lesson if you have to do a teaching demo for a job interview. It's always a hit with kids of all ages!

To take a look inside my art room on that very first day of art, you can watch me teach! Check it out here!

Of course, if you are on a cart or simply don't feel like busting out the paint at the start of the school year (don't blame ya!), you could always do a variation of the line lesson with tempera sticks!

Then you can finish 'em off with these wild and wacky line monsters! For that lesson, visit here.  

And, of course, if you are doing collage with your students, you DEFINITELY need my new book Scissors, Glue and YOU! 

One of my FAVORITE ways to teach lines is with Line-Making Stations! My artists CRANKED out so much artwork in just a couple of 30 minute art classes. Not only did they learn all about lines but a variety of ways to create them! You can read all about that and check out the video and handouts I created for the occasion here. 
Printed lines was a fave! They really popped with black and white paint on black and white paper. Stay tuned to how we used all of these pieces of art!

All ya need is cardboard and some paint! Visit the link for the handout!

I did these stations with my first through fourth graders. Even this cutting station because, let's be honest: they all need the practice!

Here we used our ink-filled bingo dauber. If you aren't familiar, visit this link and I talk all about 'em!

For details on how these looked when finished and for some trouble-shooting tips, visit this blog post!

One year, I did a variation on the kindergarten line sculpture and made it into a school-wide project! We called them our Getting-to-Know-You sculptures!

I created a couple of totally free downloads and my students used them to create a coded work of art! These were so fun to have on display for open house. 

Here's a little look at what the finished display looked like! Tips and tricks for this lesson can be found here.

You could also...turn that sculpture into a HAT! I did my sculpture on a paper plate and then wore it like an artsy thinking cap! For the lesson video, visit here!

Once the paper sculptures are complete, your artists could try their hand at these super fun cardboard line sculptures!

Of course, modeling clay is fabulous for teaching lines. Let me share this sheet with you as well as walk you and your artists through the process here!

Keep the line sheet in a sheet protector and it's perfect as a center for those early finishers or for a line making station!

Looking for a Larry-themed lesson?! Then this new one from my blog is sure to be a hit! You can check it out (with video, of course!) here!

Whatever you do, I hope you have fun AND I hope you have a wonderful long weekend. You've earned it, friends!

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Let's Create Line-Inspired Cardboard Sculptures!

The other day I was brainstorming LINE-themed lesson ideas because I know so many of us use line as our inspiration for our first lessons of the new year. AND I GOT SO MANY IDEAS! I'll be sharing them over the next couple of days so be the first to see them, you might want to subscribe to my email list! 

This project was inspired by one of my VERY favorite lessons: Line Paper Sculpture! I've done that project every year with my kindergarten...and one year, did it with the whole school. It's always a hit!

They always look so amazing. I love having these big, colorful sculptures all over the hallway walls. It's perfect for Open House.

It's made even more fun with a Getting to Know You sheet on hand so parents and family can 'read' the artists sculptures! You can find these free downloads here!

Now for this sculpture, you'll be using cardboard, ink-filled bingo daubers and pipe cleaners. There is a little bit of cardboard cutting that will need to take place on your end...so for that, at the start of the video, I chat you through the process and the tools I recommend:

The first thing you may want is one of these badboys. They are not cheap BUT...I use mine all the time and wish I would have gotten it sooner! It's a cordless cardboard cutter and I love the thing. You can find it here.

I love these cardboard scissors for cutting the notches. In my art room, I was able to get one pair per table. This would mean less notch cutting for you! But it really does go by quickly.

If you can't get your hands on that cordless cardboard cutter, than this Canary knife cuts through cardboard VERY well. I have one of these and love it!

Bingo daubers are my favorite art room tool. I talk about them and all of the lessons I use them with here. To find these, you can visit this link.

And any ole India ink will work. I found this one to be priced well. 

Of course, the inspo for this lesson was my book Larry the Line! You can find it as well as the downloads featured in the video here. 

I can't wait to see what your students create. I know they are gonna love these sculptures. So save those boxes...if your school is like mine, they are all over the hallways this time of year!

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