22 Fun Projects to Rainbow-ize Your Art Room!

If you have been joining our book club weekly LIVE chats where we have been reading The Wild Card then you can relate to what I'm about to say. If you've not been joining us here and here, YOU TOTALLY SHOULD! We are a fun group and do not exclude folks who've not read the book. In the chapter I was reading just last night (because y'all know I'm all about catching up on my reading the night before the book club chat!), the authors Hope and Wade King were talking about classrooms that had lost their magic. Rooms with faded posters just barely hanging on the walls, rooms with non-sensical stuff just everywhere, rooms that LOOK EXACTLY LIKE HOW MINE DID THIS TIME LAST YEAR. Seriously! They were describing my art room perfectly. I'd gotten into the habit of just adding more and more clutter to an already clutter-tastic space. When I went in last summer, I was seriously struck by just how junky my art room felt. It really bothered me. I noticed a poster coming down at the front of my room where I gave instruction and I took that as a sign to just TEAR IT ALL DOWN. And I did. I promised myself from that moment on that I was going to Decorate to Educate. And that's what I took a year to do.

My art room is still a work in progress. I still have Early Finisher areas to set up, job charts to figure out and create and just little fussy things that I know would make my art room happier. But the bulk of the work is done...and I'm thrilled with the result. 

I hear from a lot of y'all that you are feeling overwhelmed...especially with the new school year starting. I knew that would happen to me as well. So I made a promise to myself to think of my art room as a big ole elephant that I had to decorate one lil bit at a time. I couldn't do it overnight...and stressing that I should was not going to allow me to enjoy the experience and really decide what was needed. I wanted everything in my art room to serve a purpose: to educate and, of course, decorate. I promised myself to take my time. 

Today I thought I'd share with you my favorite fun projects to rainbow-ize (and energize!) your art room. When you click on the links attached, be sure and check out the timestamp on each of them. You'll see that this was not done overnight but over the course of the year! So...if you feel inspired, just know...you got this!

First, if you've not taken a tour of my art room yet, here you go:

More room tours to come! This will allow me to explain certain areas and aspects in greater detail. This here is an overview. Feel free to drop me any questions in the comments if you have them!

Paint Brush Color Wheel

One of the first things I made for my art room were these paint brushes from wooden oars I found at Michael's. You can check out a complete blog post with how-to video right here. 

I decided to use these to create a huge color wheel in my art room. The blobs of paint were created from cardboard. Everything was hung with 3M Velcro hangers that you can find just about everywhere. I always use the ones that hold 12 lbs. or more.

Here's a view from the area I call Command Central where I do all of my instruction. Another thing I decided to create last year were my ART room rules. 

Art Room Rules

I've been doing a lot of reading on growth mindsets and really wanted to put them into play with my art room rules. These were so much fun to paint...I think that is what I enjoyed the most about redoing my art room, having the chance to create so much!

Pencil Picket Fence

As y'all might know, I got super in to finding things at the craft store and making them into something else last fall. This small picket fence was no exception. Video tutorial included in the link!

Color Mixing Cans

When I spotted these small rectangular canvases as the craft store, I knew immediately that they would make the perfect shape for a spray can. I created a video tutorial to show you how to make your own right here. 

 Crayon Color Families
EVERYONE loves these crayons...especially the kiddos who get to create their own! These are a crowd favorite and are displayed prominently to help my students remember the color families. Tutorial here! 

 The crayon boxes are what I get the most questions about...they are made from cereal boxes! Even my kids created their own box when we displayed them at our school-wide art show! 

Each of the crayons is held in place with a little Velcro dot on the back. This makes the crayons look like they are about to jump right out of the box!

Pencil-tastic Paint Stick Cabinet

I needed just a little cabinet to keep at the front of my art room to hold the art tubs for the classes I would see that day. I popped by the thrift store and scooped up this rather boring black cabinet. With a bunch of pencil-painted paint sticks and hot glue, I made this guy! Video tutorial and details right here. 

Color Wheel Gong

I've had a Clean Up Gong in my art room for years now...and it used to make such an incredible sound. But it was not cute, says me! So I decided to create a color wheel out of it! It is actually my favorite teaching tool as it is so stinkin' big! It also...sadly...no longer makes a fantastical sound as the paint deadened the sound quite a big. You can see more of my gong here. 

Color Coded Trash Cans

Y'all, these were so fun and easy to make! All you need are some trashcans, some painters tape and some spray paint. Easy to follow tutorial right here. 

Crayon Bins

So there are crayon bins like this...but they are not cheap. Turns out making your very one is much cheaper! Now if I could only find that elusive ORANGE bin...seriously, I've looked everywhere! You can learn how to make your own version of these right here.

 Rainbow Ornaments

Did you know you can make an art room ornament outta ANYTHING? Turns out you can! And then use them to decorate your...

Rainbow Tree

Y'all, this rainbow tree from Treetopia was just about the best thing my art room has ever seen. It totally inspired me to go ALL RAINBOWS, ALL THE TIME and it is alway there when I need a smile or a slightly prickly hug. All the details on my rainbow tree and how to get your very own right here.

Rainbow Wreath

No rainbow art room would be complete without the addition of a wreath on the front door. This wreath is also from Treetopia...and decorated by me. The tubes are created from toilet paper tubes and the brushes were just recycled. More details including a video tutorial right here. 

Small World Mural

I did paint my share of murals in my art room this past year and this Small World themed one is one of my faves. My kids love how happy and colorful it is...and I love being able to refer to it for shapes! More details here. 

Rainbow Trippy Mural

Of course, the other mural I painted this year was this beast. I had so much fun creating this backdrop...and balancing it out with a "calm" curtain and a wild rainbow flooring. All the details here. 

 ROY G. BIV Paintbrushes
If my kiddos leave my art room and STILL don't know the order of the colors in the rainbow then, y'all, I just don't know what. This one was SO EASY! Just paint brushes, some letters and Duct tape. Video tutorial right here!

I mean...c'mon!

Tints and Shade Sign

This one falls into the category of NO WOODEN ITEMS AT THE CRAFT STORE ARE SAFE FROM CASSIE category. In case you didn't know there was one. 

Gradation Sign

As does this one! Oh my goodness...it's a good thing I'm outta wall space.

Color and Line Rainbow Wall

LOVE this resource for referring to line names! Another easy one to accomplish with just Duct tape.

 Alphabet Cabinets
I love having tons of cabinets...but I've always hated the way the look. I don't want to paint them tho...I mean this won't be my art room forever...and I'd hate to ruin the beautiful faux wood (ahem) that are my cabinets. So this seemed liked a fun way to fix that drab brown wood. 

I've since decluttered that hot mess at the top of my cabinets!

 Early Finishers Rainbow Stuff
Seriously, y'all, nothing was safe. I spray painted these pots AND flowers in rainbow colors. They are used both in still life drawings and when my kids finish early and want to draw from observation. 

Even my wooden models and dollar store dinos got a make-over! These are also in my early finisher drawing area.

 Happy Little Signs -n- Stuff
These random bits were created just to further decorate, educate and promote kindness with color. You can spot all of them with details here. 

 Who doesn't love a good chalkboard?!

 The things I find at the flea market! This mermaid had to get a makeover before coming to my art room. The canvas was a new one painted by me as a message to my students as they come and go.

More thrift and flea market finds! I even rainbow-ized my class tubs!

Rainbow Seat Sacks!

While Dollar Tree had some seat sacks...they didn't one one in each color of the rainbow. So I had to make my own. Here's how!

WHEW!! I just went back and counted 22 rainbow-ish things?! I hope you find some that inspire you!  

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Art Teacherin' 101: Episode 14

My very first art teacherin' gig was in Nashville over 15 years ago. I was hired the weekend before school started and I was COMPLETELY CLUELESS. I had absolutely no idea where to begin when I was given the keys to my portable. The only evidence of art teacherin' that I could find was a sad stack of curriculums (shudder), worn SchoolArts Magazines (which I poured over) and a coffee can of broken crayons. I must have turned around and around in that little space a dozen times trying to figure out just where to begin. I stayed up until 3am creating the most beautiful Vincent van Gogh rules posters thinking that the rest would take care of itself. Um. It did not.

If I had known then what I know now, I woulda said that getting ORGANIZED is the most important way to start your art teacherin' life. I don't mean getting that storage closet all tidy or having every bottle of paint in a perfect row, that's all surface stuff that can be whittled away over time. I'm talking about getting the important parts organized: your class lists, your schedule, your lessons and your yearly plan. Once you have that squared away, you'll be able to breathe so much easier and will have a more enjoyable time getting the rest in order. 

Organize Your Day-to-Day: I recycle the same stinkin' 5 folders each year. My schedule changes every day. For my sanity, I print out a copy of each day's events and tape it to the front of each folder. Inside the folder is a class list of who I'll see that day as well as my seating charts. I pull this out each day, sometimes placing a sticky note of some topics I need to touch on with each class on the front. This works fabulously for those days I'm out sick as well as it makes my sub's life so much easier.

Organize Your Student's Art Work: I keep those bins that I shared in the clip handy to organize student work. One thing I failed to mention in the video is that I have my tables organized by color, for example: red table, orange, etc (the video below gives you a room view). I have a folder for each table. At the start of art class, I'll hand a student who sits at that table the folder which they then take back to their seats. From there, they pass out the artwork to their table mates. At the end of class, they collect artwork, return to the folder and put back in the bin.

Organize Your Teaching Life: It's more than just lesson planning, y'all. What I love about my friend Laura's planner is that it covers EVERYTHING. There are lesson plans, a calendar, a day-to-day planner, a monthly agenda, To-Do Lists, like, everything. Because your teaching life is not just lessons. It's knowing what is going on in the seasons, throughout the school, in other areas of curricula. Having all of these things organized in one binder will really save your sanity. Lemme show you how I use mine:

 My school calendar has less items on it than my personal one...although, at school, I do have them open side-by-side. I love how big that calendar is so that I can really scrawl my notes all over it. 

Because I use Laura's template's to write out my lesson plans, what I write on my weekly teaching schedule is an abbreviated version. What I really find to be important is documenting what happened during a particular art class. This helps me to know how to better approach the class the next time I see them. For example, if one class needs to rework their self-portraits or needs a vocabulary review, I like to write that down while it's fresh on my mind. Otherwise, as you know, goes right outta our crazy lil heads. 

Organize Your Personal Life: I'm telling you, I am The Keeper of the Notebooks. I used to have a notebook that held EVERYTHING from school stuff, personal goals, sketches, art, you name it, this bulging lil book held it. Those kind of books always wore me out because it held TOO much information. So I switched to a notebook for each of my different interests: sewing, drawing, ideas for school, ideas for crafts, etc. My purse became a pull-behind suitcase to cart around my library of books. When I discovered that wee 3-ring bound book at Target it was like the heavens opened up and the angels sang. I bought the tabs, the folders, the calendar and everything that went along with the binder. It's small enough to throw in my big ole purse but big enough to hold my thoughts. I can't recommend y'all get one enough!

Once you've got your art teaching ducks in a row THEN you can indulge in the icing on the cake: the decorating! Here's the tour of the art room I have shared with my students this week. Like I said, seeing other teacher's rooms can be so intimidating. But all that decorating comes with time. Be easy on yourself, take your time, be thoughtful as you plan and just know that these things will happen. 

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