20 of My Favorite Fall Lessons!

Fall is upon us, y'all! Thank goodness as I'm just about over these super hawt Tennessee temps! For the occasion, I thought I'd put together a big ole blog post of my very favorite lessons for fall. Some of these are advanced and would work well with older students too!

To find each of these lessons, just tap on the links. Nearly all of the lessons have a instructional video for your artists and some come with free downloads. As always, these are for you to use with your artists and I provide them for free. PLEASE do not reuse/repackage them and sell them as your own on TPT. I hate that I have to say that...but it happens.

Okay, grab those fall leaves and let's dive in!

Let's kick things off with this here sculpture lesson! These little pumpkins would be fun for any lil pumpkin to create and they are super easy! Sculpt in one class and paint the next. Done! Find the lesson here. 

My students LOVED anything spooky! This lesson is inspired by a contemporary artist. I know your students will also love the paint smearing aspect of this project! Find it here. 

Need a quick in-between-lessons project? Or one that's perfect as a sub plan? Then you may want to try this one with your students!

My students LOVE drawing sheets and love creating silly characters! This sheet (and video!) is totally free! Have students practice draw along with me on a dry erase board before diving in on their own Candy Corn Characters. Find the video and this free download here. 

Oh man! Did my students love this lesson! We used Gelli plates and Dollar Tree sunflowers to print these on bright and bold copy paper. To give them an Andy Warhol look, we used puffy paint for the outline. These are always show stoppers! You can find the lesson details here. 

If you want to share printmaking with your students but don't want the mess...than have you ever tried Marker Printing?! It's so fun and easy! Check it out here, you'll be amazed!

To deck the halls with a little bit of spooky, why not try these big-eyed owls on for size? This lesson incoorporates weaving, collage, watercolor painting and more! You can find the lesson video and details here. 

I'm a HUGE fan of Celluclay! For your older students, they could make a pumpkin head planter! Any plastic planter will work...or even a plastic water jug! All the details can be found here. 

If not a pumpkin, how about a skull?! I loved making this big guy...and the spider palm plant at the top was just so funny! I think I need to add some eyes to him though, what do you think? All the details here!

Did someone mention eyeballs?! All you need for this is plaster wrap, aluminum foil and paint! I made tons of these for my Halloween tree. You can check out the process video here. Middle schoolers would LOVE this!

Aliens and monsters are always fun to create during this time of the year. I love this lesson because students work BIG and use their bingo daubers (you know I love 'em!). You can check out the lesson details here. 

Did someone mention monsters?! These Loud Mouth monsters are inspired by the artist Greg Mike. I also paired it with a lesson for students to have choice in what their monsters could be saying. You can find the handouts for this as well as the video here. 

Looking for some collage lessons?! This one is a riot! I love how all of the Franks turn out differently. Let me walk your artists through the process here!

Here's a lesson I did every year because it was always such a hit!

Need a lesson on painting landscapes? I loved this one and each turned out so colorful and happy. We looked at many fall landscapes and the colors of the fall. You can find the lesson details here. 

One of the most popular lessons on my blog is this one! When I did it, I used homemade Gelli plates which are a total pain to make! So if you have Gelli plates you'll love this lesson...and it will be so much easier! You can find the details here. 

Need a fall collage lesson? I did this one with my first grade and they loved it! We painted, printed and collaged. You can check out the details here.

Need a fun fall weaving lesson? This is it! I would recommend this with small groups if you are working with children in second grade and younger. I did this with my third graders in the spring...so maybe, for this time of year, this would be best suited for fourth grade and up. Lesson here!

More monsters, you say?! Look no further! Here's a lesson I used as a sub plan!

And I saved one of my All-Time Faves for last...this Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night inspired hauted house lesson! All the details here!

And there you have it! Happy fall, y'all!

Marker Print Wreath with Pop-Up Bow!

A couple of days ago, I shared a wreath drawing/marker painting lesson here. As I continued tinkering with this lesson idea, I thought it would be fun to try marker prints on a pizza pan. If that sentence leaves ya scratching your head, here's my video here:

For this, you'll need:

* A pizza pan, a sheet of foil or any non-porous surface for printing

* Crayons

 

* Water-based markers (not permanent)

* Spray bottle of water

* Mixed media paper (paper thicker than copy paper works great...but you could totally use copy paper in a pinch)

To add a little dimension to the wreath, I thought I'd add a little pop-up bow demo. I hope you have fun! 

14 of My Favorite Fall Art Lessons

It's officially my favorite time of the year: FALL! I love it mostly because I'm super into Halloween and all things spooky. I also love that the days are finally cooler...but I do hate that I have less daylight time. Regardless! Fall's my fave and this here post is full of my fave fall art lessons...

AND, like usual, these lessons are free and if you tap the link, you'll be lead to the lesson post which has all the details and (usually) a video for you to share with your students. 

So...here you have it: My Favorite Fall Art Lessons!

Let's kick things off with this Van Gogh-inspired haunted house! My students, especially my older ones, LOVE making spooky drawings. All the details can be found right here.

Who doesn't love MONSTERS for this spooky season?! I've got several in this blog post, starting with this one. I created this as a sub plan and my sub and kids loved it! Full video lesson here. 

This lesson was one I came up with years ago that I love doing with my third graders and up! Weaving is always a hit. Here's the video lesson here. AND a book I wrote with all sorts of fibers lessons like this one. 

Can you believe this is first grade?! I KNOW! Lesson with video and contemporary artist connection here!

I always do paper weaving with first grade and sometimes second graders at the start of the school year. This one is always a favorite. All the details here!

These leaves are PRINTED...with markers! An easy and fun printmaking activity that you can find out all the details about here. Complete with lesson video. 

Sunflowers are perfect this time of year. You can find tons of these flowers at Dollar Tree and they are perfect for making these Andy Warhol-inspired prints. 

One of my favorite things for this time of year: BLACK LIGHT. It's spooky and fun and the kids LOVE it! This lesson on monsters where we used neon paint and oil pastels was a hit with my fourth graders. Lesson and video here. 

Need a collage and shape lesson? WITH contemporary artists connections? Here you go!

Back in olden times, we didn't have these fancy things called Gelli-Plates. No, y'all, we had to make our own! And I share how in this post but...I wouldn't recommend it. It's not vegan-friendly. It's labor-intensive. And they don't last very long. So...splurge on those gelli-plates cuz you can still do this process!

Fall is the perfect time to paint landscapes! Here's an oldie (this lesson is almost 10 years old!) but one that I still love. 

Y'all, talk about a throwback: this lesson is from 2012! But it's one I have done for years because the results are always amazing. Check it out!

Do you have a class that's jsut ahead of the rest for some reason?! Need a fun lesson that they'll love? Here you go, video included!

I'll have more Halloween-ie lessons coming at you next week but until then...here's a fun collage project I know your kids will enjoy!

14 of My Favorite Lessons for Dot Day!

The start of the school year is my favorite time to read and celebrate the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. Not only does it teach our students that everyone is an artist and how to embrace a growth mindset but...Dot Day is a celebration of JUST THAT and it takes place every year on September 15th. Perfect timing!

I have kicked the school year off with MANY different Dot Day art lessons and I thought I would pile them all into one big blog post just for you. From simple one-day lessons to longer format lessons, I've got you covered. Be sure to look for the links and give them a tap. Many links contain (free!) handouts and videos for you to use in your art room. 

Okay, let's get started!

#1 A lesson that I have done FOR YEARS with my kindergarten students is this Dot Day lesson. Right after our First Days of Art sculpture project, we dive into painting! If you follow the link, you'll see me teaching painting to my kindergarteners on their third day of art class. 

I've done this lesson a couple of different ways. Sometimes we paint on cardboard pizza rounds (ya know, cuz they are a circle and all) and other times, like here, we paint on squares of paper. Regardless, we always start with a dot sticker right in the middle.

#2 Last year, I had everyone create a painting the same way as those kindergarten pieces. Once complete, the students cut their paintings into fourths and rearranged them onto another square of paper. Details can be found here. 

Once complete, it was hung as this large collaborative piece!

#3 Last year we also went Dot Day WILD by doing centers. I LOVE doing centers with the kids because it makes it so, in a short amount of time, they bet to experience an assortment of materials and methods. I created short videos to talk them through the centers so they could just go for it! You can see the end result in this blog post. But be sure to check out my methods and videos for how these were created here. 

#4 Dot Day Printing was one of the kid's favorite dot day activities because they had instant masterpieces! All we used were pizza pans purchased at the Dollar Tree and paint! They signed and gave their paintings a name and we strung them throughout the halls. This was a one day activity with a huge impact. 

We also read Little Spot of Kindness which was a great one to read at the start of the school year!

#5 If you teach older students (5th and up) or you just want to dive into a longer-format project for Dot Day, you may want to give this string art lesson of mine a try. Video included in post!

I actually did these at the start of the school year with my fourth graders and they looked amazing for Open House!

#6 Circle loom weaving is one of my most popular blog posts! I think it's because...I found a way to make it easy for kids to learn and enjoy. Even though the blog post is a little bit older, it still has all the video details you and your students need. I've done this lesson successfully with second grade on up. I would recommend that if you do this at the start of the school year, third grade and up is the best age group. 

Even simply painted, these plates are beautiful! Let me walk you through how we make these without the mess of mixed colors and patterns. 

#7 Check out these simple metal relief pieces my third graders created one year! I'm a sucker for Sharpies and foil, y'all. Lesson here. 

So sparkly!

#8 Need a SIMPLE yet BEAUTIFUL Dot Day display? Try this one!

Now let me offer an update for that post: PLEASE when doing these coffee filters, PLEASE...do yourself a huge favor...don't dry them on plastic. Have kids create the dots on a STYROFOAM plate and let them dry on said plate. I would apologize for shouting but this is a BIG mistake I see folks make! When it dries on paper, the color leaves the filter and stains the paper. Then you have a sad looking filter! So...listen to your Mama Cass on this one. I beg of you!

#9 Dot Day Party! Why not throw some huge sheets of paepr on the tables, bust out those metallic art supplies like markers, oil pastels and paint, turn on Emily Arrow's the Dot song and let them create their own dots as they dance around the room?! That's how these were created and used as a backdrop for our giant hallway display. Check it out in the link!

#10 To know me is to know my love of CARDBOARD PIZZA ROUNDS! I buy them in bulk from GFS. Check out the brand called Circle King. I will always love and redo this lesson!

The best part? The fact that we paint on both sides which turns these circles into an instant mobile! Check out the blog post to see how we display them all!

#11 Aren't these DIVINE?! And they were so easy to make! All the details and supplies used can be found in this blog post!

#12 This first grade (yes, first grade!) mural was a big undertaking but we kept it up all year. Can you blame us? We started with these Dot Day inspired flowers. Lesson here!

#13 If Dot Day sneaks up on you OR you go back to school a little later and want to do something quick, this lesson is a fun one and done lesson! And you can find the free handout here!

#14 Why not take your favorite back to school lessons and just...do them round? That's what I did with my favorite kindergarten lesson! 

Then we hung them all together for our display!

So whether you keep it simple or go hog wild, I do hope I've given you some inspiration here!

Love ya!