20 Painting Lessons for Kids!

Hello, friends!

Today I thought I'd put together a big ole blog post of some of my very favorite lessons that both introduce and continue to explore painting with children. So if you are looking for a fun and engaging lesson for kids of all ages, I think you'll find something here. Thanks for dropping by!

But first, I gotta let ya know that the REAL reason I'm sharing painting projects with you is because my new book, The Paintbrush Ballerina, launched this week! 

If you've been hanging out with me for a while, then you've seen me share my method of painting with my students. Here's a little background on how the journey of the Paintbrush Ballerina began:

If you'd like to hear a little big of the book, check this out:

I wrote the book in rhyme as those have always been my most favorite books to read to children. In this story, our paintbrush friend who has been abandoned in a watercup in front of palette tells the tale of the Paintbrush Ballerina. You can read more of the book and see the illustrations here. 

It's tough to watch out students struggle with the most essential art supply: the paintbrush. And it's a real bummer to see the destruction they do to our expensive brushes! So I took everything that I learned from 25 years of teaching art to small children and put it into this book!

If you'd like to see me talking to my kindergarten about how to use their paintbrush, then check out this video here:

If you are curious about my teaching methods and would like to see more, I have a playlist on my YouTube channel called "A Glimpse Inside" where you can visit me as I teach my students. 

Keeping that brush on it's toes is always the goal! Check out this sweet kindergartener doing just that!

Alright, now let's dive into those lessons, shall we? I have no rhyme or reason to the order of these lessons. This is just a big ole smattering of some of my faves!

Let's start with kindergarten who are my very favorite! After learning about the order of the color of the rainbow, we dive into painting our own with tempera cakes. Tempera cakes are a fave in my art room as they are low mess and, low prep and the colors are just beautiful! I'll circle back to this lesson in a moment. 

To see more, check out this painting lesson here. 

Now let's skip forward to third grade. By then, you'd think they'd have a better idea of how to handle their brush. BUT I gotta tell ya, 'tis not the case. Even tho it feels like we say the same things all day long (cuz we do!) we are saying it to different groups of students! So I had the same sayings and phrases on constant repeat...and the bit about the Paintbrush Ballerina was one I always said. AND they always love!

Lesson details can be found here. 

To read all about bingo daubers and why I love them in the art room, visit here. If you've not tried them out in your art room yet...be prepared to fall in love!

When it comes to painting, it can be overwhelming as to where to start! Do I begin with color mixing? Mark making? Introducing white and black to share tints and shades? 

Here's what I've learned: start wherever you like! BUT start with just one thing. That's the easiest for you and your students. So, first things first, begin with how to use the paintbrush! THEN...maybe go with mark-making. I introduced my students to a wide range of color and mark-making ideas to create these beauties. 

Mark making lesson here.

Of course LINE is a great place to start. And I do have a book on LINE...Larry the Line that is!

For many years, this is how I introduced both painting and line to my kindergarten students. By limiting the color to just black (we used a diluted black ink to allow the brush to paint more smoothly), we could focus on just the brush and the lines. From there, we were able to add color!

When it came to introducing color to kindergarten, I usually did that, like I mentioned, the day after our black and white line painting lesson. That's when we did the rainbow paintings. BUT...since I'm skipping around a bit, you'll have to scroll down a pinch to see that first rainbow lessons. 

Many of my kindergarten lessons are born out of "the fast finishers need another something to paint!". And that's what happened here! After painting the rainbow, many students then got a sheet of paper and painting stripes of rainbow color. This served to be the perfect background for these adorable self-portraits!

Complete project here!

So sorry these are kinda out of order. Truth be told, when I try to edit or move images around, they tend to disappear. So...it's easier if you just scroll then if I sprout more gray hairs. 

Rainbow lesson here!

Meanwhile, in first grade, we took the idea of our paintbrush being a ballerina a little further. We listened to music and had her paint across our page!

More info here. You can also check out how we made these into beautiful weavings!

And now...color mixing! These wee Mouse Paint masterpieces were created by kindergarten. The best part...the Hobby Lobby frames!

Mouse Paint lesson here. 

If you are rand new to painting with children then start here! 

This is the VERY first painting project I would do with my young students each year. It all starts with a dot. The Dot to be exact!

Some years, we painted on paper and others, we painted on cardboard pizza rounds (one of my favorite surfaces for painting!).

You could paint on cardboard pizza rounds as my students did here. 

I recently had someone give me a hard time about this...

I shared that often, at the start of the school year, I do the same lesson with all of my students, kindergarten through fourth grade. Why? FOR MY SANITY! I'm usually trying to set up my classroom, introduce a thousand routines and just keep my head above water. Once I have my Back to School footing, I feel good venturing into different lessons with everyone. But, to start, we all begin with the same supplies, same visuals and same lesson. 

This commenter DID NOT like that and let me know. 

Now look, I'm cool with sharing your thoughts and opinions but...there's a way to do it. AND if you aren't an art teacher then...you might just wanna sit it out, you know? 

Regardless! I did THIS same lesson with all students AND put a twist on it so it ended up being a big ole collaborative. So there! ;)

Start with a dot and ...from there, you can go to here!

And it's still one of my favorite collabs we have done!

Or you could paint plates and then turn them into looms for weaving!

Since we are focused on painting today, I'll just be chatting about that. But for more weaving info, be sure and tap that link!

This is the same idea as my kindergarten line lesson but with first grade and on pizza rounds!

Now, let's jump forward to fourth grade! Here's one of my favorite landscape lessons based on folk art. We created these with tempera paint and you can check out more about this lesson here.

My second grade students created these paintings with either a warm or cool color watercolor background. When using watercolor, I often have my students decide if they will use one family of color or the other. This keeps their paintings from becoming 'muddy'.

Full lesson details are here. 

Another spin on that concept of warm versus cool can be found in this spring-themed lesson. 

This lesson can be found here. 

I love a big ole painterly tempera paint lesson! This one was inspired by Vincent van Gogh. I love the cardboard printed trees!

More about this lesson right here. 

This lesson with fourth grade introduced my students to tempera cakes and many different painting methods. We began by painting these stripes of color that were later used to draw buildings in Sharpie. Full lesson on this process, with video, here. 

We used cardboard circles as our base for our snowglobe. I had my students create three sketches first. They LOVED those little small circle paintings so much that we turned THEM into a project too!

Our marble "sketches" were used for a fun and quick follow up project! You can find the details on this lesson here. 

This snowglobe lesson was done with tempera cakes. And glitter...which I don't recommend, ha!

I've done a couple hot chocolate/cup of coffee based lessons (I may be a little biased, I suppose!) and you can find this lesson here!

Let's circle back to the ole bingo dauber, shall we? It's like a Sharpie on steriods!

I LOVE that we can create the most epic contrast with the bold black ink and these bright paints! We are using Jack Richeson's neon tempera cakes here.

All the info is here. 

These looked epic in our Glow Gallery! 

This lesson is always a hit and the kids love it! You can check out the details, including video, here. 

Want to introduce the magic of oil pastel and watercolor paint?

Landscape with pattern resist by third grade lesson can be found here. 

And, of course, if you are in need of some LOVE this season, find this lesson, with video, here. 

If you are looking for more Valentine's-themed lessons, check here for some short lessons and here for longer projects. 

Thanks for dropping by, y'all! Until next time!

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.  

Easy Embroidered Earrings!

I love embroidered earrings! They are lightweight to wear, simple to make and a fast craft. So I made some for Valentines and I thought I'd show you how! Here are the supplies you'll need:

* Felt

* Embroidery floss

* A Chenille needle or an embroidery needle (big eye, sharp point)

* Jump rings

* French hooks

* Scissors

Here you go!

And here are some other tutorials I've made for earrings. Just tap the link to view the blog post and video!

Check out to make these rainbow and color wheel earrings right here. 

And some unicorn earrings here! Have fun!

Pegboard in the Art Room

To know me is to know my love of pegboard. It's a big part of the teacher cart I designed with Prang. It played a huge role in making my sewing room more organized. And it helps keep my painting supplies organized in my crafting space. I would cover the world in pegboard if I had my way. 

Last fall, my instructional space was relocated. The area you see above was my teaching space for many years as that's where maintenance decided to place my television which I use with my document cam. I never understood the location: it was close to my entranceway; it was a small space and it was far away from the view of my students if there were at their desks.

Because that space was too small for children to sit with one another due to social distancing, I requested my TV be relocated to a more centralized spot in the art room. It feels SO MUCH better to have it there (like, it makes so much sense, you can see it here). However, this once-beloved area soon became forgotten and, well, sad. So, over the summer I asked my dad, who was visiting from out of town, to help me hang some pegboard.

It was easy! We had to purchase concrete drill bits and screws and I say it was easy cuz he did it all. We only bought three pegboards but I decided I wanted the whole space covered. So I bought more and my custodial friend Mr. Joe hung the rest.

And then it sat blank and unused for the start of the school year. 

In October, I finally figured out what I wanted to do with it: make it a black and white doodle drawing! I have A LOT of rainbow action in my art room but I like to balance it with black and white. So I used my handy dandy bingo dauber and went to town. Here's the video:

I work on things VERY SLOWLY meaning that I'll do a little here, there, take a massive month-long break...and then finish it off. That's kinda my thing. 

On Amazon you can create your own neon signs, did you know that? It was a splurge but I spend more time in my art room than I do my actual home...so I figured, why not? I love it. Yellow is my fave color and it really seemed to pop. The photos do not do it justice!

So...what's gonna go on the pegboard? Aprons for sure. Dustpans for messes. And everyday supplies that my "store" (the large table where kids go to collect supplies) can't hold like Sharpies, pencils, etc. Not sure! I'll be certain to keep you posted. Thanks for letting me share!