Top 12 Art Lessons on SHAPE!

For your older students, like 3rd and 4th grade, this lesson is a great way to not only review line and shape but also...color! This lesson is one that I do every year as a fundraiser. The results are always absolute show stoppers. HOWEVER...I no longer make black glue that I mention in this lesson. You can, of course, but it's a total pain! So...be sure and check out this hack on that here as well as my tips and tricks for using chalk in the art room.

Looking for a fun and colorful painting project to teach students about geometric and organic shapes? This one is so fun and the results are so happy! You can check out the full lesson (with video!) here.

No bingo daubers? No problem! Check out how we did this lesson with kindergarten before I had bingo daubers!

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. 

I also did a variation of this lesson with my older students as they learned about shape and radial symmetry! You can check out the lesson and video 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!

Collage is the perfect way to introduce students to shape! You can find the video lesson for this robot collage project 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.

Looking for a fun LINE and SHAPE review that also ties in with this spooky time of the year? I have a lesson for you then! You can find the full lesson video and lesson details here. 

Looking for a fun shape sculpture lesson? This is a fun way to not only use up some scrap paper but also...it's a nice follow up to my line sculpture project! You can find this lesson video here. 

AND...if you are looking for the perfect book to share with your students as they explore shape...have I got it for you! Check it out here, friends, and have a great week!

Outer Space Week!

Who is as excited for Outer Space Week as I am? I'm thrilled to share the line-up of art projects that we'll be creating this week. I'll be LIVE on my Instagram and my Facebook page every weekday at 11am CT. If you miss out on any of the live art classes, not to worry! I archive each lesson to my YouTube channel. By the way, I've been adding a ton of new videos nearly every day so you might want to go ahead and subscribe so you don't miss out! 

Okay, here's the line-up and supply list for each day! 

If you don't have the ingredients to make the clay then Play-Doh is an excellent substitute. Any clay will work! 

"Take me to your leader!"...that's what my alien would say. What would yours say? This fun pop out is so silly because you can make your alien TALK! This process is also great for creating other moving and talking cards and pop-ups!

Here's something you can create and then interact with once complete. Tell stories, write plays, come up with your own universe! 

This is such a fun process. If you've been creating with me for a while, you might remember we did a project using this method for Robot Week! 

Big thanks to our sponsors! Dixon Ticonderoga supplies me with the most incredible art supplies on the planet! And Art to Remember allows us to create a gallery of our own artwork on line...which can be shared with family members and even printed on a multitude of items. Thank you so much, sponsors!

Dinosaur Week!

I can't believe we are heading into our fifth week of LIVE online art classes! When I started this adventure with Robot Week, I didn't have any idea or plans to continue. But so many of you have joined the fun and, honestly, it's been such a joy for me that I don't see signs of stopping...at least not for a while. And that brings us to this week's theme Dinosaur Week!

We'll kick off Dinosaur Week with a Paleontologist Portrait. We'll either create a self-portrait of that of someone else. Simple supplies are all you need and if you see a supply on the list that you don't have, don't worry. I always offer lots of alternative supply possibilities. 

Now that we are paleontologists, let's go digging for dino eggs! These fun moveable puppet-like eggs are easy to create and so fun to play with and create stories about. 

I seem to bring back the salt dough clay each week but I know kids love it! If you don't have the ingredients to make the clay, any clay will do: Model Magic, modeling clay, playdoh, you name it! 

What do dinosaurs eat?! Well, in this project, you get to decide! In this lesson, we'll make a mouth that pops open for you to draw whatever snack foods you wish to have your dinosaur munching on. 

 What if the dinosaurs...came back?! And roamed the streets of our cities? Let's make a pop-up city for our dinos to wander in. We'll create dinosaurs using cereal boxes and a TP tube!

If you'd like to join the fun, art class is free! You can catch it LIVE on my Instagram and my Facebook. You can always watch later on my YouTube channel. New videos added daily so you might want to subscribe. See you soon!

Superhero Week!

I really cannot believe that I am heading into the fourth week of home-based art class! I have so enjoyed teaching those of you who have been joining in. This week I'm excited to share that our theme is Superheroes! Before I go any further, in case you missed Robot Week, Zany Scientist Week or Pirate Week, just click the highlighted word and head straight there for fun projects with video! 

Tomorrow, we'll kick things off with a Superhero Selfie! Any supplies you might not have, don't worry. I always share ways to make do with what you've got. 

 Who doesn't love a good onomatopoeia?! We'll make these with our favorite air dry clay recipe that we've used the last couple of weeks. Don't have the supplies? No problem, we can still make these plaques with paper and glue!

Be thinking of a word that makes a sound!

Let's make a pop-up card for a special superhero in your life! making pop up cards is highly addictive so get ready to become a little card making factory of fun!

Got toilet paper tubes? Well then you have the start of Thursday's project!

Be thinking about what three colors could be represent you as a superhero! 

To end our week of superhero goodness, we'll create our very own miniature comic book all about...us! As superheroes.

 It's gonna be action-packed, y'all! 

To join the fun, you can catch me LIVE on my Facebook page or my Instagram. Or watch afterward on my YouTube channel. Be sure and subscribe as new art videos are dropped almost every day!

Pirate Week!

I hope you Pirates are as excited as I am about Pirate Week! We are going into our third week of themed home-based creating and I am loving it! In case you missed, we've done Robot Week and Zany Scientist Week. All of those videos you can now catch on my YouTube channel. More are added all the time so I would encourage you to subscribe! 

Once again, we are keeping the supplies simple. Most days we are just using household items. So that you can scavenge around for them like a true pirate, I'm including the list of supplies for each day this week! 

When I go LIVE, I do so on Facebook and Instagram. You can find me there, each weekday at 11am CT. 

If you know of ANYONE who would like to join, please know that this is absolutely free. Anyone is able to be apart of the creatin' fun. Art teachers, feel free to add this to your list of creative activities your students can do at home. Our kids are currently left with a lot of time on their hands. Let's fill their days with a bit of normalcy and FUN! Thank you SO MUCH for continuing to get the word out, it means the world to me and our creative kiddos. 

On Monday, we'll be drawing Wanted Pirate Posters! To get those creative juices flowing, I created not one but TWO coloring sheets! You can find them here and here. 

Just for fun, I created these What's Your Pirate Name sheets. You can use these any ole time but we'll definitely be taking a look at them on Monday! Of course, coming up with your own name is most of the fun!

Tuesday's activity is going to be all about recycling as we use a toilet paper tube and a cereal box as our main creating source!

Last week, making our own clay was a HUGE hit! If you want to make your clay in advance or find out more, just hop over here! 

The most fun in making your own treasure map is making it look old when you are finished. For that you can use a cup of coffee or tea. I used my cold cup of morning coffee and it worked great. 

I love making puppets, they are so much fun. And this one is a simple puppet that can actually be transformed into so many things. We'll be making a Crocodile Puppet with ours!

And here's the daily lineup! I hope to see you there.