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!

Zany Scientist Week! A Combination of Art AND Science Class!

 Well, hello, y'all! I had so much fun creating robots with you during Robot Week (all videos from last week are now up and able for you to view on my YouTube channel!) that I'm excited to share the theme for this week: Zany Scientists!

If you notice, I even decided to step it up a notch by combining art AND science. That's right, every day, I'll go LIVE on my Facebook and my Instagram and share with you both an art project and a science experiment! Because I know we are all trying to conserve the materials we have, you can either join in on the experiment or simply watch. Because the videos will be archived on my YouTube channel, you can always travel back in time and rewatch the fun. 

 Again, I'm using simple supplies that I hope you can find around the home. But, if not, know that you can swap out supplies with whatever you have on hand. No paper? How about newspaper or old magazines? No glue? What about a glue stick? Art making is all about thinking outside the box which is exactly what we'll be doing this week!

 Because some of our experiments are a little messy, look around your house for a cookie sheet or some sort of tray with a lip to it. This will help to contain any mess you make. Also, consider doing this portion of the art making outside! It's good to get a little fresh air and keep them mess at bay.

 The best part about creating is having fun. All of these projects were created with fun in mind. Don't worry about being perfect because there is no such thing! Just focus on the fun, y'all!

 We'll end our week with some clay that you can use over and again! This should keep you busy and creating until next the following week. 

Mark your calendars, y'all! And I hope to see you there. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this FREE coloring sheet! 

Robot Week: Let's Make Collagraph Robots and Pull Prints!

Hi, friends! In this blog post, I'll be sharing two projects from Robot Week because one leads right into the other! On Wednesday, we used cereal boxes, scissors and glue to create a collagraph that we used to create a rubbing. In case you don't know what a collagraph is or how to make one, you should pull up a chair, grab your supplies and join me here: 

Yesterday we did something super cool with our collagraphs and that was print with them! It was pure magic and so fun to do it live on Facebook and Instagram just to hear everyone's reaction! 

I hope you'll join us today! Here's what you'll need:

See you real soon!

Robot Week! Let's Draw 3-D Robots!

Robot Week continues! In case you missed out on our LIVE art class (which happens every weekday at 11am CT right here and here), all robot videos are archived on my YouTube channel! You should totally subscribe because new videos drop at random times because yours truly is mighty random. Here's our video from Tuesday: Drawing 3-D Robots!

I hope you enjoy! Today's robot supplies are listed right below. I hope to see you real soon.

For Monday's video, be sure and check out this post. And for how to draw sheets, coloring sheets, writing prompts and more, go here! 

Robot Week! Let's Draw Robots with Shapes and Markers!

In case you missed the news...it's Robot Week! All week I am going LIVE at 11am CST drawing, creating, printing and making robots with YOU. You can watch me LIVE here or here! However, if you miss the video or want to create with me all over again, I've got the videos on my YouTube channel. Here you go: 

You might want to subscribe so you can keep up with the weekly videos! 

Initially, I was only going to go LIVE a couple of days but I've had such an overwhelming response from artists all over the world, I decided to keep it going! Here's the line up for the rest of the week:

 Simple supplies for tomorrow's LIVE!

 Then keep that creation handy for Thursday! We'll be using it for marker printing!

And on Friday, we'll create a collage! No paper? No problem! Let's recycle some old envelopes with fun patterns and designs!

Parents and teachers, looking for an extension? Here you go! Some writing prompts for when the robots are complete! 

Also, for free PDFs with a coloring sheet, how to draw robots and an idea sheet, go here! 

Robot Week! Home-Based Art Making

Knowing that so many of us are teaching and creating remotely, I thought it would be fun to do a little art teacherin' online. I shared yesterday all of the resources of mine that are free and able for you to use if you need to prepare art lessons for at home artists. However, I wanted to create something fresh and new and do a little LIVE art teaching as well. So...here's what I came up with: Robot Week!

What's Robot Week? Well, it will be a daily dose of creating centered around the theme of Robots. I'll kick it off on Monday this this lesson that I'll be doing LIVE but I will also attempt to archive to my YouTube channel. 

 For this first LIVE, I'll probably go for about 30-45 minutes. We'll just play it by ear. If you and your young artists can make it, great! 
You can join me on my Facebook page here or on my Instagram here!

Big thanks to our sponsor Dixon Ticonderoga for joining the fun!

Free How to draw Robots resource for you! To practice, inspire or color! 

 In my art room, we call these Idea Sheets. This one is yours here!

Mitch said I should make y'all a coloring sheet...so here you go! 

On Tuesday, I won't be live but I will be posting a video on how to create robots that look more three-dimensional on my YouTube channel! Again, simple supplies can be used or swapped out for whatever you have on hand. 

I am super stoked about this one, stay tuned!

I know we probably all have a couple of cereal or snack boxes laying around. For that reason, why not try your hand at a collagraph rubbing? It's when you cut and glue shapes to a surface, lay a piece of paper on top and then, using a "sleeping" crayon (one on its side), rub over your design. I then added a watercolor wash to some of mine! 

It's a Build-Your-Own-Bot kind of Wednesday!

What to do with that cereal box collage? Well, on Thursday, I'll show you how to cover it in foil and make a print with just markers and water!

Oh yeah, this one's magical!

On the final day of Robot Week, we'll make a collage with one of my favorite papers to collage with: business envelopes! They have the coolest patterns and designs. 

I do hope you'll join the fun! If you do, I would love to see what you and your awesome artists create. You can email me your images at artteacherin101@gmail.com and I'll try to feature them right here!