Inside: Nazca Lines craft for kids learning about Peruvian culture and history. It’s Hispanic Heritage Month, 2017! At the end of this post, find our Multicultural Kid Blogs HHM giveaway for some fun prizes. Today I’m sharing an exploratory Nazca lines craft. The project gives hands-on feel for these marvels of Peru, and how they were

Students love creating cave art paintings! Lots of art materials are used for this layered project. I like to have my students create these projects at the beginning of the year to build their conf…

Learning about Indigenous artists in Canada is one of many ways to learn about the different cultures in Canada. Come read more!

Day by day details of how my kids learned about the culture and geography of Austria in a week.

Handy free printable leif erikson for kids worksheet and coloring pages to make into readers to learn about famous early explorer!

Looking for some creative inspiration? Podcasts are a fantastic way to dive into the world of art and culture while on the go. Here are my top recommendations for art and culture podcasts that will

An overview of the Montessori cultural curriculum with resources for geography, history, physical science, botany and zoology, music, and art activities

Australia Hands-on Lesson Plan for Kids including geography, art, animals, food, Aboriginal people, James Cook, & more. Paint Aboriginal dot art, taste Vegemite and other Australian foods, create Australian animal crafts, host a tea time, & more! Children's books and Youtube videos are included!

In this activity, children use a pattern to create a miniature Native American tipi.

Integrate art and literacy with no prep or background knowledge with step by step tutorials for art history and art around the world!

Create Medieval Letters with our fun craft activity guide template. Buy art and craft supplies at Baker Ross, inspiring creativity

Integrate art and literacy with no prep or background knowledge with step by step tutorials for art history and art around the world!

This ultimate one week in Croatia itinerary will allow you to explore all the highlights of this amazing country in just seven days!

Things to do in Noto: Take in the Baroque architecture · Enjoy Michelin star cuisine · Live it up in a Baroque palazzo · Relax in nature at Vendicari or Cavagrande del Cassibile

Are you going to Lithuania and want to stop by the Baltic Sea? Make sure to check out this list of our favourite things to do in Klaipeda.

Learn more about Spain for Kids with this FREE Printable My Little Book about Spain. Print pdf file, color, read, and learn about Espana!

Learn about about 24 greek god and goddesses in this fun, Greek Mythology for Kids printable pdf book filled with Greek myths.

Learn about Japan for Kids with this printable book to read, color, and learn about Mt Fiji, charming gardens, and sushi without leaving home!

If you're visiting northern Portugal, the historic & gorgeous Douro Valley wine region is a must-visit. How to plan an amazing Douro Valley itinerary!

Bavaria is such a beautiful state and has so many fairytale-like towns and villages that deserve a shoutout. This post is all about the most beautiful towns and villages in the German state of Bava…

Plovdiv is an ancient city nestled in the heart of Bulgaria. It is the second largest city in Bulgaria and blends ancient history with a vibrant modern culture. Keep reading to discover more about the top things to do in Plovdiv that will leave you spellbound.

Trying to come up with things to do in Thessaloniki? You'd be surprised by how much there is! Here's our guide to help you explore this Greek city.

Things to do in Catania, Sicily Situated on the island's eastern coast, Catania makes a great starting point for a Sicily road trip. With its rich

Uncover the fascinating history and culture of Korea as you explore these eight classic Korean traditional games and why they're still enjoyed today!

I must say, it's hard to avoid the Yayoi Kusama dot pumpkin around the fall time. Searching for pumpkin-inspired art project ideas inevitably reveals this contemporary Japanese artist's dimensional, plump and somewhat psychodelic pumpkins. It's been done, again and again, but I felt it was now my turn... despite the hype. Kusama pumpkins White board instructions and guides, with teacher samples I love the graphic quality, and I particularly love the challenge of drawing contours without lines, by using only dots of various thickness. My kids classes (8-14 year olds) have varying degrees of experience with pen techniques since we did a few projects last year and in the last weeks involving stippling, hatching, and adding texture with pen. This no-lines drawing is not too far off, but definitely in a new direction, and I saw it as an extension of our previous illustration and pen work. Win win. Medium choice: I wanted the results to be super neat and crisp, like Kusama's own work. I knew painting dots with brushes would not give us that crisp quality, and I felt similarly about painting or drawing in the background pattern. So I opted for drawing in the dots with permanent black markers in various thickness, on colored paper. Pumpkins would be cut out and pasted on a background which was painted with a foam roller and stencil with black acrylic paint over top a vibrantly colored paper. With this approach we get the bright color of the pumpkins and the background, the neatly controlled lines of dots with the makers (that's the objective, after all), and the clean patterned background with the stencils. Process Day 1 1. Drawing pumpkins Student had visuals of Kusama's pumpkins as well as photos and illustrations of pumpkins to observe the variety of their form and shape. Simple step-by-step pumpkin drawing guides were also at their desk, so they could see how to break down and simply the drawing steps. I also demonstrated how to draw a pumpkin on the white board, and showed them several different options for shapes. Pumpkins are most easily drawn starting with the central 'section shape', them the section shape to the left and the right, and so on. The stem is drawn slightly tucked down into the top, so is doesn't look like it's sitting on the top contour edge, but rather growing out the pumpkin. Students were encourage to try a few different shapes - tilted, plump, oblong and even with wavy sections.... like Kusama's. We practiced a few rounds of pumpkins on scratch paper. Then we chose our colored paper, and began drawing our favorite version in pencil. 2. Dots Each pumpkin section must be filled with dots in a crisp, systematic fashion. Our dots must create the illusion of form. We analyzed Kusama's work and noted how she uses a row of larger dots at the center of her central section, with increasingly smaller rows of dots on both sides. This gives our section a 3-D shape. The tricky part is addressing the next sections to the left and the right. We noted that Kusama uses large semi-circle, or half-dots, along the outer edge of the first section (where we drew our section line with pencil). From there, the lines of dots get increasingly smaller again toward the other edge. This is repeated for each section. The darker intensity of the large half-dots serves the purpose of creating a strong visual line which separates the sections (thereby replacing our 'line' with 'dots'). *Super important for an effective gradient of dot sizes is using differently sized markers. We used permanent markers with hefty fat tips, medium tips (or a sharpie with a good point) and fine liners in various tops. 3. Stem We observed that Kusama did her stem in the same manner, but in the inverse. So dots are white, and the negative space is black. To achieve this effect, we simply drew open circles with our black pen, and colored the space around our white circles. Pencil lines were erased and pumpkins were cut out. We managed all this in a 90 minutes class. Drawing dots Drawing dots Day 1 results Day 1 results Day 2 Background: Student chose a colored paper that complemented or contrasted with their pumpkin color. Then they chose the stencil of their choice. My stencils are from Marabu. We chose stencils that contrast the dot pattern, so those with a different angular of liner quality. We did not, for examaple, use the stencils with hearts, small stars, circles, etc. because they are visually too similar to our dots. We used black acrylic paint and foam rollers to stencil on our colored paper. In many cases, our stencils were not as large as our paper, so we had to carefully reposition the stencil, lining up the stencil with the printed edge, and rolling again to fill the page. Pumpkins were finally pasted on the printed background, for a visually exciting result. My students were quite wowed by their vibrant, dimensional results, and proud of their hard work and dedication to neatness and precision. Hard work pays off. Ages 8-14 Ages 8-10

A country of gorgeous landscapes, beautiful castles, and delicious beer, Germany is an amazing place to visit for any traveler. It’s home to impressive architecture, art, history, nightlife, fairytale towns, and of course, the world-famous beer festival known as Oktoberfest. If you only have 1 week in Germany, here’s the best itinerary for seeing the […]

Free homeschool art curriculum with famous artists, art history lessons, world culture, easy art techniques and a weekly online art lesson.

Spend 14 days in Munich Prague Vienna Budapest and Bratislava - the best Central Europe Itinerary 2 weeks, full of history & culture.

Faro is a charming city in the Algarve that provides an authentic Portuguese experience. Check out these 18 best things to do in Faro and day trips too!

Tips for gluten-free diners, a guide for where to eat during a visit to Barcelona, and a tailored card for celiacs in Catalan.

Wondering what the best things to do in Warsaw are? This guide covers all of the best Warsaw attractions to help you plan your trip!

Continuing our school celebration of Black History Month last year, my 1st grade students created Faith Ringgold story quilts. We started off the lesson by watching a Reading Rainbow video of Tar B…

Get off the beaten path and into a city filled with history, culture and nature with the Brantford Bucket List, a guide to all the best things to do in Brantford all year round.

If you've been searching for the Aztecs and ideas to teach, you may have been searching for a while. There are not a lot of resources out there, readily available and free for your use.

Here are some of my favorite Women's History Month art lesson ideas and how I teach them. They're all inspired by a variety of women artists.

Wondering how to spend a day in Verona Italy? This is the ultimate one day in Verona itinerary. It takes you to the top attractions and best things to do and see in Verona. UNESCO-listed Verona is one of the most beautiful cities in Italy. It's a place of history and culture, with stunning architecture from antiquity to the Renaissance.