Spooky Tree Kandinsky Inspired Circle Art adds a Halloween twist to Kandinsky's Concentric Circles. A fun colour-mixing art project for kids.

This project was a favorite among my 5th graders this year. All of their pieces turned out great and students were able to learn and practice new clay skills. Students began with a ball of clay which they then rolled and made very smooth. Then, they stuck their thumbs in their balls of clay to form pinch pots. Each student then took their pinch pot, turned it on its side, then scored and slipped features onto the pot to create creatures. This was a great creative outlet for the kids. After the projects were bisqued, the students were then able to glaze their projects. They looked amazing when they came out of the last firing. This is a project I will keep for next year for sure.  This one lost his eye in the bisque firing. I glued it on later, after it was glazed 

With the Winter Olympics around the corner, I have started planning ahead for some Olympic related art activities. The best part about the Olympic games for the competitors is the Olympic medals. I decided it would be best for students to brainstorm things they excel at and things that they can improve on; after they create a list of strengths and weaknesses, students will narrow it down to one of each, then designing a gold medal for their strength and a silver medal, for the area where they feel they can improve. Students will roll out a long slab and cut out 2 medal shapes. The shapes should be smoothed out along edges and on the surface to create a smooth surface to draw the design. Students will use a wooden tool or toothpick to draw their medal designs and outlines. I used old marker caps from dried out markers to create the Olympic logo. I found it helpful to have a damp paper towel on hand as the clay tends to ball up on the end of the toothpick, after every few lines are drawn, wipe off the toothpick with the paper towel. After the drawing is complete, have students cut a small slit above the circular medal shape, this will be where the crepe paper/ribbon is attached. After the kiln firing, students will paint 1 medal gold and 1 silver. This lesson is a good one because it asks students to figure out areas they are successful and areas in which they can improve. You will need: Canvas squares/plastic bags Clay Crepe paper/Ribbon for the strap to hold the medal Marker caps/chap stick caps for olympic rings Medal shape cut outs (I used yogurt containers and tops to make cut outs) Rolling pins Wooden tool/toothpicks Yogurt cup or caps work great for cutting out medal shape, be sure to leave room for the ribbon to be attached. Cap for Olympic logo and wooden tool for drawing. Here is an example of a similar finished product

I love summer! Yeah, so... it is now over a month since my kids' school is out and I am finally posting this gorgeous window art project that the 2nd-graders created! Frank Lloyd Wright is our inspiration for this stained glass project -but for the final project, you can see that they used their own creativity, since they are not familiar with his work. Although his works are real glass, ours are made of brilliantly colored tissue paper. This is an easy project for any age. MATERIALS NEEDED: various colors of tissue paper black permanent marker self-sealing laminating sheets Collaborative Window Art: I had the kids get into groups of 3-4 kids and work on one sheet together. First they drew onto paper with pencil their shape composition, tracing shapes or creating their own. Next they placed desired color of tissue paper over their pencil composition, traced the shapes and cut them out. I used self-sealing laminating sheets (3M Scotch Self-Sealing Laminating Pouches - Laminating Machines ) to place the original pencil composition under to use for placement, and then just place the cut out tissue paper shapes on the sticky side. After all the shapes are placed, seal the sheet carefully, and use a permanent marker to outline and make other designs! We punched holes each sheet and linked them altogether for one large stained glass window! (You can hang them up in your window individually with tape or hole punch and hang with mini suction cup.) They were so excited to see them attached altogether! As you can see, we have extra window space, so we made additional stained glass sheets(not shown). NOW GO MAKE YOUR OWN! Join my exclusive email list for my upcoming Candice Ashment Studio shop! I do NOT SPAM! You won't be sorry when you get the SUPER SECRETE SALES & SNEAK PEEKS! Thank you for stopping by

Sometimes just painting with regular paint on regular flat paper is boring. Sometimes you want to create something different, something cool, something EPIC! That's what my kids told me the other day. Boring old painting

Second grade kids created tiger masterpieces like Henri Rousseau! We read the story "The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau" and learned all kinds of things about Rousseau. He was a self taught artist who loved to paint in the greenhouse. He was in his first art show in his early forties. He loved to paint jungle pictures even though he had never been to a jungle. Instead, he used pictures from the newspaper to help him figure out how to draw wild animals like lions and tigers! This is great news for us because most of us have never been to the jungle either! Here is some of his art: Here is some of our art! Learning Goals: I can... - Tell about Henri Rousseau - Create smooth sides and lines with tempera paint - Create a step by step painting without using any pencil!

Inside you'll find an easy step-by-step Nate Williams Self Portrait tutorial video and coloring page. Stop by now for free access.

Check out Marcos88's artwork on Artsonia, the largest student art museum on the web. Don't forget to join the fan club and leave a comment on the website.

This project was done almost at the end of our second quarter. Oh how they have improved since the beginning of the year! We viewed many photos of different kinds of trees and discussed the texture and patterns. We drew a horizon line and then I instructed them on how to draw trees and branches. We drew in pencil first and then they traced over the trees with a permanent marker. Next they drew with a permanent marker patterns on the trees. They used construction paper crayons to color in the patterns. I had to remind them to only color the patterns. They would be painting the trees, sky and ground with watercolors. This took them about four, fifty minute class periods to complete. They really enjoyed the lesson.

So for the past two years I've done a watercolor resist landscape like this, but this year decided to add an art history element & introduc...

My good friend Karen finally shared her award winning lesson with me. It is a wonderful exploration into non-Objective watercolor painting based on color theory. I had to refresh my vocabulary while presenting this to my amazing 4th graders last week. We explored the world of Tertiary or Intermediate colors. Here are the basic supplies fine point sharpie, prang paints 90 lb cold press watercolor paper, and a color wheel. I review with my students the primary and secondary colors with part of this video. We have so many new ELL student's and this was a great tutorial. After setting our table to paint, the students painted a ribbon color wheel. We started with yellow, leaving a space a painting another amorphic shape of the secondary color orange. Using a wet brush they pulled the colors together to make the Tertiary color shape. We used small color wheels to progress around the wheel and painting a large snake or ribbon. When they finished in one class period they could add a little salt or rubbing alcohol. (I heard a few requests for alcohol at the end of the lesson, yikes) Today, on the second day of the lesson, we discussed Mapping. I shared my love of Maps. I took Map Study in College and it took me to a different place other than just reading a paper map. (yes, I am old) We discussed contour elevation maps. Google it and you will see how maps are created with contour lines. The student's then looked closely at their watercolor paintings and starting drawing amorphic contour lines around the various colors that were created in the previous class with a fine tip sharpie. It was hard to slow down and just concentrate, but with a little spa music in the background they did it. They were so pleased with the outcome too, which made me beam! This guy had a lot of brown that he was unhappy with, but it worked. Thank you so much Karen, for sharing and a big shout out to Holly for the origional lesson inspiration with her art work.

I thought it has been a while since I made ATCs so I thought Is there a way to make neurographic ATCs? Well, I won’t know till I try, right? I began with a sheet that was 10.5 inches x 7.5 in…

Please Note: All images seen below are of my students artwork only. These photos/lessons are not posted in any particular order regarding the flow of my curriculum. 3-D WINTER MUGS This lesson in…

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this lesson! It's colorful, fun, and full of cheer! :) To begin, start by reviewing color mixing with your students. If you're teaching upper elementary they probably already know that a primary color + a primary color = a secondary color.. but do they know that a primary color + a secondary color = a tertiary (or intermediate) color? This lesson is GREAT for teaching about those tertiary colors! After reviewing, give students a sheet of heavy drawing paper and have them LIGHTLY draw out 6 (or 7 if you want to add a second red balloon next to the purple to be able to create red-violet) balloon shapes (upside-down egg with a small trapezoid at the bottom) that overlap each other. The size of the paper is totally up to you, but this lesson does lend itself to doing some different sizes (like tall and narrow). Once the balloons are drawn, have students paint in every other balloon a primary color with watercolor paints. The first balloon should be red, the third should be yellow, and the fifth should be blue. I personally like painting them so that one side of the balloon is more heavily saturated with color (to help create the illusion of form) - but the highlights we add later will do this as well. At this point it will likely be the end of class. This is a great stopping point because it allows the primary color balloons to fully dry before painting the secondary color balloons. You want them to be dry so that the colors don't accidentally bleed into areas that are not actually overlapping. If you're using watercolor paper, the water in the paint will sit on the surface longer - so it's even more important to make sure that it's FULLY dry before continuing. If you're using a heavy drawing paper (recommended) then it should just take a few minutes for it to dry out enough to be able to continue painting. Students will need to paint the secondary colors into the remaining blank balloons, keeping rainbow order in mind. This is a great opportunity to have students problem solve to determine which color goes where. For example, there's an empty balloon in-between the red and the yellow balloon. What color would be made if red and yellow were mixed together? Orange! As students start painting in the secondary colors and they overlap the primary colored balloons, they'll start to see the tertiary (or intermediate) colors coming through! What happens when the purple balloon overlaps the blue balloon? Blue-violet is made! Once everything is completely dry, give students colored pencils to add the ties and ribbons to the bottoms of the balloons. Then finally using a white chalk pastel, have them add a highlight (or more) to each balloon. To get the most realistic highlights, the curvature of the highlight line should match that of the balloon (so rounded like the edge of the balloon). Have student lightly blend in the chalk pastel with their finger. The highlight is what really makes the balloon look like a balloon! :) To add a nice finishing touch, try mounting the pieces of art of black construction paper. Then using all those bits of colored scrap paper (that I KNOW you have haha), add some confetti pieces to the border. I think this finishing touch REALLY makes this lesson even more fun looking! If you'd like the full lesson with all the resources used (including two amazzzzzzing PowerPoints), check it out in my shop. :) Also available in my TPT store.

Second graders are learning about abstract art by analyzing several different Miro works, like this one, "People and Dog in Front of the Sun." We discovered that reading the title really helps when looking at abstract art, and you definitely need to use your imagination! Next, we found some shapes that Miro likes to use a lot, like stars, spirals, and lines with dots. We drew a sharpie scene using this style, and the really fun part was the tissue painting in the background. It's pretty simple with a colorful tie-dyed effect. Simply brush water over the drawing, lay tissue squares over the page, and let dry. Peel and shake the squares off when dry - the more water you use, the softer the color, and the less you use the brighter the color with a crackly texture. Thanks to The Elementary Art Room for the lesson inspiration!

3rd grade artists watched a powerpoint presentation about Heather Galler and learned about her life and artwork. We drew our own landscapes in her style and incorporated a LOT of pattern just like she

Five Senses Activities for Preschoolers

May I present to you my new and very much improved behavior board! Is it bad that I had a super fun time making it this morning? I stuck with the same seven behavior category goals as last year as I feel my kiddos and I had a pretty good groove happening by Spring! The guidelines are simple and as follows: Enter the room quietly, Raise your hand when you want to share with the class, Listen carefully to/follow project directions, Practicing kindness to classmates, Volume, Clean up, and Quiet/Straight line as we wait at the door. I developed these for some of my younger classes who struggled with behavior when they would visit the art room. The final thirty seconds of every single class I teach involves a group evaluation of how their class did that day. Each student gives me a thumbs up or a thumbs down for each category and surprisingly, the kids are pretty keen judges of how things went. I use the chart with grades K-4 (I'm proud to say that my 5th and 6th graders did such a good job in the art room last year I rarely needed to refer to the chart!) I find that the more my classroom teacher gets involved in checking out the chart when they pick up the group, the more the kids get invested in getting all green, or as a 3rd grade group of mine coined it, "A clean sweep!" Last year's sign was embarrassingly unattractive. It was done in about five minutes by hand (between classes on a whim) and I used tape to hold up the red or green faces which often fell down. Ugh, what was I thinking? I predict magnets will work much better and the new lettering is much easier to read and more visually captivating! I got this board for about $3.99 (after a coupon) from Michaels. I used permanent Sharpie markers to do the black writing and the fancy, colorful patterns! For the faces, I used some cardboard box scraps and mixed up some colorful hues in acrylic. I added some magnets to the back and went over the faces with some clear gloss varnish so they'll last through the year. Fellow bloggers: How do you manage the behavior in your art room? I am feeling nosey about how other teachers approach moderating a creative environment, please indulge me with your wisdom.

Do you use rubrics for self-assessment with your students? I developed this rubric based on others I had seen online. I wanted to get my students thinking more about their artwork and writing a few sentences in reflection. We haven’t done much writing in art class before, so I didn’t want to overwhelm them. What do you think? Do you have any suggestions for my rubric? (Does everything sound right, but also easy enough for little kids to understand?) … Read more... →

2nd graders studied the life and art of Leonardo Da Vinci! They learned that he was practically a genius in all the amazing inventions t...

First graders watched a short video about African culture and what it is like for a child to grow up in Africa. They learned a...

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What you see here is my final installment of printmaking lessons for the firsties thru thirdz. We started our printmaking units many moons ago and we've been having a big time since. You might recall my lil printmaking pep talk here... You can check out the first graders printmaking lesson here as well as second grade's here. Fourth gradeland is currently in the midst of a collaborative/legacy/sculptural project that meant they were left outta the printmaking loop. I'm hoping to remedy that before the school year ends. I'll be sure to keep y'all posted. Until then, let's talk about these beauts... I am so in love with how these printed and collaged cityscapes turned out, y'all! The kids had a blast printmaking...but where really thrilled to see their cities come together. Lemme tell you what each kid created: * After creating their own printing plate (demo'ed in the video below), each child printed a minimum of four prints on colorful copy paper. They were to do two prints in white ink and two in black ink (or the reverse of that, depending on what was available at their table). * The following art class, the kids learned about wax resist, warm/cool colors and watercoloring a skyscape. Each student created a warm and cool colored sky (with a sprinkle of salt for added effect!). * Finally, each kid got back their warm and cool skies along with their prints. They then assembled their printed, painted and collaged landscapes with a layer of cardboard in-between for added depth. This resulted in TWO finished pieces by each student, as you see above! This was such a fun and successful project for all students. Here's a list of supplies we used: * Scratch-Art Foam (tho styro plates would work in a pinch...they'd just create a rounded landscape which could be totally amazing!) * Speedball Printing Ink (or markers and water! Watch that first clip!) * ink pens * colorful copy paper * watercolor * oil pastels for the wax resist * cardboard * glue I hope these videos are useful as I'm too tired to type out the directions (lazy much?). I have found that all kids can be successful with printmaking IF you teach them correctly and IF you are a stickler for proper printmaking techniques. I found that having the kids work in pairs really helped them hold each other accountable, even the littles. For example, we learned that you don't need a barren to rub the back of the print, just use a good back massage. No pounding necessary. Unless you wanna take a time-out break (eyebrow-raise, head-tilt, teacher-face). Every print pulled was magic. However, not gonna lie, the first prints are usually stinkers. Not enough ink, not enough "massaging" the back of the paper, etc. I told the kids to NEVER throw a way a print. If they didn't like it, they were to figure out what was wrong with it and learn from it. Blurry? Then you moved it accidentally. Can't see your lines? You used too much ink. Faded looking? Not enough ink. That's why we did a million prints. So we'd at least have a handful of successful ones. In other news, I cannot take any credit for this perspective drawing or that amazing use of letter reversal. This kid's just rockin' it! Once all the prints were made and backgrounds painted, the kids were given a 9" X 12" piece of paper. They attached their paintings to the top and were told to CUT OUT their skyscape. Oh, the whining, y'all! "I can't cut out all those small shapes!", "This is gonna take forever!", "My hand is cramping, can you help me?!" Nope. You do it. And then they did. I threw the option of adding a rectangle of cardboard between the cities out there. Most kids opted to do it as they loved the depth it added. I think if I were to ask them what one of their fave things this year has been, they'd def say printmaking. The magic of it is addictive! Next up: rolling their printing plates thru the slab roller with clay! I'll keep you posted on how their ceramic cities turn out. Til then, what are some of your fave printing projects, y'all?

This hands-on math activity is perfect for teaching symmetry to preschoolers and young kids. It makes learning symmetry fun and playful!

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Make a simple & happy jumping jack bug toy with a paper roll, thread and cereal box!

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