Explore Meet the Masters artists for engaging art lessons tailored for elementary students. Dive into artist study and unlock creativity with our curated resources. Discover art lessons based on renowned artists.
After a long chat about fore-, middle- and background, we glued our camels into our Egyptian Landscape Collages. Here's a kid that really got the concept of objects diminishing in size. What would be more appropriate to chat about on this here Hump Day then a one-humped camel (which are called domedary in case you didn't know) and his habitat? My first grade artists finished up these Egyptian Landscape Collages last week and I thought I'd share them with you. I've been doing this landscape collage lesson for years but always with a connection to our current theme of study. With Egypt being our theme this year, a desert landscape was what we created. Image pulled from pinterest.com. We began our lesson with a nice long chat about sunrises and sets. We looked at photos, artist renditions, and discussed personal experiences before creating our own. Each student was given a 12" by 18" piece of paper folded in half lengthwise. On the top half of their paper, students painted their sunsets. During their second art class, we discussed the horizon line and how objects near that line appear to be smaller. With that in mind, we painted our clouds, small near the horizon, gradually growing in size as they approach the top of the paper. Would you like one hump or two? The two-humped camels (called bactrian) are found in Central and East Asia. So apparently this one migrated to Egypt. The following art class, we began the textured paper for the desert sands. This time we had a wee chat about creating tints of colors and textures. Each student was given a new sheet of 12" X 18" paper folded in half lengthwise. They were to create a tint of brown on each half of the paper and create a texture with the texture combs. If you don't happen to have texture combs, you can easily make them from stiff pieces of card stock with small notches cut out of the bottom. It's just not a kid's landscape unless something is levitating. I totally dig the floating pyramids. Once both paintings are complete, the collage process begins. Now, I've done this project many times and the first time I did it, the collage portion made me want to whack my head against the wall. So to save you some head-whacking, lemme tell you how I explain it to the kids: Tear a strip of paper off of your textured and tinted paper lengthwise. Put glue around the edges of that paper. Place it directly on your horizon line (this way, no white space can be seen between the sky and the horizon). Continue to tear strips and glue down. Overlap the brown papers so there are no white paper gaps. When you run out of paper at the bottom to glue the land to, you are finished! This idea to create pyramids came from the book Dynamic Art Projects for Children. If you teach children, this book is a fantastic source for art project ideas. Once the landscape was complete, we began creating objects for the land. We kept these bits and pieces in an envelope labeled with our name until we were ready to glue them down. To create the pyramids, the kids folded a rectangle in half, cut across it diagonally, opened the paper and viola! we had a triangle. To make it look three-dimensional, we laid a piece of scrap paper over the triangle, drew a heavy brown line in oil pastel and then smeared the pastel toward the edge of the triangle. We used oil pastels gifted to us from Paul deMarrais. You must see his beautiful pastel landscapes (and pick up some of his hand crafted oil pastels!) here: http://www.pauldemarrais.com/home/index.html The How-to-Draw sheet that I made multiple copies of and had ready at the tables. Once our pyramids were complete, we began our study of camels. We read a book about them, looked at this amazing stuffed one that our librarian happened to have and proceeded to draw together. I firmly believe in guided drawing (meaning, I draw something on my paper, the kids attempt to replicate on their paper). Art teachers that I have met are either firmly for or against this idea. My rational is this: you wouldn't hand a kid a math worksheet and just tell them to have at it without explaining to them the concepts first, right? I love how the little camel's legs are firmly rooted as if to say, "I'm not taking another step! This walking on three legs business is just too complicated!" So as we are drawing the camels together, we are looking for the shapes and lines within the object, discussing what we see and drawing them. After we have created one camel together, the students were given the above How-to Draw sheet and asked to draw as many camels as they'd like in their landscape. They used the sheet as their starting point and them proceeded to draw walking legs, multiple humps, etc. Again, we kept them in our envelope. Another beautiful Egyptian sunset. I shared similar images with the kids to help them understand the concept of a silhouette. On our final day, students were given back their envelopes and their landscapes. We had a chat about fore-, middle- and back ground, diminishing size and silhouettes. Then the students proceeded to assemble their collages. Finally, we were finished! I have this habit of creating the World's Longest Art Projects...but I have myself convinced that it's okay. We learned: painting, color mixing, texture, collage, drawing, shading, etc. So, it's really about five projects packed into one, right? As I said earlier, I've done this project many times before. When we were learning about Japan, the landscape was vertical and filled with origami houses. One year we learned about Medieval times and created a green landscape full of castles. The original idea came from a SchoolArts article many years ago. That teacher had created a sea scape, using blue textured papers. The possibilities are endless-ish!
Explore Meet the Masters artists for engaging art lessons tailored for elementary students. Dive into artist study and unlock creativity with our curated resources. Discover art lessons based on renowned artists.
Inspired by the cultures of Africa, this 21-page booklet offers four lessons for the early elementary student as well as for older children. Using basic supplies (colored paper, oil pastels, liquid tempera paint and waterproof markers) you'll find all of these lesson simple, fun and educational. This packet is great for grade levels: 1-6
This 15-page single subject lesson plan features: TWO options to create an Egyptian portrait with either paint or pastels Two original Deep Space Sparkle drawing handouts (Egyptian Profile Drawing Aid and Egyptian Faces Drawing Aids) Student Gallery Complete multi-photo tutorial This lesson is best suited for upper elementary students but would be successful with junior high as well. You will need three to four, 45-minute sessions.
Integrate art and literacy with no prep or background knowledge with step by step tutorials for art history and art around the world!
Michelangelo is one of the greatest artists the world has ever seen & these Michelangelo Art Projects for Kids are perfect for the kids to learn about him!
This Guatemalan worry dolls lesson and art project and related children's book helped my anxious daughter discuss feelings.
Integrate art and literacy with no prep or background knowledge with step by step tutorials for art history and art around the world!
Blick, a huge art supply company, offers free multicultural art lesson plans and now free video art lesson plans. The lessons are clearly marked by grade level, and there are art projects f…
Explore Meet the Masters artists for engaging art lessons tailored for elementary students. Dive into artist study and unlock creativity with our curated resources. Discover art lessons based on renowned artists.
My Grade 7 class recently finished these cherry blossom paintings as part of our "Japanese Art" unit. I absolutely adore cherry blossom paintings- I think they're very stylish and feminine. I also love anything Japanese related, so I really enjoy teaching this unit. And believe it or not, the blossoms are just finishing up here where I live. Yes, in June. We started off by watching a video about the Cherry Blossom festival in Japan known as Hanami ('flower viewing'). In the spring, thousands of people fill the parks to hold feasts under the flowering trees, and sometimes these parties go on until late at night. I thought it was interesting to find out that most public schools have cherry blossom trees outside of them. Cherry blossoms have been used extensively in Japanese art for hundreds of years. According to the Buddhist tradition, the brief beauty of the blossoms symbolizes the transient nature of life as the flowers last for at most a few weeks. The cherry blossom is also tied with the samurai culture, representing the fleeting nature of the samurai’s life and symbolic of drops of blood. So for this lesson students created a scroll-like painting of a cherry blossom branch using the classic 'blow paint through a straw' technique. You can find this technique all over the internet and Art teachers have been using this technique for eons. We first created a blue sky background (on long strips of white paper) with a faint full moon silhouette by placing a small circle container (in this case yoghurt) and painting around it with light blue tempera paint. While the sky paper is drying, student practiced painting (tempera paint) cherry blossoms in their sketchbooks. I demonstrated how to mix various tints of pink (always add the darker colour, red, a bit at a time, to the white- not the other way around). The blossoms: as long as they had five petals, students could paint them however they wanted and in whatever tint of pink. (You could also do plum blossoms in tints of purple). Once the sky paper is dry, student blew watery brown tempera paint (ink-like consistency) across their paper in a branch-like shape. I really demonstrated how to do this, as kids have a tendency to blow down as opposed to across. If you blow downwards, you get really, erm, hairy-looking trees!! I stress to keep it simple and follow a line of paint across the paper. Keep adding more paint and creating new branches as necessary. Encourage the kids to take lots of breaks as you can get really light-headed doing this! Let these dry flat. Next class, students paint on their cherry blossoms using tempera. Just add them randomly anywhere- add lots. I own some Asian-style rubber stamp 'chops' or seals- which is basically the artists signature. They are stamps or seals used in lieu of an artists signature in Asian art. They are typically made of stone and used with red ink. I have no clue what mine say and none of my Chinese students could read them either. Soooo, I just hope it's nothing rude or way wierd! Of course, if you have lino-cutting tools, students could make their own from an eraser. As I didn't have a red ink pad, I just squirted some red tempera onto a pad of paper towels. It worked pretty good. But an ink pad would be easier, obviously. Once these were dry, I mounted them onto larger mauve construction paper. Here are some of the Grade 7 results: Ta da! I displayed them with our Kimono project.
Textured Tiles | Clay Lesson Plan Face Jug Lesson Plan Tree of Life | Acrylic Painting Donut Oil Pastel Monochromatic Nigh Landscape | Acrylic Painting Eye Self-Portrait Mixed Media Cactus Plant Still Life Jazz Collage & Printmaking Expressive Masks: Picasso & African Art Lesson Plan Skull Painting | Acrylic Lesson Plan
Recently I was introduced to a new form of textured painting called salt painting. Basically, you take glue cover it with salt, then drop watercolors on top to absorb the color. Well, can I just
How to Avoid Cultural Appropriation in Your Lessons Connections % %
This diversity activity for kids first appeared on Kids Activities Blog over 10 years ago as a Martin Luther King Jr Day activity idea. The simplicity of
Explore painted paper art's 783 photos on Flickr!
This dynamic pagoda art project for middle school students is a great curriculum connection to the ancient cultures of Asia!
Sidenote: Do you do ebates? I have earned over $300 (you just put a button in your browser and shop online). You get $10 to sign up and ...
Be afraid, be very afraid! More students have finished their warriors and we're lining them up for a bone dry army ready for their first kiln experience! I'll keep posting photos as students finish and I'll definitely post more once they have been smoke fired (I just can't wait for that finished smokey, rustic effect)! Enjoy... This warrior even has battle scars! Check out his eye I love the epaulettes on this one!
Download this FREE handout to help your students understand the architecture of Adobe Design. Want a quick, easy project where every student is successful? Fifth graders drew adobes with the help of this handout and used colored chalk and oil pastels to finish this dynamic piece.
Integrate art and literacy with no prep or background knowledge with step by step tutorials for art history and art around the world!
Learn about wycinanki, a beautiful Slavic paper-cutting design. Then make your own Polish folkart for kids and learn about reflection symmetry.
The 5th graders are doing a fantastic job with their panda and bamboo paintings. Students started off drawing a panda from a reference photo making changes as they deemed fit. Next, they copied their individual drawings on to rice paper. Next up was to practice painting bamboo and getting comfortable with the bamboo brushes. Students then painted bamboo around their pandas in ink and filled in their pandas with ink. We will add a Chinese character to polish off these paintings since the kids really love the simple printmaking process.
Pen and paints at the ready! Here’s a wonderful selection of online art lessons for children that you can do at home or in class. Free online art lessons for children Using simple art materials, these lessons will guide your children through wonderful, creative art projects. Your children can: :: have fun :: […]
Learn about molas from the Kuna people in Panama with this molas lesson with information, discussion questions, resources, and lesson ideas.
Fourth graders are so enthusiastic about creating these Chinese dragons. We talked about the difference between the European dragon and the Chinese dragon. The Chinese dragon is a symbol of good luck and wisdom. It is a symbol of power for people who are worthy of it and a creature to be feared by fools and evildoers. The European dragon on the other hand is typically an unruly dreadful beast feared by all for its ruthlessness. We talked about how the appearance of the Chinese dragon has changed over time. It has become a creature that flies with a serpent's body, hawk claws, cow ears and the whiskers and scales of a carp (koi). We also learned the Chinese Waterfall Legend. It tells if the koi fish that swam up the Yellow river against the current and tried for 100 years to jump up the waterfall. When he finally made it, he became a dragon that chases pearls of wisdom. We talked about the life lessons that this story teaches us such as perseverance. The dragon is a huge part of Chinese culture and makes many appearances at celebrations. We also watched some dragon dance videos while we worked. Notice that it is chasing a pearl of wisdom! The main art concept that we talked about during this project was color blending. We talked about how to layer colors to blend, and we talked about using water to help colors to smoothly transition on our papers. Does it Blend Well? YES: 2 Primary Colors, 2 Analogous Colors (next door neighbors on the color wheel) NO: 3 Primary Colors, Complementary Colors (opposites on the color wheel), Secondary Colors When we talk about blending, I explain that our goal is to use vibrant rainbow colors on our artwork, so it's important to know how to avoid brown. Next, we do some color math. I explain that to make brown, you combine all 3 primary colors. I write out this basic equation on the board... Red+Yellow+Blue = Brown Then, we simplify the equation a variety of ways: If, R+Y=O, and Y+B=G, and R+B=P, and R+Y+B= Brown then... (R+Y)+B= O+B = Brown ...or... (Y+B)+R= G+R = Brown ...or... (R+B)+Y= P+Y = Brown As it turns out, when we simplify the equation we end up with complementary pairs: (notice that these are on the "NO" list). Orange and Blue Green and Red Purple and Yellow Why can't we blend secondary colors together Mrs. Seitz? To answer this question we expand the equations and discover that all 3 of the primary colors are present in the mixtures. Orange + Green = (R+Y)+(B+Y) Green + Purple = (Y+B)+(R+B) Purple + Orange = (B+R)+(R+Y) The color math really helps the kids understand the reasons behind what works and what doesn't. It also gives them a way to figure it out if they haven't memorized what works. When I teach it this way, it creates an ah-ha moment for many of the kids. At this point in the year, my 4th graders are really quite good with color concepts because we have already done our Kandinsky color mixing lesson with fractions! Learning Goals: I can... - Explain the difference between Chinese and European dragons - Tell about Chinese dragons - Blend using analogous colors (next door neighbors) - Give examples of colors that do and do not blend well
We love trying different paint methods and techniques. We have tried many fun processes, but sugar painting is by far my favorite. I’m just so in love with this technique. It is fun to watch and the results are just gorgeous. If you don’t believe me, just take a look at our mandala sugar paintings. […]
We haven't been writing our blog because we have been very very busy with speech writing, reading, spelling, fractions, decimals, art, Maori, Mandarin, cross-country training and Ancient Greece Study...... Our new art project is designing Greek vases. We had to choose a character from a Greek Myth and illustrate him/her/it for our pattern. The next step was to dye it orange. Do feel free to come and have a look at our creations!
We are a little late for the Chinese New Year but we discussed the tradition anyway and the kids are really enjoying the project. We are reviewing some of the basic art elements of line, shape, pat…
Make a rain stick! This craft is wonderful for school-aged children and only requires a few household materials.
Check out student artwork posted to Artsonia from the New Zealand Koru Designs project gallery at Alum Creek Elementary School.
Explore Meet the Masters artists for engaging art lessons tailored for elementary students. Dive into artist study and unlock creativity with our curated resources. Discover art lessons based on renowned artists.
Fourth graders just learned about the Chinese New Year celebration and created beautiful dragon scrolls in Art class. They were also able to practice Chinese writing. The dragon is a symbol of good luck in China. Students drew their dragons with marker and used chalk to make colorful backgrounds. They added rolled pieces of construction paper to finish their designs.
How to Teach Culture With Integrity in the Art Room % %
To celebrate Chinese New Year, I've curated a group of 6 incredible examples of Chinese art. I've also included some Chinese art lesson ideas.
In Art class, third graders learned how to weave with paper. Students used old scrap pieces of painted paper while they were going over and under to create the weaving. Next, students learned about sy
Wow these paper molas really extended my students. After showing the students real molas we practised making small ones based on traditional designs of the Kuna culture with the influences of the modern world. Mola art developed when Kuna women of the San Blas Islands in Panama had access to bright colour fabrics. How to make. Colored card Use primary and secondary to create Complementary colour schemes. Glue sticks, Images of traditional designs. Scissors. Step one students draw or trace around templates of animals etc using a primary colour. I made about 15 animal -bird , fish shapes - but more capable students could create their own,. Once traced - cut out and glue onto an A5 size piece of paper . Students can choose its complementary colour as the background. Students then trimmed leaving about 4-5mm or around 1/4 inch. Glue the animal shape onto a rectangle of black paper A4 size. Stduents then decorated the the animal and filled in the background with small rectangles, paper punched dots as required. etc
Integrate art and literacy with no prep or background knowledge with step by step tutorials for art history and art around the world!
