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Author Archives: Marcia Beckett

About Marcia Beckett

Marcia is an elementary art teacher and loves painting, drawing, sculpture, art journaling and clay. Her blog, Art is Basic, features many exciting art projects for kids.

Student Art Show at the Mall

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Four colorful abstract art pieces displayed on a gray wall at the Student Art Show. Each artwork has its own unique design and style.

We had our regional art show through the Wisconsin Art Education Association this week.  The artwork was displayed all week at the local mall.  Many schools participated with art from kids in grades K-12.  It is always so fun to see what other schools are doing.  The high school artwork is always so amazing!  We had our closing reception today and many families showed up.  It was a great turnout despite the freezing rain.  One artwork from each teacher was … Read more… →

Valentine’s Stamped Heart Painting for Kindergarten

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Colorful, stamped heart-shaped artwork with red circles and crosses on a mixed paint background, set against a red backdrop.

These were made by my kindergartners. I have seen a lot of gorgeous heart pictures around the internet lately. None of the techniques we used to make these are brand-new but maybe they are new-to-you! The kids experimented with watercolor pencils on a sheet of paper.  They practiced mixing and blending colors. A large heart was traced on to their picture (when dry).  Then, these were cut out. We stamped gadgets on the hearts using pink, red, purple and gold … Read more… →

2nd Grade Masks inspired by Alaska

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A colorful, handmade artwork featuring a circular centerpiece, feathers, paper hands, and fish shapes on a white background.

I think Alaskan native masks are so beautiful. Our 2nd graders learn about Alaska in their social studies class and to connect with this unit, they explore the meanings and characteristics of Alaskan native art.   Here is an example of a mask from Alaska: Our masks are colorful and each child felt free to express their own ideas and to create their own meanings for their mask. We watched an excellent Alaskan art video that I highly recommend. It … Read more… →

Paper Mache Rattles for Kindergarten with Native American connections

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A colorful handmade rattle wand with a wooden handle wrapped in twine and string against a white background.

Creating Shakers from Paper Mache Introducing the project: To start I simply tell the kids we are making rattles.  I will save the cultural connections for a later class.  One reason for waiting on the cultural connections is that I don’t want them to copy Native American rattles, but the information I present about the Native Americans is to show how other cultures have made musical instruments.  Also, this part of the project is time consuming and we need every … Read more… →

An Online Art Teacher Conference and Facebook Group

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Colorful abstract background with the quote: "Creativity is contagious. Pass it on. - Albert Einstein."

Hello art teacher friends.  I hope you are staying healthy and away from those nasty germs.  I have been overcome by one of these little bugs and was sick all week.  Yes, the dreaded flu.  I only taught one day this week. 🙁  Although, two of the days were actual days off of school (MLK day and a grading day).  Those two days off were spent grading and sneezing in bed. I wanted to share with you two ways to … Read more… →

5 Valentine’s Day Projects for Kids

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Abstract artwork featuring a large heart with a star in the center, surrounded by smaller hearts and various patterns, making it an ideal project for kids on Valentine's Day.

Each year, I tend to try something different for Valentine’s Day.  I like to spice things up, don’t you? Here are some from the past that I have done. 1.  Valentine’s Heart Collages  2.  Cool Hands, Warm Heart 3.  Easy Clay Hearts for Kindergarten  I have made these for Christmas presents, but they would be perfect for Valentine’s Day. 4.  Maps of My Heart (by Kindergarten) 5.   Styrofoam Printed Valentines Follow @marcia_beckett

How to Paint Gorgeous Clouds with Watercolor Paints – 5th and 6th Grade

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White, fluffy clouds float against a serene backdrop.

Clouds.  Aren’t they amazing? Two years ago I took a very helpful watercolor painting class.  One of our assignments was to paint clouds. Connecting Art with Science I love to make connections with other subjects.  This one is perfect for my 5th/6th grade because in Science class they study cloud identification.  They come into my class with a broad understanding of clouds which makes my lesson richer. Clouds and Art Resource The Clouds in Art Gallery is amazing.  This gallery … Read more… →

Cross Hatched Animal Drawings- 3rd and 4th grade

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A pencil sketch of a bird in flight with a long beak and black and grey shaded wings, using cross-hatched animal drawings techniques.

These lovely cross-hatched animal drawings were made by my 3rd/4th grade class.  The students used pictures from Zoobooks magazine for reference and practiced hatching and crosshatching techniques. I love using illustrated books to connect with our curriculum.  For one, it gives a real life connection.  Second, it might spark their interest in reading more quality books. We  looked at the beautiful cross hatched drawings by Brian Selznick, author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck.  Those are both awesome … Read more… →

Back to School and Cute Ornament Gifts

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Child's drawing of Santa Claus inside a snowglobe, with white dots representing snowflakes.

After the long winter break, we are back to school! The week before school got out, I was home sick on that Tuesday and Wednesday. Then, we had a snow day on Thursday and Friday, so it’s been about 3 weeks since I’ve been at school. When I came back there were some holiday presents given to me by students. Here are two adorable ornaments I received. My daughter loved this beautiful bird! Handmade ornament by a student. Isn’t this … Read more… →

Celebrating 2012– Highlights of My Year

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Colorful, whimsical design with the quote "Live in the sunshine & embrace today," surrounded by flowers and patterns.

I read Carin’s post today about her creative achievements of 2012 and it got me thinking “what would be on my list if I were to make one?”  At first I thought, well, I don’t have a whole lot to say, but then I thought back to all the little things I am proud of, that made me happy and experiences I had this year that were fantastic. I’m not going to lie, this Christmas season I was not fully … Read more… →

Papermache Masks– 3rd and 4th grade

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A colorful handmade mask painted in blue and green tones, adorned with feathers, inspired by Pacific Northwest Coast Masks.

This is an art project that I repeat every year, because it is such a great process for the kids… starting with an initial sketched idea, building an armature, applying paper mache, painting and adding embellishments.  I tie this lesson to the Pacific Northwest Coast masks. You can see masks from previous years here and the process photos here. Thank you if you voted for me in the Art Ed blog of the year contest!  While I did not place … Read more… →

Holiday Round Up

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Holiday-themed paper backgrounds with white paper snowflake cutouts arranged in a grid pattern.

Two of my classes made pictures frames like these: They turned out really cute and I did not take pictures until after the kids glued their pictures in, so I did not want to post any of the frames with their pictures in it. This year, I did not do too many holiday art projects, but here is a round-up of some that I have done in the past. Sock Snowmen  Snowflakes with Glitter Snowglobe Pictures Picture Frame with Tooling … Read more… →

Glass Fusing

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Colorful handmade glass pendants featuring abstract designs, crafted using glass fusing techniques, laid out on a light surface.

The fourth-sixth graders made these glass fused pendants.  We are gluing the “bails” on the back to make necklaces.  The kids are going to give these as holiday gifts to a family member or friend.  They each made two pendants. This is the first time I have done fused glass with kids.  I used the how-to guides from the System 96 website and ordered the glass from Delphi glass. Have you done fused glass in your kiln before?  If so, … Read more… →

Free Printable Holiday Card to Color

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Two bears in festive winter hats adorned with holly and snowflakes, framed by a decorative border. Text: "Merry and Bright.

Free Printable Christmas Card! Marit, founder of Featuring magazine, suggested that we all make print and color holiday cards to post on the website. This was perfect, because now my holiday card is done for school.  For the past few years, I have made little cards from my artwork to use as thank you notes at school.  If a kid gives me a holiday card or gift I will give them one of my little artwork cards.   Some kids at school … Read more… →

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