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  • Banner with colorful artwork promoting an art shop featuring kindness coloring pages, artist activities, and resources for teachers.

Category Archives: all grades

Easy Printable Art Sub Plan for Elementary: A Balancing Act

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Substitute plan poster titled "A Balancing Act" features an illustration of a whimsical stacked tower. This Art Education piece includes goals and steps for using color and shape to create a balanced picture, serving as an ideal Art Sub Plan.

This is a sub plan that is perfect for upper elementary. If you wake up sick one day, it’s a good idea to have prepared sub plans that are easy for any teacher to follow (even if they don’t have an art background). This is a simple, one page art handout with goals, steps and an example. I saw this idea on a Facebook group many years ago and created this handout to share with other teachers. This drawing activity uses … Read more… →

Test Driving Some New Art Materials!

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A variety of colorful art materials, including markers, crayons, and pens, arranged on a table, showcasing new art products.

One of my favorite hobbies is discovering and finding new art supplies. Watch as I test out some fun, new (to me) art materials. I’m not sure how new they are, but they were all exciting finds for me. As an Amazon influencer I receive a small commission through links on this blog (at no extra cost to you.) The earnings go to support the upkeep of this website. I am completely honest in my reviews and won’t tell you … Read more… →

Art Sub Plan for Elementary Students- Animals in Cars!

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Illustrated animals in cars shaped like food items provide the perfect creative art assignment for elementary students, including detailed drawing guidelines ideal for an engaging art sub plan.

Hello! I have been working on a series of “print and go” substitute teaching plans for elementary art class. These will be set up with goals and steps clearly written for a sub. You can print off these handouts for the students, gather supplies and have things all set to go in case you have an emergency illness and need to stay home. Some I will be offering for free on my blog and others will be in my shop. … Read more… →

Yearly Elementary Art Curriculum Plan – Scope and Sequence

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Yearly Elementary Art Curriculum Plan for grades K-5, spanning August to May, detailing monthly art projects and activities by grade level. This comprehensive Scope and Sequence ensures a structured and engaging art education throughout the school year.

Hello! I shared this with newsletter subscribers, but if you haven’t seen it yet, here is a yearlong elementary art lesson guide with lots of my favorite projects sorted by grade level. Each one links to a picture, blog post or lesson plan to help you get an idea of what the lesson is about. I’m posting this to help other people, because I know as a new teacher I felt overwhelmed trying to come up with lessons for every … Read more… →

What To Do On the First Day of Art Class

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Colorful watercolor frame with a paintbrush and palette surrounding the text "First Day of Art Class, Projects & Books.

Hello! I am already seeing lots of posts in Facebook groups asking what to do in the first few days of art class. In this post, I will walk you through what I plan to do this year in my classes. This is very similar to what I have done in other years. First, I start all classes with basic introductions and talking about the room and art class. We go over the rules and expectations. I use a video … Read more… →

Best Hacks for Art Teachers and Back to School Bundle

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Students’ art supplies, paint bottles, and artwork are shown with the text "23 Best Art Room Hacks" at the bottom—perfect tips for art teachers gearing up for back to school.

Are you looking for the best ways to save time, save money and spruce up your room? Of course you are! I teamed up with Glitter Meets Glue and some of my blogger friends to compile a list of 23 Art Room Hacks. Hop on over to Glitter Meets Glue to read this post. Back to School Resource Bundle As you are planning out your next year, be sure to think about how you will start the new school year. … Read more… →

Creative Sub Plans: Cut Paper Art Idea

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Paper collage of a campsite featuring a blue tent and a campfire, set against green hills and a sky with white clouds.

I found this post in my draft folder. I had written the post and then it was right before Covid hit, so somehow I missed posting it! This is one of my go-to sub plans. Use up the paper in your scrap bin and make a picture just using cut paper shapes. All you need to do to prepare is leave the scrap box available and provide a few examples. You can print these out or make your own! I … Read more… →

Summer Art Challenge 2024

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A colorful art project with paint splatters, a hand painting, and the text "Summer Art Challenge 2024 BINGO" overlaid on the scene.

It’s back! I used to host a Summer Art Challenge with my classes before Covid, but it kind of fell off the radar. I’ve decided to give it another go this year and see what cool stuff the kids come up with. Here’s how it works: I’ll hand out a list of art challenges for the kids to tackle over the summer. I’ll be slipping flyers into their lockers and including it in our final school newsletter. The kids can … Read more… →

Drawing Activities with Lynda Barry

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A drawing of a smiling monkey holding a heart that says "I'm so glad you're here!" with numerous hearts surrounding it on a whiteboard.

In April, I had the pleasure of attending the National Art Education Association conference in Minneapolis. I was really excited because Lynda Barry was going to be one of the keynote speakers. I have been a fan of her work for many years. Lynda is a comic/graphic novel artist, author and teacher and is known for her quirky, autobiographical work. Her raw and expressive comics encourage readers to explore their own creativity through writing and drawing. She has taught creative … Read more… →

Making Zines Art Project for Kids

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A display of six zines and comics on a striped fabric surface, including "A Simple Guide for Making Friends," "Life as an Axolotl," and others with various illustrations and text, showcases a creative art project for kids interested in making zines.

Yesterday I went to a really fun event called the Madison Print and Resist Zinefest. I have been to this before and it has always had loads of really interesting zines. I was on a mission this time though. I decided I am going to do a zine project with my classes and I wanted to find lots of interesting and unique “kid-friendy” zines. I will show you some pictures of the many zines that I picked up for your … Read more… →

Decorate a Lunch Bag- Service Learning Project

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Three hand-decorated lunch bags: one with sunflowers and a paw print, one with a large sunflower, and one with a rainbow, sun, and heart. Messages include "You are Pawsome" and "You Are Worth it!" This makes for an ideal service learning project.

Recently our school participated in a service learning project for all of our grades, K-8. The local senior center approached my co-worker Sharon who shared the project with me. The senior center was looking for students to decorate lunch bags to distribute to homebound seniors through the Meals on Wheels program. I thought this would be a great opportunity for our students to connect with the community and share kindness and cheer through their art. Here is an article from … Read more… →

Sweet New Children’s Book

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A sweet children's book titled "If You Are An Artist" by Meg Auchenbach, featuring an illustration of a child painting a rainbow with a butterfly nearby.

I came across a sweet new children’s book that I’d like to share with you. It is called If You Are an Artist, (Amazon affiliate link at no extra cost for you) by Meg Auchenbach. I always love finding new inspirational books for my young students and this one is a charming book that shows what it’s like to think as an artist. The illustrations are whimsical and the book is delightful. Before I buy a book I like to … Read more… →

Round-Up of Name Design Art Projects

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Book cover of "My Name" by Supriya Kelkar and Sandhya Prabhat, featuring an illustration of a child surrounded by various scenes of family, daily life, and name design art projects.

Hi! Today I have a round-up of Name Design art projects for you. Name projects are wonderful to do at the beginning of the year for a number of reasons. First, it is a great way to learn all your students’ names. Second, it’s a great way for students to share about themselves. You can easily tie in personal interests to name designs. Third, it’s a familiar subject matter to kids and a less intimidating way to start the year. … Read more… →

Giveaway- Drawing Games!

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Giveaway- Drawing Games!

Just in time for the holidays, I have a fun giveaway for 2 lucky readers. Two winners will each receive a copy of BOTH of the games pictured above. (USA only please) I learned about 2 new drawing games from Drawing Deck, LLC. They may look familiar to you because they also made the game Createures. My two kids at home made these monster drawings from the cards from the game! Aren’t they fun?! (Amazon Affiliate links have been used … Read more… →

  • Banner with colorful artwork promoting an art shop featuring kindness coloring pages, artist activities, and resources for teachers.