• Subscribe to Blog via Email

    Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

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

Art and the Brain: How do kids imagine their brains?

Art and the Brain:  How do kids imagine their brains?

[cryout-pullquote align=”left|center|right” textalign=”left|center|right” width=”100%”] How do you experience your brain? What does your brain do for you? How can you express the feelings of your brain? [/cryout-pullquote] Students at our school connected with a scientific researcher to create diverse and artistic representations of their brains.   I teach art at a school for gifted and talented children.  Our students are highly interested and curious about science, so when I was contacted by Ayla Kruis to work with her on a project … Read more…

Pinteresting Art Ideas!

Pinteresting Art Ideas!

It’s no secret art teachers love Pinterest.  In this new blog series, I will round up some of my favorite Pinspiration for art teachers.  If you’d like to see all of my Pins, follow me on Pinterest.  It’s a great way to plan projects, find handouts and ideas!  If you have other ideas that fit this theme, add them in the comment section. I was inspired to pick the theme of FACES for this blog post, because I came across … Read more…

Art Discussion Signs for Bulletin Boards

Art Discussion Signs for Bulletin Boards

I have been dreaming about how I will be setting up my art room next year, as we will be having two art rooms and I will have a lot more space!  The art discussion cards that I created have been popular and I thought that these questions would make an intriguing bulletin board. I designed 33 colorful signs with interesting art discussion prompts that can be used in classroom critiques or art history discussions.  There are 4 additional “title” … Read more…

Have You Ever Drawn Flowers with Watercolor Pencils?

Have You Ever Drawn Flowers with Watercolor Pencils?

The week after winter break was up in the air.  Due to construction, we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to use our art room and we didn’t know if we would have easy access to supplies.  I planned for most of my classes to complete observational drawings during that week period, since they all could use the same supplies and learning to observe the edges and shapes of objects is great training for the eye. It … Read more…

10 More Spirit Day Ideas for School!

10 More Spirit Day Ideas for School!

We are coming up with lots of good ideas for Spirit Days at our school. The first post on Spirit Day ideas was popular with Google searches, so I must not be the only one who is always on the look out for new and fresh ideas for fun days at school. Many art teachers wear multiple hats and end up leading groups like Student Council or plan school wide events.  Here are more Spirit Day ideas we came up … Read more…

“I Heard You Can Draw!” Book Review

“I Heard You Can Draw!”  Book Review

I was happy to receive a review copy of I Heard You Can Draw: A Story for Class Artists Everywhere, written by M. D. Savran, who is an art teacher and author/illustrator in the Tampa Bay area.  I’m always happy to support other art teachers! The description reads: “Sarah loves to draw. When Mrs. Earl catches her drawing a picture in math class, the entire second grade discovers her talent! Suddenly, everyone asks her to draw pictures for them (strange … Read more…

15 Favorite Posts from 2013

  Another year is rapidly coming to a close, so I thought I would spend some time reviewing my favorite projects and blog posts from this year.  Here are my favorite posts, in no particular order! 15.  How to Paint Gorgeous Clouds with Watercolor 14.  Clay Castles 13.  Postage Stamp Art Project 12.  Heart Photography Project with 3rd Grade 11.  25 Amazing Books for Teaching About Art 10.  Editorial cartoons are a unit I teach every year.  We even were … Read more…

Winter Food Drive Theme: A Blizzard of Hope

Winter Food Drive Theme:  A Blizzard of Hope

During the month of December, our Student Council is collecting canned and boxed food items for a local food pantry. Last year we had a “chain of giving” theme, where students could attach a colored chain (designated by grade level) to a long paper chain that traveled around the school. We wanted to have another theme this year that would encourage kids to bring in items.  The principal and some of our students came up with the idea of a … Read more…

Thanksgiving Wreath Project

Create a Thanksgiving wreath using colorful paper feathers and various colored feathers attached, with words written on them. This festive project adds a personal touch to your holiday decor.

Are you looking for a last-minute Thanksgiving craft to keep the kids occupied after your turkey dinner?  How about a “thankful wreath”? 1.  Cut out the inside of a paper plate, so only the rim is left. 2.  Cut out construction paper leaves and write one thing that you are thankful for on each leaf. 3.  Glue these to the paper plate.4.  Gather an assortment of fun “additions”:  cut out felt leaves, artificial or real fall leaves, foam stickers and … Read more…

5 Art Center Ideas to Try

5 Art Center Ideas to Try

If you are looking for some new art center ideas for your classroom, look no further!  Today I’m going to share with you 5 art centers my students have been enjoying lately. After visiting two choice-based art classrooms, I’ve decided to incorporate some free choice days into my class schedule.  I think it is important to let students try out different art materials and ideas at their own pace.  However, I am still continuing my art curriculum and will teach … Read more…

Lego Art Projects

Lego Art Projects

Our school is building an addition, so I thought projects related to “building” would be fun.  Legos are the perfect building blocks! So, we designed our own mini-figures with this template.  I originally saw this idea from The Art Teacher’s Closet. We also stamped with Legos (idea via Lego Stamping from Filth Wizardry).  Thanks to wonderful bloggers for these two ideas!  My students LOVED them!  They were so excited about these proejcts. Place your piece of paper on top of … Read more…

Summer Art Making!

Colorful collages featuring a mix of shapes, patterns, and text with cheerful designs and inspirational phrases evoke the joy of summer.

We went to Saugatuck, Michigan last week (bet you didn’t know that, because I pre-scheduled blog posts for that time.  You really should be careful what information you give out when you are leaving town. You don’t want to come back to a ransacked house!)  Anyways, we were gone for about 5 days and went to the Indiana Dunes and stayed in a cabin in Saugatuck.  We went with my brothers, nieces/nephews and my parents. We had a blast riding … Read more…

Lego Art Project Round-Up

Colorful background of LEGO bricks with the text 'LEGO Art Project Round-Up' in a yellow box at the center.

Keeping with the Lego theme, I thought I would round-up some of the coolest Lego art projects I’ve found on the internet.  Thanks to all these people for their awesome ideas! 1.  Lego Drawings from Shine Brite Zamorano 2.  Lego Stamping from Filth Wizardry 3.  Designing your own minifigure with this template Check out these cool lego figure designs from The Art Teacher’s Closet. Our school is building an addition, so I thought at the beginning of this coming school … Read more…

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