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Category Archives: drawing

2nd Grade Oil Pastel Landscapes

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A child's drawing featuring a river, mountains, palm trees, a small house, and a pond under a blue sky. This delightful landscape appears to be made using oil pastels by a 2nd grader.

This oil pastel drawing project is inspired by the artwork of Paul Gauguin, in particular his painting Tahitian Landscape. To build up a little enthusiasm, when the kids arrived to class there was an envelope at their seat.  I told them to open the envelope and see what was inside.  I had printed off pictures of Tahitian Landscape, laminated them and then cut them into puzzle pieces.  The kids worked quickly to put together the puzzles.  Then, I introduced the … Read more… →

Contour Line Shoe Drawings by 3rd and 4th Graders

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A child's drawing of a large boot features tiny buildings and people around it, including a castle, cafe, and shops. The scene bursts with the creativity you might find in 4th Graders' artwork.

Take off your shoes and make yourself comfortable. This fun lesson is perfect to teach observational drawing with minimal supplies and easy set up. 1.  Take off a shoe. 2.  Observe the lines, shapes and contours of the shoe. 3.  Concentrate and draw all of the lines you see on the shoe.  Don’t forget the little details, such as shoelaces, the tongue and any patterns you see on the shoe. *Optional Step*  Enlarge the shoe drawings on a photocopier. 4.  … Read more… →

Making Bookmarks with Kids

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Making Bookmarks with Kids

Our local public library partnered with us to have a bookmark contest.  The kids in grades K-5 each designed a bookmark based on a favorite book.  We provided a template for them to compose their drawing. The library will pick a number of winners to print as bookmarks for distribution at the library.  We’ve done this before at school and when the designs were returned to us, we chose other designs and copied them at an office store on card … Read more… →

Greek Vase Chalk Drawings– 4th and 5th Grade

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Greek Vase Chalk Drawings– 4th and 5th Grade

We are on Spring Break now, so I’m going to use this time to catch up on some blog posts!  I have a lot of projects that are finished that I have started writing posts about.  How about you?  How many blog posts do you currently have in your “draft” folder? Here is a lesson on drawing Greek vases that I teach to my 4th and 5th graders.  We start by reading the Scholastic Art issue about Greek pottery.  It … Read more… →

Studying African Masks: 3rd Grade

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Colorful, abstract face drawing with geometric shapes and patterns, featuring a big head, prominent eyebrows, and dots. The design is inspired by African masks.

The 3rd graders studied Africa in their social studies classroom and we learned about African masks in art class. The students watched a video that explained about the functions of masks, celebrations, rituals and materials used to make the masks.  (Crizmac Tribal Designs video)   Using markers, the third graders drew their own masks.  The students were encouraged to include human and/or animal features and to personalize the masks with colors and designs of their own choosing. When we made … Read more… →

Perspective “Viewing Rooms” 3rd/4th grade

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A surreal underwater hallway with a rainbow ceiling and black-and-white checkered floor, where the walls are adorned with sea life, provides an intriguing perspective.

I teach one-point perspective every year to the 3rd/4th grade class.  In the past couple of years I typically have taught city perspective drawings.  I saw this fantastic aquarium perspective lesson from Once upon an Art Room (grade 7), and I just had to try it with my little ones.  Some of the kids liked the aquarium idea and others changed them into viewing rooms for other animals.  We had wildlife sanctuaries, zoos and aquariums.  

Kindergarten Matching Mittens Painting with Oil Pastels

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Kindergarten Matching Mittens Painting with Oil Pastels

This art project is an oldie, but a goodie.  I’m not sure where I first saw this project.  I think maybe one of the other art teachers taught this lesson in one of my previous school districts.  I have seen some lovely variations of this project online.  Here is a beautiful one from Pixels and Paintbrushes.  It looks like we were both working on them at the same time.  🙂 We began by tracing mitten templates on a piece of … Read more… →

Editorial Cartoons for 4th, 5th and 6th Grade

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Editorial Cartoons for 4th, 5th and 6th Grade

Teaching about editorial cartoons is a great way to bring current events into the classroom. Every year our students in grades 4th-8th participate in a local editorial cartoon contest.  The students watch a video about editorial cartoons and they discuss, analyze and interpret current editorial cartoons.  Cartoons for the Classroom is an excellent resource for lesson plans about editorial cartoons.  If you are going to teach about editorial cartoons, this website is a must-see.  The cartoon templates we used are … 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

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… →

Name Pattern Designs

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A colorful, symmetrical piece with geometric patterns, featuring pink, blue, green, and yellow hues.

This is a great project that ties together math, art, and social studies.  We looked at the repeating patterns and shapes in Islamic tile designs (they are studying Islam in social studies) for inspiration. The tutorial for this project is in a blogpost I made earlier.  The only difference is that this year we used light tables to trace the image through the triangles.

Egyptian Sarcophagus Drawings– 4th/5th grade

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This colorful drawing of sarcophagus features vibrant patterns and a stylized human head with long hair.

As much as possible, I like to tie in art projects to what the students are learning in their other classrooms.  The 4th/5th grade class studies ancient civilizations and has a big unit on Egypt. In art class, I showed them a long slideshow about Egyptian art and architecture. Then, the students made a sarcophagus drawing. They all started with a shape tracer for the sarcophagus.  I don’t often use tracers, but once in awhile, I think it helps to … Read more… →

Dr. Suess Architecture– 2nd grade

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Colorful abstract drawing with wavy lines and spiral patterns, reminiscent of Dr. Seuss architecture. Dominant colors are yellow, green, red, and blue.

The 2nd graders studied Dr. Suess books in their classroom.  In art class, I showed them the art of Dr. Suess.  Did you know he made paintings and sculptures?  I showed them this book: The Secret Art of Dr. Suess.. a must-have for art teachers teaching about Dr. Suess!  I love his artwork. Fantastic, whimsical, charming!  There are a few pictures in there better left for adults, so photocopy the pages you want the kids to see and pass them … Read more… →

Coloring Book

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A coloring book with a vibrant, doodle-filled cover.

I just wanted to share with you this cool Doodlers Anonymous coloring book link.  I have a drawing that is going to be in the coloring book!  I can’t wait to see it.  (I haven’t been paid to promote the book, but I just wanted to share my good news!) “The anticipated Volume II of the Doodlers Anonymous coloring book features the doodles and drawings of 60 artists from around the globe – some fresh novices, others seasoned veterans, all … Read more… →

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