This slideshow I found in my archives from 2017. I think this is a project worth revisiting next year. It provides a lot of open-ended decision making and idea generation. You can also tie it in to the famous artist Joseph Cornell and his shadow boxes.
Here is a fun 3-d project I did with my 3rd-5th grade classes as an asynchronous (at-home) art project. We have been hybrid for a little while and some of my classes are still fully virtual. I have been giving out asynchronous assignments and then having 1 live (either in person or virtual) art class per week as well. I found this handout online from Shoshy Art, which inspired this project. I created a step-by-step video for my students. Here … Read more…
I often like to connect what we are doing in art to what they have learned about in science class. Insects can provide a lot of inspiration for artists. The colors and designs in insects can be intricate, beautiful and amazing. Start by showing the students pictures of many types of insects (or collect real ones, if you are brave.) Talk about the parts of an insect.. head, abdomen, thorax, antennae, wings. Looking at reference photos and begin sketching insects. … Read more…
This 12,000 brick model of the Wisconsin State Capitol building was built by my husband Andrew. It was commissioned by the Madison Children’s Museum to help celebrate the 100th birthday of the building. Hear about this project in his own words. 1. How did this opportunity come about? “I was contacted by the Children’s Museum after the staff found a picture online of a much smaller version of the Capitol that I had built. They were interested in commissioning a LEGO model … Read more…
My 1st graders had a blast making these found object puppets from recycled materials. We read this book by Hanoch Piven. To get the full lesson plan with materials list, parental note, background info and student reflection sheet visit my Teachers Pay Teachers shop to download.
Earlier I wrote a tutorial on how to make sailboats from milk cartons. My 1st grade students have finished making their sailboats. Here are some of their finished projects! After the boats were made, the students drew pictures of their boats. I had stuffed animals available if they wanted to draw a stuffed animal in the boat. Have you ever made boats with your kids?
What could be more fun than fairy houses and gnome homes? I don’t know, but let me know if you find out! I’ve discovered that kids love 1) Open-ended projects 2) Getting to choose from a huge pile of random, colorful materials 3) Miniature things  4) Using their imagination.  This project is a winner for all of these reasons. I saw a question on an art teacher Facebook group which reminded me of this project my 4th/5th grade students did … Read more…
My 1st graders are working on these fun boats now to go along with their explorer unit. Okay, I know they are not really explorer ships, but we can pretend, right? And they are so fun and cute. The kids love them! How to Make a Boat:  Gather empty milk cartons from the lunch room. Wash and wash again to get rid of all those icky germs. Let dry overnight.  Use a utility knife to cut the milk carton down … Read more…
How does ART fit into STEM? STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math This month’s Art Ed Blogger’s Network topic is STEAM. How do art teachers approach STEAM in the classroom? Should art teachers embrace STEAM? There are many different opinions on STEAM. Personally, I like to bring in different subjects to the art room. I think it’s great that so many of our art projects involve other disciplines. However, I also think art for arts sake is important too. … Read more…
Visual textures are implied textures you can see such as cloudy, shiny, and windy and can be drawn as such. The opposite of visual texture is tactile texture which is texture that you can feel. Feathers, yarn, ribbon and tissue paper are used to add real texture in this sculpture project featured in this blog post. There are many ways to teach about texture including metal tooling, clay and sculpture (like you will see here.) This bird in a nest art … Read more…
I saw this post by the Art Bar Blog which gave me the idea to make these cylinder sculptures with my 1st graders.  We started with toilet paper tubes and paper rectangles rolled into tubes.  The best way to adhere these is to pour out some liquid glue onto a paper plate, then stick the ends of the tubes into the glue. We also used washi tape, colorful straws, pipe cleaners and pom-poms for added interest and texture.
Thank you to all who entered the Beautiful Oops journal giveaway.  The winner has been randomly chosen and notified… and that winner is Amanda Shaw.  Congratulations! When I was at the NAEA conference two years ago, I saw a station where people were making wooden Kokeshi dolls in the vendor area.  Every time I walked by it, either it was too full or I had to be on my way somewhere else.  So, I didn’t make one.  But, I found … Read more…
This is a project from the archives.  I used to teach a combined 5th/6th grade class until this year.  Every year, we made medieval paper mache figures.  The 5/6s studied the Medieval period in their social studies class.  We used newspaper and foil to create the armature of these figures.  Then, we applied paper mache over the body.  Model magic or air dry clay was used to make the heads.  Model magic actually works the best, in my opinion.  Clothes, … Read more…
I forgot to share these pictures of our display when I wrote the blog post about Talking Sticks. Â My co-worker Jayne taught the lesson behind these talking sticks which were Tree of Life acrylic paintings on canvas boards. Â They were done by middle school kids. Â Aren’t they gorgeous?
The talking stick is used in many Native American traditions. Whoever holds the stick has the right to talk.  The talking stick is used to make sure that each person in a group has a chance to express his or her own thoughts. Everyone else has to show respect and remain silent. When the speaker is finished talking, he or she passes the stick. My 2nd graders created beautiful sticks with wire, chenille stems, beads, feathers and paint to be used as … Read more…
