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Category Archives: second grade

Fingerprint Plates for School Auction

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A hand-painted plate with a panda holding colorful balloons, surrounded by butterflies, featuring the text "Upper Primaries 2017-2018." This delightful piece would make a wonderful item for a School Auction.

We made 3 fingerprint plates for our school auction. The materials we used were Bisque fired dinner plates from Mayco. Underglaze in various colors Fine line writer bottle (filled with glaze) Clear Gloss Glaze The first was a Dr. Seuss themed “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” plate for the Kindergartners.  The fish are made from their fingerprints. The second was a bird plate for the 1st graders.  All of the birds were made from the kids’ fingerprints.  Their … Read more… →

Digital Tessellations on Amaziograph- My Daughter’s Artwork!

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Pattern of cute, cream-colored cat faces with black eyes and whiskers on a blue background, created using Amaziograph.

This month we were very proud that my 2nd grade daughter’s artwork was selected to be in her school’s Youth Art Month show at the public library.   This is Daria below, with her art teacher, Ms. Tuttle. They have their own iPads they carry with them at school (which is very cool and I am starting to wish we had at our school!).  They have done a lot of things on them in their regular classroom, like making presentations on … Read more… →

“Not Just a Scribble” Creatures

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“Not Just a Scribble” Creatures

(Affiliate links are used in this blog post, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting Art is Basic!) In my last blog post, I told you about a children’s book called I’m Not Just a Scribble. The author, Diane Alber, gave us a behind the scenes interview about her process and her future books. After reading this book, some of my students in grades K-3 created these cute scribble creatures with BIG personalities! (The one on the … Read more… →

I’m Not Just a Scribble: Children’s Book Author Interview

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Colorful crayon artwork with a rainbow, clouds, and flowers, featuring a happy stick figure with glasses at the bottom—ideal for a children's book.

(Amazon Affiliate links are used in this post at no extra cost to you.) Have you heard of the book I’m Not Just a Scribble… ?   “Scribble, the book’s main character, never thought he was different until he met his first drawing.  Then, after being left out because he didn’t look like everyone else, Scribble teaches the drawings how to accept each other for who they are.  Which enables them to create amazing art together!”-  from the book’s description. I’m … Read more… →

Bird and Nest Art Project

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Two paper birds with colorful feathers in brown nests. Text: "Bird & Nest Art Project" at the bottom.

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… →

New! Texture Rubbing Practice Sheet

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New! Texture Rubbing Practice Sheet

Easy, simple, fun! Brand new in my shop, a texture rubbing practice sheet.  Use this handy sheet as a practice for making texture rubbings. Kids love using crayons to make texture rubbings, but they don’t always realize that they can use them to color inside a shape. Peel various color crayons. Place a texture plate under the paper. I have used the Melissa & Doug Shade-Tex plates. Hold the crayons on the side and rub over the paper to reveal … Read more… →

Cylinder Sculptures for Kids

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Cylinder Sculptures for Kids

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.

Free Printable: Faith Ringgold Inspired Quilt Template

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A child's drawing of a family surrounded by a colorful mosaic frame, with a hand resting at the bottom, inspired by Faith Ringgold.

Hi!  I’m here today to share with you a meaningful art project for your younger students.  This would be good as as a “getting to know you” activity.  The following examples were all made by kindergartners near the end of the year, but I would think this lesson would be suitable for kids through grades 2. Many art teachers have taught about the artist Faith Ringgold and had their students create paper quilts.  I have a free printable for you … Read more… →

Train Track Mural Drawings

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Train Track Mural Drawings

If you would like a fun activity for a group of young kids or even your own little train enthusiastic, try this railroad track mural art project!  My students worked in groups of 3 or more.  First, they assembled a train track with wooden tracks.  This took a lot of planning and collaboration.  They needed to work together as a team to get the tracks to fit on their piece of paper.   After the groups were satisfied with their … Read more… →

Art Using Train Tracks

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Wooden train tracks and drawing activities. Blank outline drawing of train tracks colored in vibrant patterns and artful designs.

In my last blog post, I reviewed the book Old Tracks, New Tricks.  It is a super cute and creative book. The book itself is good for up to about 1st or 2nd grade, in my opinion.  The kids at my school saw me drawing this train track picture and some of the 3rd graders wanted to try it.  I’m thinking 1st through 3rd grade might be best for this art project.  I will test it with the Kindergartners and … Read more… →

Talking Sticks

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Talking Sticks

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… →

Abstract Shape Collages and Artist Reggie Laurent

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Abstract painting with colorful, irregular shapes and patterns. Artist Reggie Laurent's influence is evident in the vibrant abstract shape collages.

Reggie Laurent:  Contemporary Artist Reggie Laurent is a self-taught artist living in Georgia.  He creates very intricate abstract shape paintings.  I saw his paintings online and I was immediately drawn to all of the fun patterns and colors. My first graders learned about his abstract pictures. They are filled with lots of different shapes, fitted together like a puzzle.  His artworks are highly detailed and very colorful. Student Shape Collages The students learned about and used organic (freeform) and geometric shapes … Read more… →

Clay Wall Hangings: 2nd Grade

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Clay Wall Hangings: 2nd Grade

Here is a fun and easy project that I taught to my 2nd graders.  We used regular firing clay and gloss glazes. Here is a video I made for my students to demo how to make the wall hangings.  This was before I got my new camera so the quality isn’t as great. Cassie Stephens has done a similar wall hanging project with just the initials.  Next year, I might try that! 

Chicks at School

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Handmade art of three yellow chicks with feathers on paper, ideal for school projects or classroom decoration.

We have some chicks at school.  Chicks, like baby chickens. One of the science teachers taught the kids about the life cycle of chickens and the kids watched as the eggs were incubated and hatched. They grow so quickly! With all the excitement of the hatching chicks, the students were thrilled to create some chick artwork.  Here is a mural/bulletin board that students in grades 2-3 worked together on. Next, we did a step-by-step project in kindergarten to make a … Read more… →

Showing Depth in Landscapes: 2nd Grade Drawing Project

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Showing Depth in Landscapes: 2nd Grade Drawing Project

My second graders recently learned about simple ways to show depth in an artwork. I gave a demonstration on my new document camera and showed them how rivers and roads that go back in space would be wider in the front and narrower in the back.  I demonstrated how things that were far in the distance would be smaller than things in the front.  The use of overlap is also a way to show depth.  I showed the students this … Read more… →

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