• Subscribe to Blog via Email

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

    Join 4,620 other subscribers
  • Banner with colorful artwork promoting an art shop featuring kindness coloring pages, artist activities, and resources for teachers.

Collograph Prints: 2nd Grade

Abstract art with black shapes, a blue circle, a red triangle, and green and yellow blocks on a white background, resembling the creativity seen in 2nd-grade collograph prints.

These collograph prints by 2nd graders were made by gluing cut out foam letters and shapes to a piece of cardboard.  The kids drew and cut out their own foam letters and shapes, but I also had a selection of other foam pieces to add. We tied this project to the art of Jasper Johns. Before rolling and printing the plates, the kids glued shapes of colored paper on their background, so there would be some color showing through. Then, … Read more…

Dr. Suess Architecture– 2nd grade

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…

Pop Art pictures: 2nd grade

Six colorful Campbell's Tomato Soup cans, each showcasing different Pop Art designs, celebrate 50 years of Andy Warhol's iconic artwork.

“Don’t think about making art, just get it done.  Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it.  While they are deciding, make even more art.” Andy Warhol The 2nd graders learned about Andy Warhol.  We read Getting to Know Andy Warhol, by Mike Venezia and we viewed a short video about the artist.  The students drew themselves while looking in a mirror.  Then, I photocopied each drawing so the students had multiple … Read more…

Tissue Paper Fun

Two tissue paper stained glass artworks hang in a window, one with blue-green shapes and the other with red-orange hearts.

Our last summer art workshop was a fun one!  We decoupaged tissue paper on to glass vases.  The cylindrical ones could be candle holders.  We tore and cut tissue paper and adhered them to the glasses with Matte Medium.  I hate the smell of mod-podge, so I rarely use it.  I get headaches from it, does anyone else?  I figure if I get headaches from it, it probably is not good for the kids to inhale.  This Blick Matte Medium … Read more…

Body Pictures– Summer Camp

A large paper with a child’s drawing of a person, decorated with various items and colors, is displayed in a classroom.

I am teaching 3 summer art sessions.  Each session is two hours long with one or two art projects.  For this session, I had 2 students going into 4/5th grade, 2 students who just finished kindergarten, and one student going into kindergarten.  It was a small class, which was perfect for this project, since the pictures were LARGE. To start, we traced our bodies on large butcher paper.  Then, we outlined them with markers and used collage materials (magazine images, … Read more…

Clay Flowers in Pots- 2nd Grade

Colorful handmade clay flowers with painted pots and various decorations placed on a table in an art studio.

This is a picture-heavy post!! The 2nd graders reminded me that we had not done any clay this year yet! How could that be? So I decided to try this project that I come up with based on a clay flower in a pot that my sister-in-law has. I’m not sure where she got the flower but I think it was picked up at an art fair or something… We used regular firing clay, acrylic paints, beads, and a flower … Read more…

Treasure Boxes– After School Art Class

A hand holds a colorful small opened box with a decorated interior and exterior.

  We made Treasure Boxes at an after school art class that I taught this month.  The students were in grades K-6 (about 12 kids).    I picked up cigar boxes from a local shop and the kids were able to decorate them with the plethora of supplies I had. We used wall paper scraps, wrapping paper, magazines, stickers, scrapbook papers…. colored tape… Each kid could decorate the box however they wanted. I showed them pictures of Joseph Cornell‘s mysterious … Read more…

Insects, Spiders, Bugs and More– 2nd Grade

Colorful drawing of various insects, including caterpillars, ladybugs, and spiders, on a textured background.

The second graders drew a bug of their choice on white paper.  I had photos for reference and showed them how to use the pencil to create shading and how to blend it with a blending stub.  (I call them “smudgy sticks”).  Later, they cut out their bug and glued it to another background page. The students looked at this image by Louise Bourgeois and answered some discussion questions about the artwork. Then, they filled out a sheet which prompted … Read more…

Collographs– 2nd grade

Stacked artistic paper cards with colorful numbers, letters, and symbols in purple, blue, and green on a table, ideal for engaging 2nd-grade students in creative activities.

  2nd grade Collographs:We read about the art of Jasper Johns. He used everyday, ordinary images and created art so people would view them in a new way.  We made a collograph printing plate using letters and numbers cut from foam, alphabet letters, cardboard and foam shapes.  Then we printed them on white paper.  For some of these, we glued colorful shapes on the paper before we printed.

Beach Paintings

Childlike drawing of a person in swimwear on a beach with a blue ocean and flying seagulls in the background.

To make these fun beach paintings, we started off with a mixture of blue paints and the kids used forks to scrape wave lines on them.  Then, we used sea sponges to sponge prints shades of sand colors on the beach. Then, the kids drew and cut out things that would be on a beach.  Many of the kids got creative and had things popping up off the picture. Some of the kids decided to make waves that rolled off … Read more…

Self Portraits in the Style of Andy Warhol

A grid of nine colorful pop art portraits of a person touching their face, styled in various bright color combinations.

Self Portraits in the Style of Andy Warhol 2nd grade             How are tools properly used in the art room?  What is a self-portrait?  What is Pop art?  These are the questions the 2nd graders explored in their first unit.  The students learned about proportion and drawing a human face.  They used mirrors to draw themselves and these were photocopied four times.  Pop art was discussed and they learned about Andy Warhol by reading a book and watching a video. … Read more…

Old School Lesson Plans

Colorful geometric drawing of a cat sitting with a serious expression against an abstract background.

During the summer, I’m going to dig back to some of my old lesson plans that I had posted on artsonia.com to show to you.  Maybe I will revisit these again during the upcoming school year.  This was favorite of mine and I don’t know why I stopped teaching it. The pictures all turned out gorgeous. CUBIST CATS  for Second GradeThe kids learned about Picasso and his dynamic, fragmented Cubist artwork. 1.  First we did a step-by-step drawing of a … Read more…

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