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

American Landscape Paintings with 3rd and 4th Grade

A watercolor painting of a hilly landscape with brown and green tones, depicting trees in the background, showcases elements of American landscape paintings.

  Just a few quick pictures of American landscape paintings that the third and fourth graders created.  A few summers ago I took a watercolor painting class which was very useful.  I used some of the techniques I learned in that class to teach them about how to use the fan brush and sponges to create texture.  The kids looked at photographs of landscapes from America and they learned about the Hudson River school of painters.       

Chinese Landscape Scroll Paintings for 3rd Grade

A child's painting of two mountains, a river, trees, and a small hut, displayed on green-bordered cloth, evokes the charm of 3rd grade artistry and Chinese landscape scroll paintings.

This 3rd grade lesson was related to the Chinese scroll paintings.  I have taught this lovely project for several years and I know I saw a version of it online when I first started teaching it.  I did some internet digging and this awesome scroll project from Oodles of Art looks like it might have been where I saw it. The students studied Asia in their classroom and we learned a little about Chinese art through a video:  Oriental Art- … Read more…

Studying African Masks: 3rd Grade

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

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.  

Clay Face Mugs- 3rd grade

A hand-crafted Clay Face Mug featuring bulging eyes, a red nose, and a wide orange mouth.

Making clay mugs with 3rd graders.. This is a great lesson that can be adaptable to pretty much any age.  I’ve taught this project with middle school students and had very successful results.  This is the youngest I’ve taught the clay face vase project and I think they did a very good job! Clay techniques used: rolling slabs and using a straight edge to cut a clay rectangle tracing a cutting a clay circle for the base forming facial features … Read more…

Cross Hatched Animal Drawings- 3rd and 4th grade

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…

Papermache Masks– 3rd and 4th grade

A colorful handmade mask painted in blue and green tones, adorned with feathers, inspired by Pacific Northwest Coast Masks.

This is an art project that I repeat every year, because it is such a great process for the kids… starting with an initial sketched idea, building an armature, applying paper mache, painting and adding embellishments.  I tie this lesson to the Pacific Northwest Coast masks. You can see masks from previous years here and the process photos here. Thank you if you voted for me in the Art Ed blog of the year contest!  While I did not place … Read more…

Holiday Round Up

Holiday-themed paper backgrounds with white paper snowflake cutouts arranged in a grid pattern.

Two of my classes made pictures frames like these: They turned out really cute and I did not take pictures until after the kids glued their pictures in, so I did not want to post any of the frames with their pictures in it. This year, I did not do too many holiday art projects, but here is a round-up of some that I have done in the past. Sock Snowmen  Snowflakes with Glitter Snowglobe Pictures Picture Frame with Tooling … Read more…

Mixed Media Canvases with Kids

Colorful abstract painting with floral patterns, vibrant hues, text reading "love," and decorative border designs, created using mixed media techniques.

Thanks for your kind comments about my fingers!  They are actually healing much faster than I expected. As you might know, I am a lover of all things mixed media!  I also enjoy occasionally teaching an after school art workshop for my students (I’d love to do more, but since my daughter goes to daycare it’s a bit tricky.)  I thought painted canvases would be a great gift for kids to give someone in their family, so I decided to … Read more…

African Cloth Painting– 3rd Grade

Child's colorful drawing of a green turtle with a brown shell and a red border, featuring yellow corner decorations, resembles an African Cloth Painting.

The Intermediates (grade 3) are studying Africa in their Social Studies class.  We learned about the African Korhogo Clothes.  See this link for more details. This project focused on how symbols are used in African art.  The students designed their own painted Korhogo cloth on muslin.  They decorated the border with symbols and drew their main figure with Sharpie.  Then, they added paint with watercolor.

Artsy Christmas Presents for Kids

A collection of colorful art supplies including markers, index cards, and a sign that reads "Artsy Christmas Presents".

Are you wondering what to get a child in your family for the holidays?  As an art teacher, I see what the kids really like and what they gravitate towards to when they are given free time in art. These are some popular items for kids that I have personally used and recommend.  Most of these can be found at your local Target or Michaels (or other craft/art store).  Don’t forget to print off a coupon online if you are … Read more…

Insect Habitat– Lesson Plan– 3rd Grade

Colorful caterpillar craft made from painted egg cartons and cardboard wings, set against a paper flower background, designed as an engaging 3rd Grade lesson plan.

Third graders worked together to make an insect habitat on large butcher paper.  They had been studying habitats in their Science class. We used Model Magic, beads, pipe cleaners and corrugated paper to make the insects and oil pastels to color them.  The kids did a great job, but I’m not sure how I feel about Model Magic… we’ve been having a tough time getting the pieces to stay together.  Some of the heads and body parts had to be … Read more…

3rd Grade Color Mixing and Self Portraits

A 3rd-grade child's drawing of a person with glasses and brown hair, raising both hands. The bright, abstract background showcases playful color mixing.

These 3rd grade self-portraits were charming and delightful.  We spent two class periods mixing colors for the background.  Each student experimented with combining colors to see what would happen.  Then, we used construction paper to make the faces and markers to add details.  I guided them step-by-step with tips for drawing and placing the features.  The students used mirrors when drawing their features. 

Grid Design for Sketchbook Cover

Grid design featuring a multi-colored diamond pattern with cut-out letters scattered on top.

The 3rd/4th grade class used a grid format to design their sketchbook cover.  I am loving using grids in my personal artwork.  I am doing a series of grid mixed media paintings which you can see here, here and here, and oh yeah here too.   To prepare for this lesson, I drew a 1 inch square grid on a piece of 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper.  Then, I photocopied it for the class.  Here’s a trick.. if you cut … Read more…

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