Category Archives: Uncategorized

What is better than drawing? Bringing in your favorite stuffed animals from home to draw, of course! Allowing students to choose their subject matter from things that are important to them will spark interest and excitement. Allowing students to share their stuffed animals with others to draw is a great way to foster interactions and positive connections in the class. Don’t forget to have extras on hand in case some kids forget! Send an email to parents or a note … Read more… →

I saw this on Donna Downey‘s blog who saw it on where else, but Pinterest, of course!  Doesn’t it sum up why most of us blog?  One of the reasons I started blogging was because I discovered that there were so many good art teacher blogs out there and I was getting so many good ideas from them, that I thought I should share some of my own.  When I was going through college and first started teaching, the internet … Read more… →

Sometimes I like to let the kids loose with a box of supplies and minimal instruction. I photocopied some pages from Lynda Barry’s book and showed them to the first graders. In the box were paper scraps, magazines, strips of scrapbook paper and random stickers. Isn’t this raw and beautiful?

First, we looked at the art of Bridget Riley and the Op art movement.  We read a Scholastic Art issue which features this style of art.  If you don’t get these magazines, they are a great investment.  Each year, we subscribe for a class set of this magazine.  Then, I save them each year in an envelope labeled with the issue’s title.  After several years, you will have a collection of lots of subjects to choose from.  Both of these … Read more… →

These pictures are based on the book Elmer!  I love this book and the colorful elephants.  The kids drew their own elephants and colored them with fun patterns.  The borders were made by cutting up and gluing strips of wrapping paper and neon cardstock. And I want to remind you of this fun game that my students enjoy using in their free art time.  It is a blast:  PICK and DRAW

This is a playground!  Do you see the mini-Coke cans for sale? Here are some of our finished assemblages. These were made by 4th and 5th graders. This is a town square, with a fountain, pool and snack shop. Ice cream for sale. the pool!

The first graders learned about artists that make art about underwater life. Then, they used markers and water to create a watercolor effect.  They drew the fish with water soluble markers and then used a paintbrush and water to blend the colors.  Later, they used blue spray ink to create the background. Here is the slideshow I showed them:

This is one of my favorite projects all year.  I know it is one of the kids favorite projects too.  The 5th/6th graders study the Medieval period in their Social Studies class.  In Art class, we have done a variety of Medieval art.  In this project, the student build paper mache knights.   This year, some of the kids chose to build horses out of Model Magic too. That made things a bit more challenging and complicated for them.   … Read more… →

My husband has hobbies too!  He is really into building Legos now and he even started his own lego blog.  I think the title of his blog is cute and I love the picture he put on his heading.  Let me tell you, between my art related and scrapbooking hobbies and his Lego/Magic/comic book collections, we have no shortage of STUFF around here!  Anyways… there are no official Lego stores in Madison where we live, but one JUST opened an … Read more… →

Finally!  My copy of the magazine has arrived. Featuring magazine was started by the lovely Marit in the Netherlands.  It is about art journaling, mixed media and other arts.   She had a call for submissions and applications to be a contributing editor and I was thrilled when my article and application were accepted.   After several months of brainstorming, interviewing and writing.. plus the countless hours Marit and her husband spent with layout, editing, printing and everything else… the magazine … Read more… →

Here are some more of our painted fabrics.  They doodled on the muslin fabric with Sharpies… graffiti-style!  Then, we used liquid watercolor paints (with a little bit of water) in spray bottles and stencils to spray over them with color.  These are all going to be cut up and used in fabric collages. 

I was going through my old emails and I found this one from a parent.  He had told me about this at parent-teacher conferences.  His daughter had made some art using backyard materials.. all natural!  She is a fourth grade student and very creative.  “Backyard Sushi”

The first graders made these utterly adorable birds in nests this week. We first made nests.  We used tinfoil to shape a nest-like shape.  Then I mixed up some goopy paper-clay and the kids covered their tinfoil nests with the goop.  Little sticks, hay and pebbles were added to the goop before it dried. Here are the steps we used to make the birds.We used Crayola Model Magic.  A big secret I discovered is that if you squirt hand-lotion on … Read more… →

And the winner is….. Katie Morris!  Email me your address and you will get a copy of the Pick and Draw game. I went to a party at my sister-in-law’s house and they had these very cute cupcakes there!