Here is a fun and seasonal art project for kids that can teach about the element of space. I did this project with my 1st graders. The first step is to paint stripes of green on a large piece of paper. We used watercolor paints. Wait for the paint to dry. Cut a piece of white paper down the middle to make hills of snow. Glue the white paper to a blue background. Next, cut the painted paper into triangles … Read more…
I have a new art lesson plan to show you! I wrote this for a substitute lesson, but you can make it as simple or complex as you want to. My students were very interested in watching me design my snowman picture and they were amazed at how detailed the background was, but also they felt confident they could create a Pop Art snowman picture of their own. This lesson is available for purchase in my shop and includes Snowman … Read more…
I used this simple “Snowflake Starter” to help my 1st and 2nd graders draw their own snowflakes. This is a great way to teach about radial symmetry. If you are going to use watercolor paints or glue thicker materials on to the paper, print the templates onto thicker cardstock. Simply draw shapes or designs on the spokes of the snowflake. If you draw something on one line, make sure to repeat the same shape or design all the way around. … Read more…
My kindergartners recently made these pretty coffee filter snowflakes. Â The process is simple. Â First, color the coffee filter with Crayola washable markers. Â Then spray with water. Â The colors will run and blend together. Â Let dry. During the next class, fold the circle in half three times. Â Cut out shapes as you would a regular snowflake. Â Unfold and glue to a black piece of paper. Add designs with metallic paint markers or Crayola Metallic Markers.
One type of art skill that I haven’t been the best at consistently teaching in my classroom is sewing.  I was reminded of how you can sew on burlap after seeing some painted and stitched leaves at my daughter’s school.  My third/fourth grade classes were often asking me if they could sew and I already had a lot of yarn and a roll of burlap at school. I wanted to share this idea with you quickly without a whole lot of … Read more…
Are you looking for a fun new way to make snowmen with your kids? I got the idea to use makeup remover pads from Happy Hooligans. I did this project with 1st graders. Start by mixing shades of blue paint with white and other cool colors. Explain to kids that when you mix white with a color, it makes a lighter tint of that color. Paint a background for your snowmen. Let it dry. Next, set out makeup remover pads, … Read more…
Ah, winter break! It is the perfect time to catch up on blog posts. We did a few winter themed projects before the break. Some of my students made adorable snowman puppets. We used white poster board to cut out a body and then glued or taped a jumbo craft stick to the back. We cut out hats, arms, clothing and accessories for our snowmen. Some of the materials used were felt, foam shapes, buttons, construction paper, washi tape and … Read more…
Thank you, Patty Palmer, for this fun penguin collage project idea! We used paint dotters to paint the backgrounds instead of paintbrushes (and I also didn’t get out all the extra collage supplies because so much of our stuff is in storage right now), but otherwise, you can see the steps on Patty’s website.
The week before winter break, the first graders made colorful coffee filter snowflakes. 1. Color the coffee filters with washable markers. 2. Spray with a water bottle and watch the colors magically spread like tie-dye. Allow to dry overnight. 3. The next day, fold the circle into half and then half again and half again. Cut out little shapes and pieces of the coffee filter. 4. Glue the snowflake on to a colored piece of construction paper. Glue on confetti, … Read more…
Aren’t these fantastic? I love these pop-up winter scenes. Guess what? I just made a companion Facebook page for my blog! I thought it would be fun to have another avenue to easily share all kinds of artsy inspiration I come across. Most of the Facebook updates will be links to other blogs, articles and interesting artistic things I find around the web. Of course, I will also share things about my blog, but MOST of the posts will be … Read more…
I was inspired by the polar bears at We Heart Art so I taught a painting project with my 2nd graders. The students could choose to paint either a polar bear or snowman with white paint. Hats, scarves, snow and facial features were drawn on with oil pastels or cut from the scrap box.
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…
My posting is going to be limited for a little while.  I burnt four of my fingers on a hot glue gun yesterday and had to go to the urgent care. Basically the glue dripped on four fingers on my left hand… I was sitting in the teacher’s lounge peeling the hot glue off my fingers and crying. Definitely a shock to the system. They are ok now… just some throbbing on and off.  I ordered low temp glue … Read more…
2nd Grade Winter Landscapes For this project, we read a book about Grandma Moses: Grandma Moses (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists) We discussed how to draw a river or road showing depth (by drawing it converging to a point in the distance). We talked about using size variation to show distance while drawing houses and other objects. The students cut out mountains from gray paper and a snowy patch from white paper (I walked them through this step-by-step). … Read more…
These were some pictures we made today with the third graders. The kids used markers and construction paper crayons to draw their snow scene on the globe. Then they added white paint dots for snow. Some glued on white fluff as well. topped snowman!
