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Paper Masks and Paper Sculpture Techniques

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Paper Sculpture Techniques Poster

These lovely paper masks were made by my second graders.  The students learned different paper manipulation techniques including controlled tearing, punching paper with Fiskars squeeze punchers, cutting with paper edgers , crimping paper with a paper crimper, making forms, cutting spirals, folding zigzags and more. I created a poster with paper manipulation techniques using ideas that I had seen on other sculpture posters, like this one.   I should have made a poster like this years ago.  I have referred students … Read more… →

Printing with Cardboard Strips: First Grade

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Easy Printmaking: Stamping with Cardboard Strips

My first graders created these unique and expressive pictures by stamping with pieces of cardboard. Here’s how you can print with cardboard.  First, cut pieces of cardboard into strips small enough for young kids to easily hold.  Pour a bit of black paint on to newspaper.  Dip the edge of the strip into the paint and stamp on your paper.  The black lines of the faces were all made by stamping with cardboard.  After the paint has dried, color the … Read more… →

Easy Dot Pictures

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Four vibrant dot paintings featuring two hearts, a star, and an abstract shape, each in bright hues.

I was out for a couple days with a sub earlier this year (around Valentine’s Day) and I found this easy dot picture idea.  Since it was around Valentine’s Day, I left in my plans that kids could make hearts for their design or if they wanted to draw a different design that was fine too.  The steps are simple and easy, which is great for a substitute lesson.  I usually don’t leave paint for sub lessons, but I figured … Read more… →

Tissue Paper Bowls – Paper Mache

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Two colorful, hand-painted tissue paper bowls with floral designs on a white background.

I’m excited that I am now part of the Elmer’s Crafty Blogger Crew!  I have long been a fan of Elmer’s products and already frequently use their glue sticks, glue bottles and paper mache paste.  I decided since I am elbows deep in paper mache already, I would create some fun paper mache bowls. Learning Activity Topics: art in three-dimensions, paper mache, translucent quality of materials, layering Activity Description: Students will use paper mache paste to layer tissue paper and … Read more… →

Our Silhouette Mural is Finished!

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Bright silhouettes of children with colorful educational themes painted on their bodies decorate a white school hallway wall, showcasing a beautifully crafted silhouette mural.

Our silhouette mural is finished!  It went pretty quickly once we got started.   Each of the figures represents different subject areas at school.  Students in grades 4-6 did most of the painting and I had some students in 7-8 grade do touch-ups, edging and fine details.   I made a video slideshow of the steps we made to paint the mural to show for the whole school.  The school presentation has lots of photos of students in it.  I made … Read more… →

Inspired by Artist Justin Vining: Abstract Whimsical Landscapes

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A whimsical landscape with swirling roads, trees, houses, a sun, and various colorful patterns.

This may have been my favorite unit we studied all year!  We looked at the whimsical landscapes of contemporary artist Justin Vining.  Here is one of his paintings: We watched videos of him talking about his influences, watched time lapses of his paintings and emailed him some questions about himself.  He responded to our questions in this interview I posted previously.  This was a perfect artist to study for us because Justin lives in Indiana in a rural area and … Read more… →

Emily’s Blue Period – Personal Collages for 3rd Graders

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Collage with robot, bamboo, and various elements like tickets, alphabet print, 1989 dates, and swimming certificates.

Our school librarian introduced this book to me and I think it is such a sweet story.  This book is called Emily’s Blue Period by Cathleen Daly.  The illustrations are lovely. This is a story about Emily, whose parents are divorcing and now she has two homes.  She goes through her own “blue period” of sadness. Emily was learning about Pablo Picasso, his Blue Period and his collages in her art class.   Her art teacher asks the class to … Read more… →

Shape Paintings and Color Mixing with Kindergartners

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Abstract painting with swirling patterns, bold black lines, and vibrant colors in shades of pink, blue, and green created using color mixing techniques.

Wow, I’ve been so busy.  Aren’t we all though, right?  But really, this is one of the most busy times of year.  Parent-teacher conferences this week and March is when the yearbook needs to be finished up.  I also put up an art show at the public library (which I will post about later) and we have been working like crazy on our mural in the hallway!  The mural is almost done and I am just waiting until everything has … Read more… →

Art Inspired by Microscopic Things (3rd grade)

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A vibrant watercolor painting with abstract shapes and colorful splashes in various hues like red, green, blue, and yellow, reminiscent of microscopic wonders.

My students are really interested in science and I always love when I can connect an art lesson to things they talk about in their science classes.  This unit came about because on a day when I was absent last month, one of our Science teachers subbed for my classes (we have quite a few part-time teachers at our school and teachers will often fill in for each other when there are absences.) The students went to the Science room … Read more… →

An Interview with Artist Justin Vining

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A colorful abstract painting by Justin Vining depicts a house on a snowy hill under a starry sky with constellations.

Back in September, I posted a huge list of contemporary artists.  One of the artists, Justin Vining, saw that I included his artwork in my post and left a comment on my blog.  We exchanged a few emails and I decided to use him as a resource in my classroom.  I was excited that one of the artists reached out to me through my blog and I thought it was especially cool that Justin used to be an elementary art … Read more… →

Starting a Mural at School!

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Outline of a child playing a trumpet drawn on a white wall near a light switch.

  We are starting a huge mural at school!!  I will keep you updated as we start to paint it.  It’s hard to see what’s going on in these pictures, but we traced figures on to large white banner paper, cut them out and then traced those on to the wall.  Next week the painting begins! I was thinking of something school themed and since the wall is so long a parade of kids would be fun. The idea evolved … Read more… →

25 Awesome Art Books for Kids

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A collage of 10 colorful art book covers for kids with the title "25 Awesome Art Books for Kids" in the center.

Hello! If you are visiting this page NOW, be sure to check out my Amazon Affiliate List where I have a running list of ALL my favorite art books for my elementary art classroom. I continually update this list as I find new amazing art books to share! ART BOOKS FOR KIDS (Amazon Affiliate list – no extra charge for you, I receive a small commission for recommending these books, which goes to support the upkeep of this blog.) HOW … Read more… →

Triangle Collage on Canvas for School Auction

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Triangle Collage on Canvas for School Auction

Every year, my 5th/6th grade class carves rubber stamps with symbols they have designed.  This year, we stamped extra prints on tissue paper with acrylic paint to make collaborative artworks.  To stamp, simply use a foam brush to lightly paint acrylic paint on the stamp. Then, the tissue papers were decoupaged (with hard-finish Mod-Podge) on these fun triangular canvases called Squangles.  These are going to be put in our school auction at the end of the year.  We made three … Read more… →

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