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

Art Games and Puzzles for an Enrichment Center

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Enrichment Center featuring colorful blocks, toys, puzzles, and games, including Spot It!, Floor Puzzle, and Pick a Paint.

I have a bookshelf in my classroom that students can go to when they are done with their class assignments.  I also have free choice days where students can select from a wide range of activities.  Since students finish at all different times it is a good idea to have art enrichment activities for them to do.  I like to have low mess activities with little extra guidance needed for those students that finish early.  Here are some of the … Read more… →

First Day of Kindergarten & 1st Grade Art

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Child's drawing of a person on a giraffe by a tree and pond, with text: "I had art today! My art days are Tuesday & Thursday. 1st Grade Art is fun!

We had our first week of school!   Beth Carter posted wonderful pictures of her students drawings on the first day with the title “I had art today!”  I borrowed the concept and made sheets for my kindergartners and first graders to take home on their first day of art class. Here is the PDF download of “I Had Art Today!” I had my students draw a picture of themselves as an artist or a picture of themselves in class with … Read more… →

Art Room Organization

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Art Room Organization

I love organizing things, especially art materials.  It makes it easier to find things you need when your room is organized!  I am always revamping my organizational systems and I feel like my room now is arranged pretty well for my needs.  I am sure I will find some things that need tweaking over the next few years. On each table I have a plastic drawer set labeled with pencils & eraser, glue sticks & scissors, and markers.  On the … Read more… →

Hybrid Machine-Animal Drawings

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Illustration of a tree figure and a green bear with a water gun, labeled "Hybrid Machine-Animal Drawings.

After looking at the art of contemporary artist Nicolas Lampert, my students combined two or more different objects or creatures to create hybrid drawings.   Here are the steps to this lesson: 1.  Start by discussing the machine animal collages and the machine insect collages by Nicolas Lampert.  Ask questions such as” How do you think Nicolas made these pictures? How do they make you feel? Why do you think he combined animals or insects with machines? How would these … Read more… →

Animal Shrinky Dinks in Summer Art Camp

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Animal Shrinky Dinks in Summer Art Camp

This summer I taught a one week art workshop called Artsy Animals.  The camp had kids going in to grades 1-4 and it took place for 3 hours every day.  Now camp was much more laid back than regular art class, so we did not accomplish *as much* as 3 hours of school time, but I think the kids had a really good time. We made Shrinky Dink necklaces!  Each student got one sheet of Shrinky Dinks Crystal Clear paper.  … Read more… →

Medieval Day at School

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Medieval Knight Sculptures

Near the end of the school year our 5th/6th grade students put on a Medieval Day for the entire school.  They researched and planned activities including dancing, food sampling, jousting, catapulting, exhibits and displays and of course, ART! My 5th/6th grade classes made paper mache knight sculptures starting with a newspaper armature.  They added Medieval clothes and weapons to accessorize.  Some of the materials we used were cardboard, wood, cloth, leather, raffia, doll hair, yarn and felt. One of my … Read more… →

New Ideas and Resources to Teach about Contemporary Art

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Children engaging in an art project, using colorful paper and drawings, diligently creating a large blue poster board with contemporary art concepts.

In previous blog posts, I talked about contemporary artists you may not have heard about before and I put together a round-up of blog posts about contemporary art projects. Today I have some more ideas to share. Don Masse said, “hey marcia! the majority of my lessons are based on living artists. i just did a fun lesson with my kinders inspired by the mosaics of jim bachor http://www.shinebritezamorano.com/2015/05/street-sweets.html and followed that up with them creating a real mosaic. Another … Read more… →

Manga Drawing with Kids

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Manga Drawing with Kids

My students had a blast drawing Manga faces again this year.  I tried this lesson previously with great enthusiasm and results.  I printed off lots of handouts I found online of cartoon faces, eyes, noses, mouths, hairstyles and accessories.  The kids used these sheets plus books to put together their Manga portrait.  I encouraged the students to include background patterns or accessories (such as a basketball) or a pet (like the dog) to tell a little about the character they … Read more… →

Tape and Paint Pictures

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Tape and Paint Pictures

I came up with this lesson after browsing the internet looking for contemporary artists to study.  I came across Fiona Curran’s‘s beautiful paintings with straight lines and geometric shapes.  Here are some of her artworks: At the end of the year, my students were losing focus and were ready for summer to begin!  I wanted a fun lesson that would involve experimentation and play.  I love using colored and patterned tape so I showed the second grade students how you … Read more… →

Back to School Sale & New Art Task Cards

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Art Task Cards-- Idea Starters

Everything in my shop is 20% off August 3-4, just in time for back to school!  I have PowerPoints, Signs, Discussion Cards, Sketchbook Prompts, Art Journaling E-Zines and Getting to Know You Cards. I also have new Art Task Cards which I think will be really useful for kids that need an idea starter. This is a set of 240 (yes, 240!) Art Task cards. The cards contain a simple prompt that can be interpreted in a variety of ways. … Read more… →

Notan Cut Paper Designs: Third Grade

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Nine square-shaped Notan designs on a white background, each in a different color and unique pattern.

I have several art lessons that I did not post about yet from this past school year, so look forward to a few more art project ideas this summer.  This lesson is fairly simple to prepare for and teach.  “Notan” is the term used by the Japanese to mean “light/dark” space.  We can also learn about positive/negative space through Notan designs.  My third graders studied Asia this year in their Social Studies class, so this was a nice tie-in. To … Read more… →

Getting to Know You Sheets and Printable Art Awards in TPT Shop

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Getting to Know You Sheets and Printable Art Awards in TPT Shop

Are you looking for something fun to do on the first day of school with your kids?  There is a huge list of ideas on this blog post of tips for the start of the school year.  Another idea is to have your students fill out an “artist profile” about themselves.  I have five new Getting to Know You sheets in my TPT shop.  The first is a colorful 11″x17″ poster size the kids can draw, write and color on … Read more… →

An Interview with Margaret Peot, author of Stencil Craft

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Cover of the "Stencil Craft Book" by Margaret Peot, showcasing stenciled art on a flower, leaf, mask, whale, and a grid-patterned box.

Today I have the pleasure of sharing with you an interview with Margaret Peot, author of the new book Stencil Craft. Earlier this week I wrote a book review, with the chance to win copies of this book (there is still time to enter).  You can see that blog post here:  Stencil Craft Book Review and Giveaway. Since I am an elementary art teacher, Margaret is also going to share a fun project to do with little children. 1. What … Read more… →

First Day of School for Art Class

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Colorful background with blurred hues of red, orange, yellow, green, and blue; text reads, "Tips for the first days of school in Art Class.

Are you nervous about starting the school year?  Or are you excited to get things going?  Even though this is my lucky 13th year teaching, I still get anxious to go back.  It’s a combo of nerves, excitement and anxiety about getting back into a different routine.  I still have dreams that the class is out of control, I forget that I am scheduled to teach or I oversleep.  Recently, I asked readers to share their top tips for starting … Read more… →

Lego Mosaics at the Brickworld Convention

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A LEGO Mosaics artwork depicting a cartoon-style woman with blonde hair, red lips, and blue eyes. This piece showcases the creativity often seen at the Brickworld Convention.

I have more pictures to show you from the Lego Brickworld Convention that was held in Schaumburg, IL this summer. If you love Legos, be sure to check out my first post about this convention. I know some art teachers make mosaics with their students, so I decided to group all of the photos I took of the Lego mosaic art that was at this convention.  At the bottom of this post, I have a few links to some ways … Read more… →

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