Hi! Today I have a round-up of Name Design art projects for you. Name projects are wonderful to do at the beginning of the year for a number of reasons. First, it is a great way to learn all your students’ names. Second, it’s a great way for students to share about themselves. You can easily tie in personal interests to name designs. Third, it’s a familiar subject matter to kids and a less intimidating way to start the year. … Read more…
I hope the beginning of your school year is going well. Mine is going fine. We are getting back into the swing of things around here. Here is a fun and meditative art project good for kids and adults of all ages. You can tie this in to labrynths, mazes and mandalas. I use all different kinds of watercolor paints. I have a whole collection! One of my favorites is the Prima Marketing Confections sets. There are a number of … Read more…
This slideshow I found in my archives from 2017. I think this is a project worth revisiting next year. It provides a lot of open-ended decision making and idea generation. You can also tie it in to the famous artist Joseph Cornell and his shadow boxes.
This is a fun, one-day project for kids that teaches about positive and negative space and is good for spatial awareness. I taught this to my 1st graders and most of them understood the concepts and some of them needed help. First, positive space is the shape you cut out of the paper. Negative space is the shape left behind. You will need one sheet of background paper 8.5″ x 11″ and a color rectangle of paper that is half … Read more…
This was a super fun multi-day, mixed media project with a lot of different techniques and processes. Day One: Start by painting papers with a paint scraping technique. Use scraps of cardboard dipped into neon paint (Amazon affiliate links have been used at no extra cost to you- the money goes towards maintaining my blog and buying art supplies) and scrape across your paper to create an interesting textured effect. Make several pieces of paper in different colors. Leave these … Read more…
I wanted to share our wonderful results of this collaborative mural project inspired by the artist Tula Pink‘s Tridazzler Quilt. This idea was created by Don Masse, of Shine Brite Zamorano. Check out his blog here to see the directions for this project. Here is the Tridazzler Quilt the project was inspired by. We precut squares and triangles for the kids. First, they glued the triangle to the square. Then they used a ruler to draw the lines and then … Read more…
I recently took a workshop at a local gallery with artist Kinga Johnson. I learned a lot of great tips and techniques for working with alcohol inks. I bought some of my own alcohol inks and experimented at home and I wanted to share with you some easy ways to get started using alcohol inks. It is a really fun process and you can use the resulting papers for fun backgrounds or to cut out and make collages. You can … Read more…
Neurographic art is an art form that was designed in 2014 by a Russian psychologist named Pavel Piskarov. It is an intuitive form of art that involves mindfulness and intentionality. We have over 100 billion neurons that transmit information from the brain to the rest of the body. These neurographic artworks kind of look like neurons and cells. Piskarev’s Definition: Neurographic art is a creative method of world transformation. It helps evolve our reality by engaging our emotional and aesthetic … Read more…
Hi! I know I haven’t written in awhile. I hope you are doing well and had a great school year. It’s been a challenging time and I haven’t made blogging a priority. I’m still here though and making art! Now that summer is here I have a bit more free time, so maybe I’ll catch up on sharing some things with you. I wanted to share with you a couple places to get free or cheap materials– but you have … Read more…
Here is a fun project to do for the element of art texture. It is great for the little kids in grades K and 1, but I have found that the older kids in grades 3 and 4 enjoyed it too. It is also good as an early finisher activity for the older kids because it doesn’t require a lot of instruction. The supplies are simple. You will need a marker to draw the shapes, peeled crayons and texture rubbing … Read more…
I was contacted by a representative at Grabie online marketplace, which I had never heard of before. Since I love trying out new supplies, I decided to go ahead with a product review. I also love to find and share different art supplies with other art teachers. They sent me two art supplies to try out. I was not compensated for my review, other than the free supplies. I told them I would be completely honest in my review and … Read more…
Hi! This is a project I repeat in some form every year with my 3rd/4th grade class. Often I do it to teach about shading and values. Here’s an example from 12 years ago (wow, I can’t believe my blog is that old) of a black and white non-objective lesson. This year, I wanted to add pops of color to the hallway and I wanted the kids to explore color and blending. We first learned about non-objective art- art that … Read more…
Here is a welcoming art project you can do with your students. Read the book All Are Welcome (Amazon affiliate link at no extra cost to you.) This is a great book about including everyone at school. Have each child draw a self-portrait from head to toe. Display with the heading You Are Welcome Here! We used these handouts for reference.
Easy and Fun Valentine’s Heart Art Projects for Kids: This blog post shares a slideshow of 5 artist that use hearts in their art. Read more…
I have a whole slideshow that I will show my students about Claude Monet and his Impressionist artwork. This is a project I have adapted for distance learning. All of my kids have watercolor paints as part of their art supplies at home. I used this lesson as an idea to adapt my lesson. Usually I have the kids paint on cardboard circles, then attach lilypads using construction paper and tissue paper, but I figured most would not have tissue … Read more…
