I came across this beautiful technique at the Happy Hooligans blog. She practiced letter writing with glue, salt and paint. I thought this technique would be a fun experiment for my third graders and make beautiful fall leaf paintings. Here’s how this works. First, we used real fall leaves for inspiration while drawing. We drew leaves with pencil on watercolor paper. Then, we used regular Elmer’s white glue to outline the leaves. While the glue was still wet, we poured … Read more… →
Are you looking for some new contemporary artists to teach your students about? On the Facebook Art Teachers group, members suggested LOTS of contemporary artists that they teach their students. These are now all compiled into ONE HUGE LIST on Google Docs! I added websites and short descriptions to most of the artists so it is easier to use. Thanks to all the teachers who collaborated to share their ideas and add artists. This huge list has about 130 artists … Read more… →
Many of you have probably know I have a 4 1/2 year old daughter. If you are friends with me on Instagram you have seen pics of her. I LOVE that she loves art. She has a creative spark to her and her favorite art materials are oil pastels, watercolors and markers. She doesn’t like getting messy, so we usually have a wet paper towel or baby wipe nearby. This summer she went to a preschool camp (which was in … Read more… →
Hi folks! What have you been doing this summer? It’s already flying by, isn’t it? Here is a recap of my summer so far. What I HAVE been doing: keeping Daria busy playdates with friends Children’s museum, zoo, pool, splash parks, playgrounds feeding Desmond and changing lots of diapers organizing my room at school (I will give you a tour of my revamped room when it’s all done.) grilling out, eating icecream, going out to eat family reunion in IL … Read more… →
Playing with pattern is a simple way to create collage elements when you have hit a creative block. Create patterns using watercolor paints. After the pages dry, tear or cut up into shapes to use as elements for your collages and art journal pages.
Beautiful spring butterflies are a great way to end the school year. Paint dotters give colorful results without a ton of mess. Kindergartners drew these with pencil first. I read a suggestion from Patty Palmer on the art teacher Facebook group to use tracers for the top set of the wings to get the size proportional and then have the kids draw the bottom of the wings on their own. Then they used paint dotters to create symmetrical designs on … Read more… →
HEATHER KORDSMEIER you are the winner! Congrats and email me your address. Heather Kordsmeier May 20, 2014 at 5:05 pm I teach 3rd grade language arts and social studies. After our standardized test in April, I start Art and Art History. I have been puting together an artist timeline. We have learned about artists, their techniques, and do some sort of project using their techniques.
[cryout-pullquote align=”left|center|right” textalign=”left|center|right” width=”100%”] How do you experience your brain? What does your brain do for you? How can you express the feelings of your brain? [/cryout-pullquote] Students at our school connected with a scientific researcher to create diverse and artistic representations of their brains. I teach art at a school for gifted and talented children. Our students are highly interested and curious about science, so when I was contacted by Ayla Kruis to work with her on a project … Read more… →
It’s no secret art teachers love Pinterest. In this new blog series, I will round up some of my favorite Pinspiration for art teachers. If you’d like to see all of my Pins, follow me on Pinterest. It’s a great way to plan projects, find handouts and ideas! If you have other ideas that fit this theme, add them in the comment section. I was inspired to pick the theme of FACES for this blog post, because I came across … Read more… →
Before I left for my maternity/medical leave, my 5th and 6th graders were carving rubber stamps. They were turning out so well and I can’t wait to see all of the finished projects. Here are some of our stamps from previous years. We looked at African Adinkra symbol stamps and the students created their own personal symbols. We print our stamps by applying acrylic paints with a foam brush. A light touch is best. Students can also test their stamps … Read more… →
First of all, thanks for being a loyal blog reader (or) welcome, if you are new! I have a personal update to share with you… I went on medical leave this week and Monday was my last day of work for the time being. My pregnancy is complicated and I could not work anymore. The baby is healthy, but physically I need to lay down as much as possible and it is really hard to sit or stand without a … 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.
In the “better late than never” category, last Spring we made these super fun faux stained glass paintings in the 5th/6th grade class. For this project, you will need clear transparency sheets, Sharpie markers, Gallery Glass Paint (the kind used to paint suncatchers), regular acrylic paints (optional) and cardstock picture frames (also optional). I had a bunch of transparency sheets in my classroom already and I got the glass paint FREE from an art re-swap, so I knew I wanted … Read more… →
We are coming up with lots of good ideas for Spirit Days at our school. The first post on Spirit Day ideas was popular with Google searches, so I must not be the only one who is always on the look out for new and fresh ideas for fun days at school. Many art teachers wear multiple hats and end up leading groups like Student Council or plan school wide events. Here are more Spirit Day ideas we came up … Read more… →
I am proud to have been published in the following wonderful magazines & books! I would love to write for your magazine or publication. Email me with details. I have experience writing about elementary art, mixed media art and other artists (interviewing artists and writing about their projects.) A World of Artist Journal Pages book Five pages of artwork included Another Encyclopedia of Theme Activities for Young Children book Mixed-Media Weaving lesson plan What Can You Do With a … Read more… →
