• Subscribe to Blog via Email

    Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 4,601 other subscribers
  • Banner with colorful artwork promoting an art shop featuring kindness coloring pages, artist activities, and resources for teachers.

Tag Archives: all grades

Free Elementary Artwork Reflection Sheet with Questions

By | | , , ,
Leave a comment

Hello! Are you looking for a simple and effective way to help your elementary students reflect on their art? One of my goals this year has been to find creative ways to get students talking about their artwork and thinking more deeply about their process. My co-worker and I brainstormed some thoughtful questions for this sheet and we came up with a quick reflection sheet that your students can fill out after finishing a piece and then attach to the … Read more… →

Gift Ideas for Kids Who Love Art

By | | ,
Leave a comment
For kids who love art, gift ideas include vibrant supplies like paint sets, markers, crayons, coloring books, clay, and art trading cards.

Are you looking for some fun gift ideas for kids in your life who love art? This list of art gift ideas are things my own kids and my students really enjoy. Click on this link, which has a list of my favorite art gift ideas for children. (This is my Amazon affiliate storefront, in which I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. This money helps to maintain my blog.) Thanks for reading!

Test Driving Some New Art Materials!

By | | , , ,
Leave a comment
A variety of colorful art materials, including markers, crayons, and pens, arranged on a table, showcasing new art products.

One of my favorite hobbies is discovering and finding new art supplies. Watch as I test out some fun, new (to me) art materials. I’m not sure how new they are, but they were all exciting finds for me. As an Amazon influencer I receive a small commission through links on this blog (at no extra cost to you.) The earnings go to support the upkeep of this website. I am completely honest in my reviews and won’t tell you … Read more… →

Art Sub Plan for Elementary Students- Animals in Cars!

By | | , ,
Leave a comment
Illustrated animals in cars shaped like food items provide the perfect creative art assignment for elementary students, including detailed drawing guidelines ideal for an engaging art sub plan.

Hello! I have been working on a series of “print and go” substitute teaching plans for elementary art class. These will be set up with goals and steps clearly written for a sub. You can print off these handouts for the students, gather supplies and have things all set to go in case you have an emergency illness and need to stay home. Some I will be offering for free on my blog and others will be in my shop. … Read more… →

Creative Sub Plans: Cut Paper Art Idea

By | | ,
2 Comments
Paper collage of a campsite featuring a blue tent and a campfire, set against green hills and a sky with white clouds.

I found this post in my draft folder. I had written the post and then it was right before Covid hit, so somehow I missed posting it! This is one of my go-to sub plans. Use up the paper in your scrap bin and make a picture just using cut paper shapes. All you need to do to prepare is leave the scrap box available and provide a few examples. You can print these out or make your own! I … Read more… →

Summer Art Challenge 2024

By | | ,
Leave a comment
A colorful art project with paint splatters, a hand painting, and the text "Summer Art Challenge 2024 BINGO" overlaid on the scene.

It’s back! I used to host a Summer Art Challenge with my classes before Covid, but it kind of fell off the radar. I’ve decided to give it another go this year and see what cool stuff the kids come up with. Here’s how it works: I’ll hand out a list of art challenges for the kids to tackle over the summer. I’ll be slipping flyers into their lockers and including it in our final school newsletter. The kids can … Read more… →

Drawing Activities with Lynda Barry

By | | , , , ,
1 Comment
A drawing of a smiling monkey holding a heart that says "I'm so glad you're here!" with numerous hearts surrounding it on a whiteboard.

In April, I had the pleasure of attending the National Art Education Association conference in Minneapolis. I was really excited because Lynda Barry was going to be one of the keynote speakers. I have been a fan of her work for many years. Lynda is a comic/graphic novel artist, author and teacher and is known for her quirky, autobiographical work. Her raw and expressive comics encourage readers to explore their own creativity through writing and drawing. She has taught creative … Read more… →

Making Zines Art Project for Kids

By | |
2 Comments
A display of six zines and comics on a striped fabric surface, including "A Simple Guide for Making Friends," "Life as an Axolotl," and others with various illustrations and text, showcases a creative art project for kids interested in making zines.

Yesterday I went to a really fun event called the Madison Print and Resist Zinefest. I have been to this before and it has always had loads of really interesting zines. I was on a mission this time though. I decided I am going to do a zine project with my classes and I wanted to find lots of interesting and unique “kid-friendy” zines. I will show you some pictures of the many zines that I picked up for your … Read more… →

Decorate a Lunch Bag- Service Learning Project

By | | ,
Leave a comment
Three hand-decorated lunch bags: one with sunflowers and a paw print, one with a large sunflower, and one with a rainbow, sun, and heart. Messages include "You are Pawsome" and "You Are Worth it!" This makes for an ideal service learning project.

Recently our school participated in a service learning project for all of our grades, K-8. The local senior center approached my co-worker Sharon who shared the project with me. The senior center was looking for students to decorate lunch bags to distribute to homebound seniors through the Meals on Wheels program. I thought this would be a great opportunity for our students to connect with the community and share kindness and cheer through their art. Here is an article from … Read more… →

Back to School Tips and Projects for the Art Teacher

By | | , , , , , ,
1 Comment
Back to School! Tips and Projects for Art Class" text with colorful pencils and paper boats on a black background.

Hi friends! Many schools are already going back for the new school year and I thought I would round up some previous posts you may have missed from years ago that may help you come up with some ways to start your school year off right! The first section contains links and pictures from my blog. The second section contains blog posts from some of my art teacher friends! Tips and Projects for Back to School from Art is Basic … Read more… →

Two Places to Get Free or Cheap Materials

By | | , ,
5 Comments
A young boy stands outside holding a large red crayon. He is wearing a blue shirt with cartoon faces on it.

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… →

Watercolor Pencils and Metallic Markers Product Review

By | | ,
1 Comment
A variety of colored pencils arranged in a gradient, ranging from yellows to greens, blues, and more, on a grid background.

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… →

5 Artists that Use Hearts in their Artwork

By | | ,
4 Comments
5 Artists that Use Hearts in their Artwork

I created a slideshow of 5 artists that use hearts in their artwork! My plan is to show my distance learners this slideshow which features a range of heart artworks and then have them create their own heart-inspired artwork using their own choice of media and creativity. Feel free to use the slideshow with your students to show them some heart themed artwork. Perfect for Valentine’s Day! The five artists that I used in this slideshow maybe are already known … Read more… →

Perler Beads- Mario and Among Us

By | | , ,
4 Comments
Perler Beads- Mario and Among Us

My 1st grade son has been really on a Perler bead kick lately. He made all of these designs this week. Here is a beginner’s guide to Perler (or fuse) beads. I thought this might be something my readers would be interested in learning about as a gift idea for a young child in their life. My son looked at some examples on the internet for Mario designs and then made them by looking at the pictures. These are from … Read more… →

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