Now is the time to start planning for Valentine’s Day art projects. I am going to share with you a few heart art projects I have taught in my school. First is the Map of My Heart. It is one of my favorites. I found the heart map idea in this book, Playful Learning. Start by drawing a heart in pencil on your paper. Think of all the things that you love or that are important to you. What is … Read more…
First of all, thanks to everyone who voted for me in the Art Ed Blog of the Year contest. While I didn’t place in the top 10 it was still exciting to be nominated! Our 100th day of school was this past Friday and I thought I would participate with a 100th day art project for the first time ever. If your 100th day of school has already passed, this might be a project you want to “pin” and save … Read more…
The 1st graders made maps of their hearts! This is a charming project that gives you a window into the lives of your students. First, they drew a large heart and then inside the heart they included things or people that were important in their lives. They used permanent markers to draw and then watercolor paints to color in the heart. I got this idea from the book “Playful Learning” which would be a great book for a classroom teacher. … Read more…
This is a clay lesson that has been a big hit with my students. You can see my previous posts about this project here and here. The 4th/5th grade class studies ancient Egypt in their social studies class and they are excited to learn more about the art and architecture in my class. I show them a Powerpoint with an overview of Egyptian art and then they work on drawing a sarcophagus design of their own. I encourage them to … Read more…
Aren’t these fantastic? I love these pop-up winter scenes. Guess what? I just made a companion Facebook page for my blog! I thought it would be fun to have another avenue to easily share all kinds of artsy inspiration I come across. Most of the Facebook updates will be links to other blogs, articles and interesting artistic things I find around the web. Of course, I will also share things about my blog, but MOST of the posts will be … Read more…
I’m in love with these gorgeous clay flowers my 3rd graders made. This summer when I was on vacation in Michigan, I saw some lovely clay wall hangings in an artsy shop. They were layered clay flowers and they were HUGE! They were so awesome. I thought my students could make something similar on a smaller scale. The kids learned how to roll out a clay slab. Then, they cut out various flower templates, traced them and cut them from … Read more…
Here are two templates to use for postage stamps: one full stamp or a sheet of nine. You could also just draw them in boxes and then cut them out with those craft scissors that have the funky edges. My 4th/5th grade class designed their own postage stamps. I brought in a box of stamps for them to look through and see up close. I also showed them a short Powerpoint about stamps throughout history. There is information on the … Read more…
Our school is building an addition, so I thought projects related to “building” would be fun. Legos are the perfect building blocks! So, we designed our own mini-figures with this template. I originally saw this idea from The Art Teacher’s Closet. We also stamped with Legos (idea via Lego Stamping from Filth Wizardry). Thanks to wonderful bloggers for these two ideas! My students LOVED them! They were so excited about these proejcts. Place your piece of paper on top of … Read more…
Perhaps you are new to my blog or you would like to see some of my favorite kindergarten art projects from the past. Look no further! Here is a round-up of my 10 favorites. 1. Cool Hands, Warm Heart 2. Map of My Heart 3. Paper Mache Rattles 4. Texture Teddy Bears 5. Line Sculpture with Wire and Pipe Cleaners 6. The Dot 7. Clay Leaf Dishes 8. Paper Weavings 9. Line Paintings 10. Sunflower Observational Paintings Also, I updated … Read more…
At the end of the school year, my kindergarten art class made some really colorful fish after reading the book Rainbow Fish . The students drew their fish on large posterboard (these were BIG fish). Then, they cut out paper pieces (I encouraged them to cut circles) from a variety of patterned and foil papers. Then, some of the kids chose to use paint dotters to add additional color. I I did this project again, I would have the kids … Read more…
