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Tag Archives: drawing

Have You Ever Drawn Flowers with Watercolor Pencils?

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Have You Ever Drawn Flowers with Watercolor Pencils?

The week after winter break was up in the air.  Due to construction, we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to use our art room and we didn’t know if we would have easy access to supplies.  I planned for most of my classes to complete observational drawings during that week period, since they all could use the same supplies and learning to observe the edges and shapes of objects is great training for the eye. It … Read more… →

Art History Sketchbook Prompts: Set #2

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Art History Sketchbook Prompts: Set #2

My first set of Art History Sketchbook Prompts have been popular and I recently made a second set with all different artists and prompts. This new set has 16 NEW art history prompts!   16 DIFFERENT artists. These art history cards feature a selection of inspiring artworks with a prompt that can be used to spark drawing and writing. Print off the cards on cardstock, cut in half and laminate to protect them. You can print off as many copies … Read more… →

2nd Grade Oil Pastel Landscapes

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A child's drawing featuring a river, mountains, palm trees, a small house, and a pond under a blue sky. This delightful landscape appears to be made using oil pastels by a 2nd grader.

This oil pastel drawing project is inspired by the artwork of Paul Gauguin, in particular his painting Tahitian Landscape. To build up a little enthusiasm, when the kids arrived to class there was an envelope at their seat.  I told them to open the envelope and see what was inside.  I had printed off pictures of Tahitian Landscape, laminated them and then cut them into puzzle pieces.  The kids worked quickly to put together the puzzles.  Then, I introduced the … Read more… →

Contour Line Shoe Drawings by 3rd and 4th Graders

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A child's drawing of a large boot features tiny buildings and people around it, including a castle, cafe, and shops. The scene bursts with the creativity you might find in 4th Graders' artwork.

Take off your shoes and make yourself comfortable. This fun lesson is perfect to teach observational drawing with minimal supplies and easy set up. 1.  Take off a shoe. 2.  Observe the lines, shapes and contours of the shoe. 3.  Concentrate and draw all of the lines you see on the shoe.  Don’t forget the little details, such as shoelaces, the tongue and any patterns you see on the shoe. *Optional Step*  Enlarge the shoe drawings on a photocopier. 4.  … Read more… →

Greek Vase Chalk Drawings– 4th and 5th Grade

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Greek Vase Chalk Drawings– 4th and 5th Grade

We are on Spring Break now, so I’m going to use this time to catch up on some blog posts!  I have a lot of projects that are finished that I have started writing posts about.  How about you?  How many blog posts do you currently have in your “draft” folder? Here is a lesson on drawing Greek vases that I teach to my 4th and 5th graders.  We start by reading the Scholastic Art issue about Greek pottery.  It … Read more… →

Studying African Masks: 3rd Grade

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Colorful, abstract face drawing with geometric shapes and patterns, featuring a big head, prominent eyebrows, and dots. The design is inspired by African masks.

The 3rd graders studied Africa in their social studies classroom and we learned about African masks in art class. The students watched a video that explained about the functions of masks, celebrations, rituals and materials used to make the masks.  (Crizmac Tribal Designs video)   Using markers, the third graders drew their own masks.  The students were encouraged to include human and/or animal features and to personalize the masks with colors and designs of their own choosing. When we made … Read more… →

Perspective “Viewing Rooms” 3rd/4th grade

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A surreal underwater hallway with a rainbow ceiling and black-and-white checkered floor, where the walls are adorned with sea life, provides an intriguing perspective.

I teach one-point perspective every year to the 3rd/4th grade class.  In the past couple of years I typically have taught city perspective drawings.  I saw this fantastic aquarium perspective lesson from Once upon an Art Room (grade 7), and I just had to try it with my little ones.  Some of the kids liked the aquarium idea and others changed them into viewing rooms for other animals.  We had wildlife sanctuaries, zoos and aquariums.  

Editorial Cartoons for 4th, 5th and 6th Grade

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Editorial Cartoons for 4th, 5th and 6th Grade

Teaching about editorial cartoons is a great way to bring current events into the classroom. Every year our students in grades 4th-8th participate in a local editorial cartoon contest.  The students watch a video about editorial cartoons and they discuss, analyze and interpret current editorial cartoons.  Cartoons for the Classroom is an excellent resource for lesson plans about editorial cartoons.  If you are going to teach about editorial cartoons, this website is a must-see.  The cartoon templates we used are … Read more… →

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