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Tag Archives: fourth grade

Easy Printable Art Sub Plan for Elementary: A Balancing Act

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Substitute plan poster titled "A Balancing Act" features an illustration of a whimsical stacked tower. This Art Education piece includes goals and steps for using color and shape to create a balanced picture, serving as an ideal Art Sub Plan.

This is a sub plan that is perfect for upper elementary. If you wake up sick one day, it’s a good idea to have prepared sub plans that are easy for any teacher to follow (even if they don’t have an art background). This is a simple, one page art handout with goals, steps and an example. I saw this idea on a Facebook group many years ago and created this handout to share with other teachers. This drawing activity uses … Read more… →

Art Sub Plan- Free! Geometric Shaded Animals

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Instruction sheet for shading an animal drawing. Includes color value scale, goals, steps, and a geometric shaded animal illustration with labeled color areas from white to black. Perfect for art sub plans.

This is an art project perfect for a substitute lesson plan. When you have to take a sick day, you never know if your sub is going to have an art background or not. This is a simple, one page art handout with goals, steps and an example. The second page has a value scale to practice shading on. In order to print out the full, high resolution handouts, visit my TPT shop for the FREE download! This was actually … Read more… →

Abstract Art Project: Mixed Media Explorations

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Explore the vibrant world of mixed media with this art project worksheet and example. Featuring a list of materials and a colorful abstract design, it invites creativity as pencils, paint palettes, and decorative elements surround the image.

This is a fun art project I like to use to get students exploring different types of materials at the beginning of the year. It’s also a low-pressure way to introduce mixed media and abstract art. Set up the room by placing a wide variety of art materials in a centrally located place in your room. The way this works is that you start by drawing an abstract design on your paper using a variety of shapes and lines to … Read more… →

Making Zines with Kids

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A collection of various hand-made zines with different illustrated covers, perfect for kids, arranged on a white surface.

In a previous post, I showed many examples of zines that I had purchased from a zinefest. I tried it out with a group of 4th/5th graders and I am happy to say it was a success! It was the first time I had made zines with students before and one student told me that this was a project I should keep for next year! Other kids agreed. We started by watching this video about zines from Tate. I showed … Read more… →

What To Do On the First Day of Art Class

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Colorful watercolor frame with a paintbrush and palette surrounding the text "First Day of Art Class, Projects & Books.

Hello! I am already seeing lots of posts in Facebook groups asking what to do in the first few days of art class. In this post, I will walk you through what I plan to do this year in my classes. This is very similar to what I have done in other years. First, I start all classes with basic introductions and talking about the room and art class. We go over the rules and expectations. I use a video … Read more… →

Foam Printmaking

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A yellow and black foam printmaking artwork depicts a stylized dinosaur-like creature with rectangular shapes and surrounding triangles.

Recently, I did styrofoam printmaking with my 4th/5th grade classes. Styrofoam printing is a relatively easy way to introduce printmaking to a group of kids. It is messy and can be challenging, so I’m providing a video demonstration in this blog post. The materials needed are: For this project, I gave the students an open-ended theme. They could choose either 1. Something from Greek mythology (they were studying ancient Greece and Rome) or 2. Something from a book they read. … Read more… →

Non-Objective Art Project for Kids

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Colorful abstract art featuring a central multicolored heart with swirling lines, stars, and additional hearts in the background.

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… →

Minnie Evans Art Project for Kids

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Minnie Evans Art Project for Kids

Minnie Evans was a new-to-me artist that I became fascinated by her beautiful and intricate face designs. At the end of the school year I taught about her artwork to my distance learning students. Here is the Google slides I used: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1SYYp6IORiCHurWQFwUoFkVdl–8t9tWwYKuaorGSNRI/edit#slide=id.gbccc15b226_0_86 And here are the images of the slides:

Tinfoil Figure Sculpture

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Tinfoil figure of a person playing volleyball on a sandy beach court with a net and trees in the background.

Here is a fun 3-d project I did with my 3rd-5th grade classes as an asynchronous (at-home) art project. We have been hybrid for a little while and some of my classes are still fully virtual. I have been giving out asynchronous assignments and then having 1 live (either in person or virtual) art class per week as well. I found this handout online from Shoshy Art, which inspired this project. I created a step-by-step video for my students. Here … Read more… →

Outdoor Art Creator Badge- Brownie Girl Scouts

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Colorful birdhouses, a green art piece with sticks, and a leaf artwork are featured in the "Outdoor Art Creator Badge" exhibit.

Last year, my 3rd grade Girl Scout troop did a variety of art projects. One of the badges we earned was the Outdoor Art Creator Badge. Here are some of the activities we did to earn the badge. I thought I would share with you, because these are some fun projects you could do with a group of kids, maybe in an after school, day camp or scout program. Here is a link to the PDF guide for the badge, … Read more… →

Sharpie Drawings on Tin Foil

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Sharpie Drawings on Tin Foil

I did learned this technique from my co-worker Jayne, who taught it during summer school last year. I think drawing on tin foil is a unique experience for kids that can be done using a variety of themes! My third and fourth graders had a great time making these abstract drawings using Sharpie markers on tin foil. To prepare the surface, pull out a sheet of tin foil and carefully flatten it on to a piece of cardboard or matboard. … Read more… →

Notre Dame Cathedral Art Projects- Stained Glass Windows

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A colorful, circular mandala design with intricate patterns on a dark background, evoking the beauty of stained glass windows.

After the devastating fire this week at the Notre Dame cathedral, I put some of my previously planned lessons on hold. We are making a bulletin board in tribute of the Notre Dame cathedral. One of my classes is making some stunning and highly detailed pen drawings of parts of the cathedral and the gargoyles. Watercolor washes will be added to the background. I am super impressed with how these are coming along, but none are finished to show you … Read more… →

Fall Still Life Paintings with Kids

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Colorful still life with fruits, flowers, a golden goblet, and a decorative spray on a vibrant gradient background, evoking the essence of fall.

My third, fourth and fifth grade students just finished up these gorgeous fall still life paintings. Over the years I have built up a collection of fall decorations, artificial leaves, pumpkins and gourds.  I also brought in some real pumpkins and gourds as well.  If you want to do some seasonal art and still have solid art standards covered, observational drawing is always a good go-to lesson. For this project, we talked a little about arrangement and composition, which usually … Read more… →

Yayoi Kusama Dotted Pumpkins for Kids

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A stylized yellow pumpkin with dots and lines on a colorful, patterned background, inspired by Yayoi Kusama.

I love the results of this dotted pumpkin project inspired by the dotted pumpkins of Yayoi Kusama.  I did this art lesson with 3rd/4th grade. (Amazon Affiliate links have been used, at no extra cost to you.) I based our project after the lesson taught on the blog Plastiquem.  First, I read the book Yayoi Kusama, From Here to Infinity, which is an inspirational book about her artwork and life.  This is on my list of top 10 favorite books … Read more… →

Whimsical Landscapes (Justin Vining artist study)

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A colorful abstract drawing featuring a mix of landscapes, cityscapes, and whimsical elements like waves and a rocket, inspired by Justin Vining's artist study.

I love this lesson!  I teach about contemporary artist Justin Vining and the kids explore the qualities of watercolor pencils to create their own whimsical landscapes. You can see artwork from another year at this blog post. You can read my interview with Justin Vining here. I even got this lesson published in a magazine! Here are some of my 4th/5th grade students’ artworks from the end of last year. When teaching this lesson, I show the students some YouTube … Read more… →

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