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Tag Archives: science

Model Magic Insect Sculptures

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"Model Magic Insects" showcasing a colorful clay insect with googly eyes, pipe cleaner antennae, and decorated wings, highlighting creative insect sculptures.

I often like to connect what we are doing in art to what they have learned about in science class.  Insects can provide a lot of inspiration for artists.  The colors and designs in insects can be intricate, beautiful and amazing. Start by showing the students pictures of many types of insects (or collect real ones, if you are brave.)  Talk about the parts of an insect.. head, abdomen, thorax, antennae, wings.  Looking at reference photos and begin sketching insects.  … Read more… →

Milk Carton Sailboat Tutorial

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Craft your own "Milk Carton Sailboat" using a colorful sail and a repurposed milk carton.

My 1st graders are working on these fun boats now to go along with their explorer unit.  Okay, I know they are not really explorer ships, but we can pretend, right?  And they are so fun and cute.  The kids love them! How to Make a Boat:  Gather empty milk cartons from the lunch room.  Wash and wash again to get rid of all those icky germs.  Let dry overnight.  Use a utility knife to cut the milk carton down … Read more… →

Watercolor Sharks and Free Shark Drawing Guide/Coloring Pages

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Two colorful sharks, one large blue and one small orange, swimming in an ocean-themed watercolor painting, beautifully capturing the essence of marine life.

Recently, I reviewed the book How to Survive as a Firefly and showed you a firefly art project to go along with the book.  I also received a free copy of How to Survive as a Shark from Innovation Press.  This book is illustrated in a similar style and is very cute and engaging.  There is a lot of great scientific information about sharks in this book. From the publisher’s description:  How to Survive as a Shark provides a unique take on fish … Read more… →

Chicks at School

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Handmade art of three yellow chicks with feathers on paper, ideal for school projects or classroom decoration.

We have some chicks at school.  Chicks, like baby chickens. One of the science teachers taught the kids about the life cycle of chickens and the kids watched as the eggs were incubated and hatched. They grow so quickly! With all the excitement of the hatching chicks, the students were thrilled to create some chick artwork.  Here is a mural/bulletin board that students in grades 2-3 worked together on. Next, we did a step-by-step project in kindergarten to make a … Read more… →

Earth Day Oil Pastel Drawings

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An oil pastel drawing of a secretary bird with a white body, black-tipped feathers, and a red face, standing on grassy ground.

For Earth Day, my 4th & 5th grade class drew endangered trees and birds using oil pastels.  The entire lesson took about 3-4 class periods to finish.  The students each used a picture of their tree or bird to recreate on a piece of 9″x12″ paper.  We talked a little bit about layering and blending colors with the oil pastels.  We were able to go outside on Earth Day to enjoy the sunshine while drawing. Our Earth Day committee came … Read more… →

3 Art Projects Using Leaves

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Three colorful leaf-themed watercolor paintings overlapping each other on a white background, showcasing creative art projects with vibrant leaves.

Summer is the perfect time to create art with your child.  Nature provides endless inspiration for art.  Here are three fun art activities using leaves that you can do with kids or just on your own! This post was created as part of the Elmer’s Crafty Bloggers team. Learning Activity Topic:  Using nature to inspire art Educational Foundation: 1.  Identifying and sorting items from nature 2.  Using shapes and variety to create a composition 3.  Learning about negative and positive … Read more… →

Bird Pictures with First Graders & Studying Audubon

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First graders create bird paintings after learning about Audubon.

I am so proud of how well my first graders drew these beautiful birds and I’m excited to share them with you. We started by reading the beautiful book The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon.  This book is a wonderful connection to science as Audubon was a fascinating man who studied the migration of birds and painted them.  Your budding scientists will love this story. The students looked at reference photos of birds from books.  … Read more… →

Art Inspired by Microscopic Things (3rd grade)

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A vibrant watercolor painting with abstract shapes and colorful splashes in various hues like red, green, blue, and yellow, reminiscent of microscopic wonders.

My students are really interested in science and I always love when I can connect an art lesson to things they talk about in their science classes.  This unit came about because on a day when I was absent last month, one of our Science teachers subbed for my classes (we have quite a few part-time teachers at our school and teachers will often fill in for each other when there are absences.) The students went to the Science room … Read more… →

Accordion Books | Drawing Scientific Specimens | 3rd Grade

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Accordion Books | Drawing Scientific Specimens | 3rd Grade

Did that get your attention?  How about this? The Science teachers at my school often have the kids create drawings about what they are studying.  One of them asked if I wanted to coordinate and have my third graders do more observational drawing.  I borrowed these fun scientific specimens and some plants from the school greenhouse for my students to draw. If you want to buy some of your own specimens, they are not cheap, but once you have them … Read more… →

Fall Leaf Printable

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Fall Leaf Printable

Aren’t the colors of the fall leaves breathtaking?  I scanned some of the leaves that I found on the trees here in Wisconsin.  Feel free to print these out, color designs on them with permanent or paint markers, make a collage or just draw from the pictures.  They would also look good on a bulletin board. Download the higher resolution version here at TPT for free!   The book Leaf Man, by Lois Elhert, would be a great way to … Read more… →

Art and the Brain: How do kids imagine their brains?

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Art and the Brain: How do kids imagine their brains?

[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… →

Watercolor Bird Paintings by First Graders

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Watercolor Bird Paintings by First Graders

I love these charming birds by the 1st graders!  So colorful and a beautiful experience with watercolors. We read the lovely book The Boy Who Drew Birds, which is about the naturalist/artist John James Audubon.  It is a great book that tells the story of how he loved to study birds and spent his free time as a child drawing and observing nature.  Audubon banded birds to see if the same birds returned each year.  It is a great book … Read more… →

On Teaching Art #3: Integrating Art with Other Subjects

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On Teaching Art #3: Integrating Art with Other Subjects

Welcome to the 3rd post in my series On Teaching Art. The first post and the background behind this series is On Teaching Art:  Art vs. Craft. The second post was On Teaching Art #2: Organizing Curriculum. The question posed for this installment is: How can art be integrated into math, science, social science, and literacy? That is a great question and I very often connect art lessons with their units of study in the classrooms.  Integrating art with other … Read more… →

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