Visual Arts Lesson Plans

Young scholars make connections between nonviolent ideals and art. In this visual arts lesson, students discuss the successes of the American Civil Rights Movement and discuss Gandhi's influence on the movement. Young scholars then examine images of the Buddha and Jina and discuss how they convey the message of nonviolence. As a culminating activity, students create their own art that exemplifies nonviolence.

Students construct three dimensional self-portraits. In this visual arts lesson, students use clay to create a self-portrait. Students make the clay and discuss their self-portrait.

Students investigate visual art by identifying sounds that are associated with the images.  In this art analysis lesson, students view art galleries online and discuss which sounds would be present if the image was a real life situation.  Students create soundscapes of several audio pieces that help tell a bigger story of the visual art.

Third graders identify the rhythms and movements found in different works of art. In this visual arts lesson, 3rd graders view samples of art work and use hand gestures to demonstrate the movement of the image. Students pick one art piece and write about the rhythm and movements found the painting.

Students examine the role of the visual arts in relaying information about the values, beliefs, and everyday life of a society at a particular period of time, focusing specifically on artwork from the Renaissance period.

Students practice using Spanish adjectives by evaluating and describing their opinion about a work of visual art. They complete a adjective list in a small group, write a description of a painting, discuss their opinion in Spanish and role play a conversation between a museum guest and a guide.

Students define allegory and discuss its use in visual arts. They identify and explain allegorical themes in a number of images.

Students define allegory and discuss its use in the visual arts, examine paintings from various time periods and identify allegorical themes in them, and explain what makes an image allegorical.

Sixth graders explore mood through music, art and literature. In this comparative analysis lesson, 6th graders analyze how mood can be expressed through music, visual art, and literature. As assessment, students must write a descriptive paragraph about the mood of a piece of art or music.

Students explore the importance of cave paintings as the first examples of visual art in the Western Hemisphere. They compare examples of cave art to modern art pieces, discuss the lives of cave painters, create their own animal drawing in the cave painting style and write a story about cave art in this seven part mini-unit.