Arts & Humanities
Make a Souvenir Suitcase
Shoe boxes are fantastic for art projects! Kids create travel boxes, where they can store their travel memorabilia. Tip: Instead of using this idea to make travel cases, create social studies boxes instead. Kids will make these travel...
Arts & Humanities
Make Your Own Flower Garden
Get into art with a little lesson on flower parts. The class reviews basic information regarding flowers and then they use a paper mosaic technique to create visual representations of the lovely plants.
Bronx Zoo
How Animals Shape Up
Most drawings are comprised of a set of very basic shapes. Young zoologists examine the shapes that make up different animals they see at the zoo. They'll discuss the shapes that make up a head, body, and legs of an animal and then draw...
Denver Art Museum
The Poetry in Non-Events
The photograph, Nellie and her Italian Soda is viewed and discussed by the class. They are instructed to use the photograph as inspiration to write a poem about non-events, or things that are beautiful in every day life. Pupils use a...
Crayola
Picture-Perfect Portraits
Children research the paintings of Italian artist Raphael and compare them to the works of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. They engage in close observations of one person while they prepare to paint a portrait. They create original,...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Pease Porridge
Practice using different ways to express a single pattern. The class uses concrete, pictorial, and numerical modes to represent patterns found in a simple rhyme. They will move their bodies, use body percussion, draw, and use numbers to...
California Academy of Science
Fraction Penguin
Exploring mathematics through art is a fun and concrete way to help learners grasp a concept. They will construct a paper penguin using fractions cut from circles. They'll need to determine 1/8, 1/4, and 1/2 of each circle. Once the...
California Academy of Science
Make your own Antelope Horns!
What are those horns for anyway? Little ones discuss the shape, texture, and purpose of horns found on animals such as the deer and antelope. They then pair up and make their own set of antelope horns to wear while visiting a local...
San Francisco Symphony
Beethoven's Sixth Symphony and the Expression of Feeling through the Arts
Here is an activity used originally to finish off a unit on country life and nature. It requires learners to have a basic understanding of harvest, rural life, and autumn. They'll use what they know to construct dance movements showing...
San Francisco Symphony
Lesson Ideas for Any Music
Music is a wonderful tool you can add to enhance the learning process for every subject. Here is a list of music selections that are categorized by subject, along with some neat teaching suggestions. You'll find songs suited to...
Michael's Crafts
Classroom Community Bulletin Board Lesson Plan
Building a strong classroom community is a huge part of our job. This idea lets the kids help define the rules, ideas, and behaviors that they want in their classroom. They'll work together to design a bulletin board that exemplifies the...
Andrea Mulder-Slater
Happy Accidents Painting
A person can see a lot of different things when he looks at the amorphous clouds. The same is true when you let your watercolor paints do as they please. Little artists create haphazard art with watercolors, then use ink or marker to...
Curated OER
Writing to a Specific Topic
After a class discussion where learners make predictions about what will happen in a book based on its cover illustration, pupils are asked to compose a written response about an aspect of the story and include some of their own...
Kiz Club
Whose Hat?
Here is a wonderful supplemental activity that would go great with a unit or lesson on community helpers or community workers. Kids will color in each of the provided images and they put the images together in a book. The book is then...
Curated OER
Finger Puppet Dogs
Cut, color, and paste. Sounds like a trip to the hairdresser. Nope, it's a mini project that requires little ones to color each dog-themed finger puppet, cut them out, and paste the backs to make fun finger-sized friends. Note: The...
Curated OER
Self-Portrait
Build a sense of self while honing prewriting and fine motor skills by having your learners with autism draw a self-portrait. The instructional activity is intended for younger pupils but could be used with learners of any age in need of...
Curated OER
Where Are the Dinosaurs?
Students explore the concept of extinction by studying dinosaurs. For this dinosaur lesson, students distinguish between extinct creatures and those that still exist.
Curated OER
Where Are the Dinosaurs?
Students explore the concept of extinction by studying dinosaurs. In this extinction lesson, students watch dinosaur video clips or complete a puppet finger play about dinosaurs. Students may then complete a dinosaur diorama or a...
Curated OER
Loud or soft?
Send this cute activity home with kids, to increase family involvement. They'll consider what would happen if rice was bounced in a tambourine, and then they'll complete a sound activity by makings an instrument out of wax paper and a...
Curated OER
Feeling Left Out
Youngsters use puppets and role playing to explore how they feel when excluded by their peers. They brainstorm ways to feel better when this happens and how to avoid excluding others. There's nothing worse than feeling excluded or left...
Curated OER
Appreciation Cards
Showing appreciation for those who help them is an important skill for youngsters to acquire. This lesson helps them do just that by having them make appreciation cards for people. The card reads...."2, 4, 6, 8....Who Do I Appreciate?"...
Curated OER
Balloon Dance
Young learners love creative movement. Here is a lesson that allows them to imitate balloons floating away by doing a "Balloon Dance." They start on the ground as if they are flat balloons with no air in them. The music starts, and they...
Curated OER
Telling Stories About Ourselves
Students discover how visual images communicate meaning. They create costumes that tell personal stories and perform dances wearing the costumes.
Curated OER
Becoming Part of the Action
Students improve visualization skills through role play, texture identification, and storytelling. They discuss connections between a painting and their own lives.