Endangered Species Coalition
Endangered Species Day Art
Albrecht Durer created a highly textured stamp or print of a rhinoceros. To better understand which animals are near extinction, upper graders create similar prints of endangered animals they've researched. The six-day lesson includes...
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Strong Descriptive Writing: James and the Giant Peach
Support your writers! Clear procedures and appropriate support make this a superb resource for elementary writing instruction. Ready your class to compose original descriptive paragraphs inspired by the episode in Roald Dahl's James and...
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Yellow Bird and Me
Upper elementary artists create works which demonstrate an understanding of the many elements of theater and the visual arts. This four-day plan combines many wonderful aspects of visual, musical, and theatrical arts into one very...
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Pen and Ink Drawing
Learners hone their drawing techniques to create a nature-inspired piece of art. They practice hatching, cross hatching, stippling, and shading. They discuss how each method is better suited for creating specific elements in nature such...
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Scratch Art
Students create a piece of art using crayons, black paint and toothpicks. They cover a paper with bright crayon color, paint over the crayons with black paint and then scratch a design over the black paint in a an outline of their choice.
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Kodomo No Hi: Children's Day Celebration
Children's Day is a beloved Japanese holiday with many colorful and engaging traditions. On this national holiday celebrated yearly on May 5, children are honored for their strengths and given good wishes for happiness. Your younger...
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Very, Very, Simple Decorative Papers
Elementary schoolers gather flowers, leaves, fiber, ribbons and newspapers to expand studenT awareness of their environment. They use these to make printmaking papers, cards, book covers, picture frames and photo mats. Beautiful results...
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How to Make a Mummy Mask
With some plaster casting materials and a quick lesson on the ancient burial traditions of Egypt, your class can create amazing mummy masks. Listed here are all the tools, precautions, and steps needed for each child to make an Egyptian...
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Stained Glass Flowers
Elementary and middle schoolers create decorative flowers using wire armatures and a special paint that remains flexible when it dries. The results from this project are stunning, but the materials needed may be tough to track down. An...
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Puzzle Trees
Elementary artists use a collage and multi-media technique to create textured trees. They study the fall trees, discussing texture and what bare trees look like. They then use a variety of materials to create a textural piece.
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Spot the Leaf: Identifying Plants in Works of Art
Learners explore the leaf as a design motif in art. They conduct Internet research on leaf and tree symbolism, view and discuss artwork, and create an original work of art featuring a leaf or leaf motif.
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Bottle Cap Locket
Students create "bottle cap lockets" using bottle caps, ribbon, small photos, and beads in this elementary Art activity ideal for Valentine's Day or special occasions. The activity suggests using the "Polaroid i-Zone Mini Instant...
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Go Fish
Here is a good art instructional activity on creating colorful versions of fish. After studying images of a variety of fish, young artists choose one that they want to create an image of. Using some high-quality materials, they create...
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Foil tooling - Oriental Art
Students view examples of copper tooling. They create a sketch the size of their copper. Students tape the top and bottom of the sketch to their copper and place a stack of newspaper under the copper. They trace all lines of their sketch...
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Fall Collage
Young scholars create fall collages using digital images, clip art or downloaded images, and the software program Adobe Photoshop in this Art lesson for the elementary classroom. The lesson involves the use of computers and would need to...
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Texture With Chemical Reactions
Students explore the use of different textures in watercolor paintings in this late-elementary lesson. Emphasis is placed upon the art element of texture using the science of chemical reaction. The lesson includes one possible extension.
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Multi-Color Leaf Prints
Young scholars create multi-color leaf prints. Using different shapes and sizes of leaves, they trace them onto a plate and cut it out after adding the veins. They color it with one color and turn it over to make a print and repeat the...
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Crayon Resist Fall Leaves
Students create examples of fall leaves using crayons, paints, and white paper in this fall Art lesson plan for the early-elementary classroom. Emphasis is placed upon a class lecture/discussion about why leaves change color prior to...
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What Can a Leaf Be?
Students identify leaves for an art project and create a collage. In this leaf lesson, students review leaf characteristics. Students use leaves to create a collage of an animal or creature. Students write recipes of leaves for their...
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Warm/Cool Leaves
Learners examine the difference between warm and cool colors. They discuss the basic color wheel, reviewing primary, secondary and complimentary colors. An activity allows students to discover how to mix the warm and cool colors.
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Plaster Casts of Natural Objects
Fourth graders observe objects in science and create a contour picture of the the object. In this arts and science observation lesson, 4th graders develop a clay sculpture of their object. Students generate a list of texture words to...
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Thanksgiving Handprint Tree
Young scholars work cooperatively to create a classroom thanksgiving tree in this November art lesson plan for the elementary classsroom. Included with the lesson plan is a short resource list of books that contain more Thanksgiving...
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Smiling Flowers Bulletin Board
Students create paper plate flowers using basic art supplies, digital pictures of themselves, and "stems and leaves" in this Art-based lesson plan that incorporates digital technology. The lesson plan is ideal for use during the spring...
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Japanese Fan
Young scholars discuss Japanese culture and the functional and artistic uses of fans and create paper fans using watercolors, popsicle sticks, and tape in this Art lesson for the elementary classroom. Can be used as an introduction to...