Aunt Annie's Crafts
Diamond Box
Here's an easy to do craft that has kids creating diamond shaped boxes using the templates provided by this resource.
Curated OER
Visual Arts - Mexican Indian Yarn Painting
Have you ever seen a Mexican yarn painting? They're beautiful! Create a Mexican yarn painting with your class using this lesson plan. Start by discussing Mexico's culture and viewing different yarn paintings. After reading about...
Scholastic
Make Hooting Owls with Your Class!
Kids create their own hooting owls using the template provided and art supplies. Pair the activity with the book, 10 Hooting Owls as suggested here, or on its own as part of a unit on owls or nocturnal animals.
National Center for Families Learning
The Summer Fun Summer Learning Dramatic and Story Reading Unit
What's the difference between story reading and story telling? Participants in a summer enrichment program learn all about the difference as they listen to famous speeches, engage in dramatic readings, and craft their own short stories...
Incredible Art
Faberge Eggs: Ceramic Pinch Pots
Introduce your potters to pinching, the ceramic hand-building technique, by asking them to craft their own Faberge egg. An 18-slide presentation, included in the resource, demonstrates the pinch pot technique and includes photos of...
Curated OER
Fabric Scrap Flower Garden
Crafting is fun, it increases eye-hand coordination, and it is a great way to accent any lesson. Celebrate Earth Day by creating scrap fabric flowers for a pop-stick flower garden. Children of all ages will love gluing, cutting, and...
Johnson County Community College
Treasured Stories by Eric Carle
Explore the works of Eric Carle with a set of four lessons focused around the stories, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Papa, Please Get the Moon For Me, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Young readers develop a storyboard,...
Curated OER
Coil Pots
Children learn by doing. Here, they discuss cultural uses of containers, coil and slab techniques, functional aesthetics, and the principles of art and design. The entire process for making a coil pot is fully described here to make the...
National Endowment for the Humanities
“House by the Railroad”: A Painting and a Poem for the Common Core
Introduce your class to ekphrastic poetry with an exercise that asks them to examine Edward Hooper's painting House by the Railroad and Edward Hirsch's poem "Edward Hopper and the House By the Railroad." After a close reading of the two...
Curated OER
Thanksgiving Holiday
First graders explore American culture by participating in arts and crafts activities. In this Thanksgiving lesson, 1st graders listen to music based upon the Thanksgiving tradition and examine images of the first Thanksgiving. Students...
Curated OER
Picture Frame Craft
Use craft sticks to make a picture frame for parents. A great activity that can be themed for many occasions.
Curated OER
Tissue Paper Puzzle Art
Get creative and use a tissue paper collage to make wonderful window hangings for the classroom. You'll find the materials list, objectives, and instructions needed to complete this fun activity. This project encourages eye-hand...
Curated OER
Leisure Activities for Students with low functioning Autism
Young scholars explore and attempt new/different leisure activities. Four stations are set up with different leisure activities. Students rotate from one station to the next every five minutes. Station activities could include: coloring,...
Curated OER
Crafting Models of Efficiency
Learners build and compare models of both an energy inefficient and efficient classroom. In this energy efficiency lesson, students creatively use recycled materials to build two separate classroom models. They factor in concepts such as...
Berkshire Museum
Camouflage!: Collecting Data and Concealing Color
Help young scholars see the important role camouflage plays in the survival of animals with a fun science lesson. Starting with an outdoor activity, children take on the role of hungry birds as they search for worms represented by...
Hildegard Center for the Arts
Mardi Gras Masks
Laissez les bons temps rouler! Create your own festive Mardi Gras masks with a lesson that provides background information on the celebration and instructions about constructing the masks.
Curated OER
Spin Art
The best part about spin art is that is demonstrates the concept of centrifugal force. Explore the magical spin of gravity as you make colorful art. This lesson idea is short, very simple, and requires a spin art machine.
Dick Blick Art Materials
“Gawu” — African-influenced Tapestry
Here's a great way to combine environmental science with art. Kids use recycled materials to create their own Gawu, a tapestry made of discards. Although designed for special education classrooms, the activity is sure to engage all...
Curated OER
Lesson: Ginger Brooks Takahashi: Powerstich: A Forum for Community-Building
This is a great way to build community in your school, experience process-based art, and explore the critical-thinking process. While quilting as a class collectively (just like a quilting bee) pupils listen to poetry and prose of a...
Sargent Art
Rainsticks
This rainstick lesson isn't just about making art; it's about understanding Native American symbols and culture. Kids read about the use of rainsticks and why specific symbols were used to decorate them. They then make their own...
Curated OER
Paper Weaving
Practice the native concept of weaving with traditional classroom items. Using assorted colors of construction paper, your class will simulate how to weave. This is a great activity to connect to a Native American, Mexican, or other...
Curated OER
Spray Bottle Paint Mural
Sometimes all you need is a quick and easy outdoor art project. Perfect for the end of the school year, this mural project allows kids to make a mess while creating art. They use spray bottles full of paint to "spray" paint a large sheet...
Chandler Unified School District
Art Masterpiece—Leonardo da Vinci Inventions
After getting to know the inventor, Leonardo da Vinci and his many inventions, scholars think up their own invention. Following a written description and a hand-drawn picture, learners use a method of mirror writing and antiquing to give...
Curated OER
Paint & Paper: Free-Form Musical Art
Students explore painting their feelings as they enjoy this musical art activity. In this early childhood visual art lesson, students use paint to respond to music.