Curated OER
Terrific Tessellations
Students create to pieces of artwork using two primary colors and tessellation techniques. This is an excellent lesson that can be accomplished using standard art techniques or educational software such as Adobe Photoshop or Microsoft...
Curated OER
Coming Full Circle
Students develop and design their own clothing line in this Visual Arts lesson plan about the intricacies of the fashion world. Emphasis is placed upon current and vintage designs, famous designers, and the development of individual...
Curated OER
Terrific Traveling Tour
Fifth graders discover the career of a museum curator as they assemble mock museum displays and gather information on famous works of art. The lesson is very complete and includes lesson extensions, resource links, and curricular...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Railroad Tracks
Ahhh the vanishing point! Sounds ominous, but it's not. Fifth graders analyze the use of perspective in Renaissance art. They practice using linear perspective to draw railroad tracks that seem to go on forever. Tip: Make this...
Curated OER
Watercolor Landscapes
Van Gogh's Starry Night and Thomas Cole's The Oxbow are featured in a watercolor lesson that encourages young artists to explore various techniques before creating their own landscape.
Curated OER
Soft Sculpture Birds
Art can mimic life, and animals are always interesting subjects. Learners create large soft sculptures (stuffed) birds using paper, paint, and other basic collage materials. They view images of birds, and discuss bird traits and shapes....
Curated OER
Building Original Narratives
Fourth graders act out and write original narratives. In this theater meets writing lesson, 4th graders work in groups to create original narratives; after students act out their story, they write it down as a narrative.
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Suki's Kimono
In the story Suki's Kimono drums are used to show mood. Learners discuss mood in the story after they practice playing a simple 4/4 rhythm on their drums. Each group plays the rhythm using a different tempo. They listen to each...
Curated OER
Flip and Flop: An Adaptation Through Dancing Echoes with Shapes and Locomotor Movement
Dancers practice echoing through dance. They listen to a story "Flip and Flop" and then are put into pairs. One partner is Flip, while the other is Flop. Flip creates a shape by dancing, and Flop, the other student, echoes that shape by...
Curated OER
Color the Snow
Are your teaching in a cold and snowy environment? If so, then try out this fun activity with your class. You mix a variety of colors in large jars to show learners the difference between primary and secondary colors, then let them mix...
North Birmingham Academy
Color Theory
What better way to learn about colors than by coloring? Starting with the primary colors, young artists follow written prompts to shade in various rectangles and a color wheel to show complementary colors, tints and shades, and more.
Curated OER
Sunset Pictures
Sunsets and shadows are lovely subjects for creative projects. Kids take a good look at images of sunsets, then use paint and construction paper to create a silhouetted sunset image. Tip: This project is a great way to illustrate a poem...
Curated OER
Greek Pottery Designs
Get creative while exploring the art and history of the ancient Greeks. Learners create construction paper representations of Greek pottery, focusing on the differences between geometric and organic shapes. This project could enhance an...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Crow Boy
There is a difference between actions, motives, and the appearance of a character in a narrative text. Fourth graders explore character analysis through the dramatic arts. They create a series of movements, tableaus, and pantomimes to...
Code.org
Encoding B and W Images
Imagine drawing with zeros and ones. The third lesson in a unit of 15 introduces the class to creating black and white images. Pairs get together to create an encoding scheme in order to make these images. They move on to a...
Curated OER
Egyptian Mummy Cases
Here is an activity I'd like to do with my class! They researching the ins and outs of Egyptian culture, hieroglyphs, symbolism, and art, then use what they know to create realistic or stylized Mummy cases. These cases need to include...
Curated OER
Clay Sand Castles
You can start off this sand castle art project by previewing the included architectural vocabulary. Learners explore images, the web, and books that show both sand castles and architectural design. They then get creative and make their...
National Wildlife Federation
Massive Migrations
Turn your students into flocks of migratory birds for this fun activity on animal migration. Prior to the activity, the teacher creates four different migration routes in the classroom or any available open space, labeling nesting...
Curated OER
Cotton Swab Skeletons
To truly teach through the arts means one must tackle both art and core content in one lesson. This quick activity does just that. Learners make skeletons out of cotton swabs in order to study relief sculpture and the skeletal system....
The New York Times
Perspective and Leonardo’s “Perspectograph”
Filippo Brunelleschi's invention of linear perspective during the Renaissance was further developed by his apprentice, a young artist named Leonardo da Vinci. Now modern artists can give da Vinci's famous perspectograph a try...
Museum of the American Revolution
Pop-Up Museum
Museums offer more than interesting exhibits—they are key to keeping history alive. An immersive activity uses a virtual field trip to show academics the importance of museums in preserving history. Young historians learn how museums are...
EngageNY
End of Unit 3 Assessment: On-Demand Writing— Photograph and Song Choices for a Film
Ready, set, write! Every great film begins with a script, and every presentation starts with a plan. Directors use their research and experience to compose an essay explaining the rationale behind their film's musical and visual choices...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Research Simulation
As part of a mid-unit assessment, scholars complete a research simulation about food deserts to mimic the research process. Afterward, they engage in a think-pair-share to discuss what they've learned throughout the unit.
Annenberg Foundation
Curating an Exhibit
A curated exhibit at a museum has a point of view. Artifacts are selected and arranged to cause viewers to contemplate this point of view or theme. An interactive provides class members with an opportunity to create an exhibit, to curate...