Dick Blick Art Materials
Stitch It Up!
Ever think about combining the art forms of painting and embroidery? Then this art instructional activity is right up your alley! Given a piece of white cloth, young artists first create a grayscale painting and then highlight certain...
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...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
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.
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
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.
Curated OER
Spot the Leaf: Identifying Plants in Works of Art
Students 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.
Curated OER
Bottle Cap Locket
Students create "bottle cap lockets" using bottle caps, ribbon, small photos, and beads in this elementary Art lesson ideal for Valentine's Day or special occasions. The lesson suggests using the "Polaroid i-Zone Mini Instant Camera"...
Curated OER
Go Fish
Here is a good art lesson 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 their masterpieces...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
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.
Curated OER
Multi-Color Leaf Prints
Students 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...
Curated OER
Crayon Resist Fall Leaves
Students create examples of fall leaves using crayons, paints, and white paper in this fall Art instructional activity for the early-elementary classroom. Emphasis is placed upon a class lecture/discussion about why leaves change color...
Contemporary Arts Center
Sultan and Donovan Printmaking: The Collargraph
As part of a study of printmaking, class members study the works of Tara Donovan and Donald Sulta. They go on to build a printing plate using glue, textured paper, and found objects.
Curated OER
What Can a Leaf Be?
Students identify leaves for an art project and create a collage. In this leaf lesson plan, students review leaf characteristics. Students use leaves to create a collage of an animal or creature. Students write recipes of leaves for...
Curated OER
Warm/Cool Leaves
Students 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.
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Thanksgiving Handprint Tree
Students work cooperatively to create a classroom thanksgiving tree in this November art lesson for the elementary classsroom. Included with the lesson is a short resource list of books that contain more Thanksgiving craft ideas.