National Gallery of Canada
Build a City of the Future!
Tap into your pupils' imagination by asking them to design futuristic, ideal cities. They must discuss and take scale and size into account, looking at some model pieces of art for inspiration and analysis. The final product for each...
Curated OER
Lesson: A Spider's Perspective
A fun way to grow a class of creative thinkers, is to add creative projects to your weekly line up. Kids pretend they are small insects or spiders crawling up the side of a huge building. They use vivid imagery, rich detail, and their...
Curated OER
Chatty Cherry Stories
Young artists will respond to reading children's literature, by engaging in original storytelling and representing their own images through the visual arts. Then they orally describe details of people, places, and things in their stories...
Sargent Art
Kandinsky - Inspired by Music
Who is Wassily Kandinsky? Introduce your young artists to the wonders of abstract nonobjective art through music. They'll listen to music as they cut, paste, and paint emotional works of art. The activity suggests the use of soothing...
Curated OER
Lesson: Ahoy! A Painting!
Kids listen to the story, How I Became a Pirate and analyze the painting, Our Lady of the Victory of Malaga. So, what do these to things have in common? The art depicts the time period and style. And, the story sets their imaginations...
Curated OER
The Art of Soap Making
Here is a nice, clean wrap-up instructional activity for your chemistry class when they are studying chemical reactions . They experiment with different oils to make soap. To make it more fun, they are to imagine that they are part of a...
Curated OER
Lesson: While You Were Sleeping....
Imagine you are a bug living on a leaf in the painting, Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase by Maria van Oosterwyck. This is what you'll tell your class as they analyze the lovely image. They list details in the painting, find two insects in...
Curated OER
Lesson: Beyond First Impressions
Just like the colors and techniques used to create a vivid image, learners will use exceptional language to create vivid stories. They examine the techniques used to tell a visual story in the painting, Road to Santa Fe. They then use...
Curated OER
Lesson: From Time to Time
A portrait The Radcliffe Family circa 1742 is inspiration for creative writing and empathetic reasoning. Your class discusses the period in which the piece was painted, then imagines what life was like for one of the people seen in the...
Curated OER
Lesson: Straight from the Horse's Mouth
Imagine life from a horse's perspective. That's what the class will be doing after they analyze images of the Crow installation piece, Horse Outfit. They analyze the cultural significance of the work, the tribe who created it, and then...
Curated OER
Creature Painting
Kids create a free-form art piece using paper, water-based paints, markers, and imagination. They allow the paints to randomly bleed, mix, and move on the paper, then they look for forms in the organic images. They black-line the shapes...
Curated OER
Have It Your Way Sandwich Collage
You want to make a sandwich out of fabric and paper? If so, this art project provides the instructions needed. Learners will use a variety of fabrics and paper to construct a sandwich through collage. Tip: Have leaners describe the...
Curated OER
Pipe Cleaner Sculpture
Learners of any age can make the most out of their pipe cleaners. This art project idea is very simple and yet, it could result in some amazing works of art. They use pipe cleaners, flat styrofoam, straws, pasta, and beads to create...
Classroom Jr.
Leprechaun Story Starter
The idea that there are little, bearded men protecting pots of gold fills every child's imagination with endless possibilities. This fun writing prompt taps into the creativity of young learners as they write about the day they caught a...
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...
Curated OER
Monet and Impressionism
Monet is a great artist to study and impressionism is a wonderful art style to practice. Learners read about Monet then attempt to use impressionist painting techniques. Book and image links are included.
Curated OER
Mondrian Inspired Abstract Art
Students explore the art of Piet Mondrian. In this abstract art lesson, students look at paintings by the Dutch painter and then follow the provided steps to create their own abstract art inspired by his works.
Curated OER
Imagining China Through Words
Students create a drawing from a written description and examine and discuss how European artists from the past created images of China that combined imagination with written descriptions and limited visual imagery.
Curated OER
Imaginative Interpretations
Students explore how works of art can be inspired by stories by creating their own work of art inspired by a narrative text.
Curated OER
Art Museum Visit
Students engage in a lesson designed to be used before visiting The Orange County Museum of Art in California. They are exposed to works of art from a featured artist and recreate some of his work in the classroom. Students also conduct...
Curated OER
The Art Box
Sixth graders create a 3-D Art Box in this design-oriented art project for the 6th grade. Rubric is included for grading purposes. The elements of design are covered and applied (includes line, form, texture, shape, value, color, and...
Curated OER
Money and Business (Art)
Third graders investigate world currency by creating their own coin art. In this government lesson, 3rd graders examine the characteristics of different coins and create their own design for a new one. Students discuss and present...
Curated OER
Numbers in Art
Students choose a number from one to twelve and tell a number story about it. They listen to the teacher read "Numbers in Art" by Lucy Micklethwait. Students choose three numbers from one to twelve and view works of art while looking for...
Curated OER
Telling Stories in Art: Witness to a Brawl
Students examine how a piece of art tells a story. In this visual art lesson, students interpret a piece of art work by writing a newspaper article that tells the story of the moment in time that is depicted in a picture. They work with...