Curated OER
Play on Words Design
High schoolers create a design of an image that combines two words to create an unusual visualization. They improve their drawing skills by completing a detailed, colored pencil rendering of the "Play on Words" they design. Using...
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Everyone Can Write Poetry
Embark on a journey of writing several different types of poetry. Fifth graders read several examples, and use the examples to model their own writing. Each poem is to be accompanied by a different art visual representation. In the end,...
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Valued Animals - Colored Pencil and Crayon
Second graders see that pressure of crayon create range of values. They show value range with crayons in an art work. They see how value is used in works of art and explain the importance of animals and their environment.
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Flexible Thinking- Squiggle Art
Students complete an art creation where they are given a squiggle and have to design a picture around it. In this squiggle art lesson plan, students use flexible thinking, and draw 6 pictures around 6 different squiggles.
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Visual Arts
Students identify different kinds of lines in art and nature. They use continuous, curved line to create a drawing.
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Exercise in creating drawings for field notebooks
Students (with a partner) draw and describe a leaf in its natural setting, and then re-find leaves drawn and described by classmates. The point is to have them start to think about observations in science, what to put in a field...
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I Spy (Camouflaged Animals in Art!)
Make connections about animal characteristics and the animal's environment. In this animal characteristics lesson, students use a piece of art as a springboard for a discussion about animals and camouflage. Students choose an animal that...
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Depression Era Art: The Federal Arts Project
Students research Depression-era art and WPA arts programs. They discuss the purposes of representational art, list topics that would make good representational art today, and produce a work of art representing a current theme.
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How Does Art Feel
Students examine a variety of textures, one of the seven elements of design. They experiment with various media and techniques to produce different textures. Then they produce two works of art, one using actual textured material and one...
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Money and Business (Art)
Third graders investigate world currency by creating their own coin art. For this government lesson, 3rd graders examine the characteristics of different coins and create their own design for a new one. Students discuss and...
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Outside - Inside Drawings
Students use observational drawing to study the unfamiliar They use oil pastels to mix/blend colors. They be introduced to using drawing as a tool for documenting what we can learn from close observation.
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Contour Drawing
Third graders are introduced to Contour Drawing. They view examples and non-examples of student contour drawings. After a demonstration of correct technique, 3rd graders produce contour drawings of the top side of their hand.
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A Bug's Life
Look at life from a bug's perspective, and create a wonderful image based on what you think it sees. Learners use the crayon resist painting technique to draw and paint and picture of a bug's world from its point of view. Tip: This would...
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Step Inside the Brain
Before digital microscopes, scientists hired artists to draw the things visible in the microscope. Through training in neuroscience and art, Cajal revolutionized the way we view the beautiful brain. The third instructional activity in a...
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Brain Inspiration
"Neuroscientists consider Cajal as important to their discipline as Einstein is to physics." The first of four lessons has scholars view Santiago Ramon y Cajal's drawings of neurons. They reflect and respond to the art through writing...
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Aboriginal Hand Prints
A part of a study of Australian Aboriginal culture, class members listen to a Dreamtime story about a father who stenciled his handprint on a rock wall. Class members then make their own hand print art representative of themselves...
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Contour Drawing
Students create a contour drawing of a hand creating an illusion of depth. After a brief demonstration of contour drawing, students practice by creating pictures of various objects. The final project consists of creating a contour...
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Art and Influence of Theatre
Pupils examine an 18th century drawing and produce a skit based on the drawing. In this art analysis instructional activity, students analyze the story depicted in a drawing and create a skit inspired the scene. Pupils research the 18th...
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Draw Like an Egyptian
Learners craft their own Egyptian art. In this ancient Egyptian art lesson plan, students explore Egyptian art and create their own work following the 4 guidelines presented in the lesson plan.
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Remembrance Through Public Art
Students discuss the purpose of public art, in the form of memorials. They research the design and planning of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C., then plan their own memorial and construct a 3D model.
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Flexible Thinking - Squiggle Art
Learners develop their creative abilities. In this creative thinking lesson, students examine different shapes and drawings and discuss what it makes them think of. Learners create self confidence by thinking together in groups.
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X-Ray Style Australian Aboriginal Art
In this Aboriginal art activity, students create a work of art in the x-ray style of Australian art. They read a short paragraph about the history of the art form. They draw an example of the art that shows the bones of a traditional...
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Fusing Furniture and Asian Art
Students design furniture. For this visual arts lesson, students examine French, Chinese, and Asian art pieces. Students compare the lacquer art and apply the motifs to their lacquer panels and furniture pieces.