Curated OER
Peace Posters
Learners focus on a theme to create a poster or collage. In this theme based art project, students communicate their peace theme through drawings to communicate their present feeling and ideas. Learners learn the emotions conveyed in the...
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Holiday Greeting Cards
Students create holiday greeting cards using digital images and Photoshop elements in this great holiday art activity for the elementary school classroom. The lesson includes step-by-step procedures, a student example, and resource links.
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About Life: The Photographs of Dorthea Lange - Images of Children in Dorothea Lange's Photographs
Students examine how visual artists tell stories with their work. In this visual art lesson, students study two of Dorothea Lange's photographs to find elements of art and narrative content, use descriptive language when discussing...
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Designing Illuminated Text
Students examine illuminated manuscripts from the Gutenberg Bible. Using the examples, they use the internet to explore the effects of the printing press on the value of literature and art. They create their own illuminated initial...
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Celebration and Satire
Students analyze 19th-century paintings that depict celebrations in various ways. In this visual arts lesson, students view samples of paintings during the Industrial Revolution and discuss the effects of that time period on society....
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Capturing the Moment in 3-D
Young scholars analyze the sculpture "Rearing Horse" by Adriaen de Vries. In this visual arts lesson, students examine the sculpture and then draw and sculpt animals from life, trying to capture a moment frozen in time.
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Wide Awake Dreaming
Learners examine and discuss works of art by Juan Miro and other surrealist artists. They discuss paintings of Juan Miro, create a drawing of a dream-like creature, and write a description of their creature.
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Fall Collage
Students create fall collages using digital images, clip art or downloaded images, and the software program Adobe Photoshop in this Art activity for the elementary classroom. The activity involves the use of computers and would need to...
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Calico Watercolor Cats
A fun art project, this lesson incorporates math and listening skills as young artists play with a new painting technique. First the teacher models how to draw a cat using shapes, an oval for the body, triangles for the ears and so on,...
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Photo/Mat Weaving
Learners explore the art of mat weaving. In this tapestry lesson, students create maps with paper or photographs. Learners understand age appropriate skills and technique of map weaving. Students learn the cultural aspects of map weaving.
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New Forms from Old
Students look at historic porcelain objects. In this visual arts instructional activity, students examine how the use of historic objects has changed over time. Students design their own object from paper cups, bowls, plates, and...
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Sequential Still Life
Sixth graders engage in a visual arts lesson featuring still life sketching and watercolor painting created by individual students.
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In Depth: Pearblossom Highway
Young scholars analyze a photograph and a photo-collage showing the same highway. In this visual arts lesson plan, students write a descriptive paragraph about both images and identify one-point perspective in art. Young...
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And Then What Happened?
Students analyze paintings by using verbs, adjectives, and nouns. In this visual arts instructional activity, students view a painting of a storm and a calm sky. Students use various verbs and adjectives to discuss the characteristics of...
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Ethnic Art: African. Mexican and Caribbean Perspectives
Young scholars study artistic aspects of their culture. They compare ethnic cultures through arts and crafts and produce quality works of art from the knowledge that they have gained. They develop the vocabulary required to verbalize...
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Draw, Pardner!
Students explore how to draw in 3-D. In this visual arts lesson, students use newsprint and a yard stick to construct three dimensional drawings of objects.
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Fish Banners
An art lesson involving fish can accent a wide variety of subjects. Here are the steps needed to create a fish banner with paint, shapes, cardboard, and paper. This would be a nice way to start or finish a unit on fish or underwater...
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Rhythm in Motion
Any age of elementary student can demonstrate their understanding of the connections of elements of art and music by creating their own slit song. You will investigate and study the Melanesian Slit Song with Kindergartners through Junior...
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Leaf Prints
Creating art from nature teaches learners how to appreciate the world around them while allowing them to practice artistic techniques. After observing and choosing fall leaves from outside, they create leaf prints. They press the painted...
Art Institute of Chicago
Send a Postcard
Using Claude Monet's On the Bank of the Seine as inspiration, young artists create their own postcards. During the lesson, learners discuss the techniques used in Monet's painting, as well as the woman in the painting, and...
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Origami Ducks: Geometry, Listening, and Following Directions
Make origami ducks with your class to reinforce geometry concepts and vocabulary; develop fine motor and visual translation skills; and enrich study of Japanese culture, the pond habitat, or migration. Create a whole group "worksheet"...
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The Brooklyn Museum of Art Newspaper
Students create newspapers. In this technology skills lesson, students create a newspaper layout using a word processor program. The newspaper features stories regarding the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
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Papier-mache Bowl
Bowls are useful and can be quite beautiful. The steps needed to create bowls out of papier-mache are outlined in this step-by-step art lesson. Tip: Discuss the origin of papier-mache, various cultures that have used it, and how it has...