Participating in Visual Arts Teacher Resources

Who knew you could paint with glue? After first adding liquid water color paints to bottles of white Elmer's glue and applying them to paper, students of all ages are then challenged to use their imagination and creativity to draw in...

What kind of careers are there in the art field? Create an arts occupation book with your class while investigating several art careers. Students include samples in their book of the types of art each career produces.    

Third graders discover elements in visual art. In this visual art lesson plan, 3rd graders explore the use of line, shape, and color in visual art. After reviewing works of art, students create unique art pieces. Technology resources...

Sand has been used as an artistic medium for centuries and can be found in cultures across the globe. The class examines sand art created by the Navajo people. They mix tempera paint and sand to create their colors, and then fill jars,...

How do you represent a tragic event? Are stories of tragic events better left untold? After reading chapter two of Maus and studying other representations of the Holocaust (suggestions are included), class members create a representation...

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...

Middle schoolers practice evaluating art by creating a research project and presentation. They use the Internet and library to discover a piece of art or artist whom they feel has an impact on the world of art. Next, they create a...

George Méliès realized in the early days of cinema that, "Films have the ability to capture dreams." From classic movies like A Trip to the Moon, The Lost World, and Metropolis, to more modern marvels like Blade Runner, Jurassic Park,...

Have you just visited an art museum? Or can you create a gallery in your classroom to visit? Pupils create an original drawing that reinforces what was learned in a visit to the art museum. They will view original art work and verbally...

Have your class create original modern art sculptures. Learners analyze and discuss "The Profile," a sculpture by Martin Puryear. They work in teams to develop a proposal for a large outdoor sculpture in the community. Presentations...

Students examine stained glass art techniques in this introductory lesson provided by Oregon Public Broadcasting. The unit emphasizes student created representations of stained glass art.

Kids cast their own plaster tools to stamp image impressions and textures for tiles, pictures frames, and other works of art. Young artists can even create their own watermark to label their stuff.

Here's a prescription for creativity—keep a daily art journal. Words, images, shapes, objects, all can be used as prompts that exercise the creative imagination. Set aside a couple of moments each day for this engaging activity.

Young scholars examine and discuss work of Hungarian artist Victor Vasarely, recognize visual components of Op Art, compare traditional Renaissance perspective with Op Art's illusion of three-dimensional space, and create original...

Learners examine works of art to develop an understanding of the importance of visual balance in works of art and nature. Students research artists and their artwork for examples of visual balance. Learners create works of art showing...

Learners plan an art show. They do everything from creating the invitations, to selecting the pieces of art, to deciding how they will be displayed. This is a rather ambitious project for 1st graders to take on, so a lot of parental...

Encourage your class to consider a beautiful short film about a boy named Theo who happens to be visually impaired. Over the course of the lesson, pupils work in pairs, discuss their ideas and the film as a class, view the film, take...

Show a video clip that descripes how taking a journey can change a person's outlook on life. Learners write a paragraph about a place that uses imagery and tone to create a specfic effect. They evaluate their journal entries as well.

Middle schoolers aren't too young to feel strongly about politics, social issues, consumer rights, or environmental problems. Demonstrate the first steps toward social change with a project about action-oriented writing. Eighth graders...

Here is another in this fabulous series of art lessons I've been reviewing! Artists of all ages design a wearable piece of artwork using special buttons that have a clear, removable top to them. All sorts of creative ideas are presented...

Students describe, represent and analyze patterns and relationships using shapes. They create simple geometric patterns. They demonstrate increasing technical ability and skill to complete visual arts assignments.

Using a potter’s wheel to make functional art is an experience not common to most people. Provide your learners with a chance to see what pottery making is all about with an app that allows them to create pots, fire them, decorate them,...

Reinforce a strong art vocabulary which can also apply to aspects of math and science. Kids read about various types of balance or symmetry found in art. They analyze three paintings based on vocabulary and read a how-to for creating...

Op art is fun to look at, and it's fun to make. Kids learn about the origins of op art and the op art master, M.C. Escher. They view simple to complex examples of op art to see how it works and then create an optical piece of their own....