Visual and Performing Arts Teacher Resources
Visual and Performing Arts resources foster different forms of creative expression, whether through drama, music, film, dance, or visual art, and teach students to value aesthetics. In addition, they provide learners with the historical and cultural contexts for events.
Hands-on activities can be used to introduce young learners to the concept of symmetry while an activity for middle schoolers connects art, advertising, and nutrition. Other lessons, activities, and videos permit students to discover the themes, values, and traditions of world cultures.
The arts have long been used to draw attention to and encourage response to important social issues, environmental concerns, and even the horrors of war. Here’s an article packed with suggestions for how to integrate the arts into science classes and this lesson connects science, math, and art.
No matter your subject area, Lesson Planet has teacher-curated resources designed to spark the interest of your students in the visual and performing arts.
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National Gallery of Canada
Home Sweet Home
What are your pupils' homes like? Incorporate their homes into a drawing lesson. Using an enlarged photograph, class members draw a grid so they can easily split their drawing in half. The final product should demonstrate cool colors,...
TED-Ed
Why Is Vermeer's "Girl with the Pearl Earring" Considered a Masterpiece?
Johannes Vermeer's Girl with the Pearl Earring is the subject of a short video that asks viewers to consider why the enigmatic painting has captured the attention of so many. Using other Vermeer works to provide a contrast, the...
Crash Course
Where Did Theater Go? Crash Course Theater #18
Oh, the drama! According to Plato, poetry is a false representation of reality and, to him, poetry included drama. The Puritans also despised theater, a topic the informational video explores. The narrator describes the controversial...
Biography
Andy Warhol- Mini Biography
Pop artist Andy Warhol is featured in a short mini-biography that provides a brief overview of his life and work.
Smithsonian Institution
George Washington: A National Treasure
Uncover the answer to a specific clue in a portrait of George Washington with a spyglass in an Internet-based interactive. Learners read a clue to an item hidden in a portrait of the First President of the United States in the last years...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Inside Out Fun!
It's amazing what you can do with a little bit of soap, baking soda, and corn starch. Follow the directions in this packet, mix up a batch of fun, and turn young scientists and artists loose to experiment and create chalk, paint, and...
Curated OER
Poetry As Oral Performance
Reciting poetry is a great way to build oral language skills and build classroom community. Pupils look at the text elements of poetry and choose a poem to read aloud. They focus on rhythm, fluency, and expression. This is a great way to...
Curated OER
Teaching “Level of Difficulty” through Close Reading, Reflection, and Performance
What makes a poem difficult? Explore that topic and more with your class as you work through the lesson detailed here. Using materials from Poetry Out Loud, a national recitation contest, individuals or small groups examine poems and...
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 lesson in a series of four...
PreKinders
The Animals in the Mitten
If you need a visual aid for your lesson on The Animals in the Mitten by Jan Brett, consider a presentation that features pictures of each animal from the book. Each slide contains a line from the book with a vivid verb to help kids...
EngageNY
Using Multimedia in Presentations: Presenting Claims
Visuals help clarify claims. Scholars create visual displays to accompany their end-of-unit presentations about water sustainability. Using blank paper and their notes from the unit, they put their creativity to good use and then...
Curated OER
Comparing Visual Interpretations and Actual Events: War & Battle
A Venn Diagram is used to compare artistic and historical representations of a single event. Young analysts view the provided images, read textbook descriptions, and discuss the validity of each representation in terms of bias and...
Prestwick House
"Because I could not stop for Death" -- Visualizing Meaning and Tone
Emily Dickinson's "Because I could not stop for Death" provides high schoolers with an opportunity to practice their critical thinking skills. They examine the images, diction, rhythm, and rhyme scheme the poet uses and consider how...
Curated OER
The Art and Science of Impressionist Color
Discover Impressionist painting as students investigate the 19th century combinations of colors characteristically used. Students experiment with their own paintings, utilizing primary and secondary colors.
Candace Fleming
A Reader's Theater Script for Clever Jack Takes the Cake
Breathe life into a reading of the children's story Clever Jack Takes the Cake with this Reader's Theater script. Offering speaking roles for nine students plus a sound effects chorus, this is a great activity that engages the whole...
Curated OER
The Art of Protesting
Students view various images to examine different types of protest Americans have used throughout history, and explore ways in which protest can produce change for better or worse.
TED-Ed
Fractals and the Art of Roughness
Roughness is everywhere, contributing to the incredible complexity of the world around us. This complexity, however, is not without it's own unique sense of order. Join world-renown mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot as he looks...
PBS
An Iconic Character | Little Women
As Amy lament's Jo's decision to rid herself of her singular beauty, Marmee puts a hand to her mouth, awed by her daughter's generosity. Watch the pivotal scene from a Masterpiece production of Little Women, and lead a language arts...
Columbus City Schools
Poetry Speaking and Listening Standards
Celebrate April's National Poetry Month or enrich a poetry unit with a wealth of language arts material. Class members develop an oral interpretation of a poem and/or develop a podcast interview with a poet.
Curated OER
Portable Art Portfolio
Middle schoolers create an electronic art portfolio. In this visual arts lesson, students use a pen drive and save a digital image of the projects they made in art class. Middle schoolers view a Powerpoint presentation at the end of the...
Curated OER
Glue Art
Students create an art project using glue and food coloring. In this art lesson, students are given a piece of wax paper and glue is poured in the middle of the paper. Finally, food coloring is dripped on one drop at a time with the...
Curated OER
Art/Ocean Scene
Students draw and color an ocean scene based on the paintings of Wyland. In this ocean art lesson plan, students view slides of seascapes before they complete their project using oil pastels.
Curated OER
Looking at French Decorative Arts
Young scholars research the history of trade in porcelain wares from Asia and the quest to re-create true hard-paste porcelain in Europe and art in French society. In this French art lesson, students research and discuss the...
Curated OER
Looking and Learning in the Art Museum
Young art historians review the elements of art by studying a reproduction of a work of art from a museum visit. They explain the difference between looking at a reproduction of a work of art and looking at the original...
