Introduce your class to the seven elements of art through a presentation and related project. Before beginning the project, class members take notes on the presentation, writing down the underlined items and adding drawings into their...

The set for a play combines design elements (style, line, shape, mass, measure, position, color, and texture) and principles of composition (unity, harmony, contrast, variation, balance, proportion, and emphasis) to create a particular...

Clothes might not make the man but they certainly do help an actor create a character. How costume designers employ the same elements of design found in sets (line, color, texture, shape) to realize a character is the focus of a lesson...

Explore contemporary American Indian art. After viewing a set of images, class members discuss the design elements of techniques present, as well as how these artists represent history and culture. Learners examine the parfleche and...

Play with dimensions and practice making a two-dimensional scene look three-dimensional. Class members view pieces of art and then make their own scenes by layering different materials and drawing in details. Check out all the tabs for...

The introduction to Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and the finale of his Symphony No. 4 provide young musicians with an opportunity to investigate the music elements composers employ to develop the themes they want to create. They compare the...

Line, shape, color, texture, space. The first in a three-part series of lessons intended for advanced theatre arts classes introduces the elements of set design. Class members examine maquettes and analyze how designers have put together...

What makes a color warm, and what makes a color cool? Explore colors and abstract art through an observation activity and an art assignment. Learners look at images and talk about colors before making their own compositions with...

Explore the world of textured landscapes through the eyes of the famous artist, Grant Wood. Here is an elementary art lesson in which scholars learn about Grant Wood's life, view his work, draw their own textured landscape, and then...

Skyscrapers are amazing feats of architectural design that create the iconic skylines of the world's biggest cities. Young architects explore the defining characteristics of these monstrous towers with the first lesson in this four-part...

Bridge the gaps in your knowledge of bridges. Individuals learn about bridge types by building models. The activity introduces beam bridges, arch bridges, truss bridges, and suspension bridges.

Knowing the basics of drafting allows individuals to create drawings that show all the views and measurements necessary to allow others to visualize the original object. Pupils gain experience by drawing three orthographic views of...

Take young geologists on an exploration of the rock cycle with this six-lesson earth science unit on rocks and minerals. Through a series of discussions, demonstrations, and hands-on investigations your class will learn...

Kick-start a discussion of the importance of biodiversity with a colorful resource that touts the benefits of maintaining healthy ecosystems. The images stress the interdependence of all the elements of an ecosystem.

Introduce your class to ekphrastic poetry with an exercise that asks them to examine Edward Hooper's painting House by the Railroad and Edward Hirsch's poem "Edward Hopper and the House By the Railroad." After a close reading...

The final session in a sequential, three-lesson sculpture study designed by the education staff of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has class members using the criterial they developed to critique each others' symbolic sculptures.

Dim the lights, take a deep breath, and press play to explore the emotions and memories that music elicits. Class members begin using relaxation techniques designed to create a positive listening experience. As music plays, learners...

Is it a calendar? A religious symbol? A political statement? One thing for certain is that Aztec sun stone designs remain an important symbol in Mexican cultural art. Young artists craft their own Aztec Sun design incorporating ideas...

Young citizens construct an understanding of urban planning in this cross-curricular unit. Covering every aspect of city development from the political, economic, and social influences to sustainable building practices, this...

Symmetry, line, shape, art, and math are all connected through a fun hands-on craft. Included are instructions to a classic activity, where learners create butterflies to show symmetry in nature and then discuss symmetry in math. It is...

To increase awareness and launch a discussion of consumerism, class members view What Would It Look Like, a 25 minute film of images that capture the global effects of the consumption of goods. Viewers make a list of the images that...

Insolubility and density? Yup, it's art class, of course. To create insoluble paintings that continually move and change, kids mix water-based paint with mineral oil and seal the mixture in laminating pouches.

Young artists learn to build rhythm into a design by repeating colors, shapes, and patterns in a 3-D sculpture activity.