National Endowment for the Humanities
Mark Twain and American Humor
“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is famous, in part, because it established a uniquely American form of humor. For this famous story, Mark Twain combines the tall-tale, the dialect story, and satire. Here is a resource...
National Gallery of Canada
Panoramic Landscapes
Combine landscape with collage to create unique art pieces. Class members examine works of art before creating their own pieces with photos of a special place. Learners create a panoramic image and add in figures.
National Gallery of Canada
The Ideal Trophy
Invite your pupils to represent a club, team or other group with a trophy of their own creation. Learners examine the Taylor Cup by Laurent Amiot and then prepare trophy designs. When the sketches are complete, pupils sculpt...
National Gallery of Canada
Build a City of the Future!
Tap into your pupils' imagination by asking them to design futuristic, ideal cities. They must discuss and take scale and size into account, looking at some model pieces of art for inspiration and analysis. The final product for each...
Smart Museum of Art
The Making of a Superhero
Thor, Loki, Iron Man, and Captain America. As part of their study of Greek and Roman gods and heroes, middle schoolers compare the characters in The Avengers to Greek counterparts. Individuals then create their own superhero,...
Curated OER
Epic Improvisation
Really? Rapping The Odyssey? Really. A discussion of the oral tradition of story telling and its links to Epic poetry sets the stage for a series of activities that encourage improvisation to integrate music into other classrooms....
National Gallery of Canada
Make a Pinhole Camera
Introduce your class to photography by asking them to construct their own pinhole cameras. After putting together their own devices, pupils take and develop pictures and analyze the results. The plan provides step-by-step instructions...
Digital Forsyth
Photo Analysis for Visual Impact
A instructional activity on photo analysis, compare and contrast, and an art project are here for the taking. Fourth graders analyze photographs of gas stations from now and from the past, focusing on how the cars and building designs...
Curated OER
Styrofoam Relief Prints
Using Styrofoam trays, kindergartners carve and create their own prints. They create an image in the Styrofoam, ink it up, and then use it to create prints. It would be great to mention and show how ink blocks or block prints have been...
Incredible Art
Historical Narrative Using Silhouettes
Connect art and history with a series of activities inspired by the work of contemporary artist, Kara Walker. After watching an Art 21 video about Walker and examining the images in a PowerPoint presentation, class members use...
Curated OER
Pop-Up Pop Art, Tunnel book
Students study iconic symbols Keith Haring would make in his artwork. They invent a background for the images, and draw the characters. Students create a Tunnel Book and a Pop-Up Book based on their drawings.
Curated OER
Op Art and Contrast
Seventh graders create Op art designs by reading web information through FlingIt, mapping learned concepts with PicoMap, and creating how-to examples of their own Op art design by using Sketchy. They complete the instructional activity...
Curated OER
Alaska's Native Population: Eskimos, Indians and Aleuts
Students explore the unique population of Alaska. In this Native people of Alaska instructional activity, students discover the three groups of people who live in Alaska. Students describe the similiarities and differences between the...
Curated OER
Dramatizing Your Story
Learners write a script, planning and recording improvisations based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature and history.
Curated OER
October:Holy Gargoyles!
Students experience and participate in making mythic creatures during a study in architecture history and spooky sculpture for Halloween. They interact with the subject of gargoyles and the creation of their own gargoyles, ghosts and...
Curated OER
Spray Bottle Paint Mural
Sometimes all you need is a quick and easy outdoor art project. Perfect for the end of the school year, this mural project allows kids to make a mess while creating art. They use spray bottles full of paint to "spray" paint a large sheet...
Curated OER
Storytellers Past and Present
Students read and discuss an article about Olga Loya, a modern storyteller. They watch a videotaped performance of a story and then create a storytelling experience for a story of their choice to share with the class.
Education Oasis
Creative Writing Unit: Analyzing, Interpreting, Discussing and Writing Various Genres of African-American Literature
A six-week unit takes high schoolers through various works of African-American literature, including poems, plays, and short stories. The lesson plan format includes a week-by-week description of activities, goals, materials, and...
Curated OER
What's Outside the Window
What do your students see when they look outside the window? This project lets their imagination go wild, and lets you see what kind of daydreaming they do best. They each draw, paint, and color an image of what they imagine as they are...
Curated OER
The Mysterious Present
Even history can be the basis for the inquiry process. First, several images of a bowls and vessels used in Japanese tea ceremonies are examined. Then, the class crafts questions about the origin, purpose, and use of the items. They use...
Curated OER
Paper Molas
Delve into the history of textile art using this resource. Learners discuss the history of molas, a type of textile art made in Panama and Columbia, and talk about the importance of this process in the Kuna culture. Then, they create...
Curated OER
Printing Through a Master - Activity 1
Students discover the art of printmaking in this introductory lesson provided by Oregon Public Broadcasting. Emphasis is placed on the history of the art and master printer Liza Jones.
Curated OER
Cubist Self-Portrait
Study Cubism and Cubist art by examining a number of images with your students. They look at the relationship of Cubism to society architecture, and literature. Finally, they design a Cubist self-portrait using a variety of mediums after...
Curated OER
EZ Encaustics
Have your class design a piece of art work using a canvas panel and wax. Learners employ a Greek process of art design popular in the fifth century to create their works. This is a great way to incorporate history into an art lesson.