Students organize objects in terms of form and function. In this architecture instructional activity, students are introduced to the ideas of form and function by playing a game in which they organize spoons in different ways. Extension...

Students explore and discuss the objects commonly found in still-life paintings. They identify the objects pictured in still lifes indicating which objects are natural and which are man-made.

Students explore nature by participating in a class lab activity. In this human vs. nature lesson, students examine a group of items in their classroom and discuss whether they were created naturally or have been altered or created by...

Have your class explore symmetry, radial balance and fractional parts in natural and man-made objects in their environment. Learners list examples and identify symmetrical and asymmetrical designs. Pupils are given a box of crayons and...

Students examine the composition of landscape paintings with an emphasis on foreground, middle ground, and background. They view and analyze a painting by Poussin, and create an original imagined landscape.

First graders identify different kinds of lines found in common shapes. They discover ways in which an artist utilizes lines in a painting.

Students develop skills in shading and create eye movement through the use of lights and darks. They show five principles of shading while drawing shells and bones.

Students become familiar with their five senses and how their experiences would change without them.  For this observations lesson, students observe using their five senses in a garden.  Students illustrate what they've...

Ask elementary students to explore shapes in everyday objects. They will discuss the elements of design and describe the shapes they see in visual images. Students will then design and "build" a new 3D shape. Finally they will show and...

Fifth graders study the artists and artwork of the Westward movement. For this Westward Movement lesson set, 5th graders examine the characteristics of the art of this era. They look at the lives of the artists and think about how the...

Students work with patterns. In this pattern lesson, students find AB patterns in nature and the manmade world. They create their own AB pattern using math manipulatives and visual arts. 

A still life with tissue paper? Why not! Using Paul Cézanne's art as inspiration, learners create their own still life pictures by gluing various colors of tissue paper onto a paper or pattern.

Using photographs of natural and man-made objects, students assemble the pieces to create a seascape or an abstract composition.