Curated OER
Under the Sea
Tropical fish are a great subject for any art project, they are colorful, interesting, and can go along with under water themed stories read in class, learner written narratives, or Marine Biology units. This set of instructions will...
Curated OER
Towers and Turrets
A activity on architecture will help young artists consider perspective. Your class will use water colors to paint towers and turrets. You can connect this art activity to famous buildings like the Taj Majal in India, Saint Basil's...
Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds
Valentine’s Counting and Color Sorting Activity
Reinforce the concept of one-to-one correspondence with a Valentine's Day-themed counting and color sorting activity. Scholars sort foam hearts by color—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple—then count and place them on a number...
Curated OER
Paper Clay Leaves
Using real leaves to imprint clay, your class will see a natural effect on their individual projects. This is a fabulous way to study leaf anatomy in science. Or, you can focus on mixing colors to recreate the original. These leaves can...
Curated OER
Drawing with Thread
After a study of work by Wassily Kandinski, have your aspiring artists recreate "Drawing with Yarn." It was one of his works made in 1913 that demonstrates his abstract style. What a beautiful work of art to make with your class!
San Diego Museum of Art
Atmospheric Perspective Watercolor Painting
How do artists create the illusion of depth and distance on a flat surface? Young landscape painters explore techniques like color saturation and detail placement that create atmospheric perspective.
Curated OER
Creature Painting
Kids create a free-form art piece using paper, water-based paints, markers, and imagination. They allow the paints to randomly bleed, mix, and move on the paper, then they look for forms in the organic images. They black-line the shapes...
J. Paul Getty Trust
Narrating a Family Tradition
After examining a piece of art, scholars discuss what they see, paying close attention to details and space. A read-aloud introduces the topic of family traditions. Pupils interview their family members about a tradition in preparation...
Curated OER
Crafts, From Gallery to Classroom: Landscape Painting with James Palmersheim
Students create their own landscape paintings. Students will learn various techniques to create an effective foreground, middleground, and background.
Arts Ed Washington
Art Lessons in the Classroom: Our Family
Blend art and family into one lesson with an activity involving oil pastels and watercolors. After viewing a few famous portraits of families, learners create masterpieces that represent their own families.
Curated OER
Talking With the Animals
Students simulate a conversation with an animal. Using watercolors and markers, they draw a picture of their favorite animal. Students imagine a conversation with their animals about their thoughts and feelings.
Curated OER
Have Fun With Paint
Students explore different painting techniques. For this visual arts lesson, students use various materials to create different textures in their paintings. Students use wax paper and foam boards to create unique art pieces.
Curated OER
Dreaming with Marc Chagall
Students scrutinize the early twentieth-century artists who dealt with expressionism and abstraction, especially Marc Chagall. This four lesson unit examines the life and work of Chagall and supports the student creation of works similar...
Curated OER
Creative Watercolor Painting - K-6 Art Lesson Plan
Students express themselves with watercolor painting and music. In this Pre-K - 6th grade lesson plan, students experience watercolor painting to a rhythmic beat. Students are encouraged to paint using brush strokes according the beat...
Curated OER
Sequential Still Life
Sixth graders identify and use the concepts of shading, outline, and watercolor wash. They design a unique sequential still life painting with pencils and watercolors.
Curated OER
Japanese Fan
First graders learn about the traditional purpose of Japanese fans. They practice using two new brush strokes as they create nature-inspired fans, similar to those seen in Japan. A web link and basic background information is included.
Curated OER
Flower Bouquets
Picasso's Posies is the inspiration for a lovely watercolor painting activity. The class explores the use of line, shape, and space in art as they create an image using the traced outline of their hands holding three to five flowers....
Curated OER
Russian Buildings
Russia has some of the world's most fantastic architecture. Let your class explore the spires, domes, arches and towers as they draw Russian buildings. First they design an original building, and then they add in additional buildings...
Curated OER
Watercolor Techniques
Learners explore the medium of watercolor paints. They observe basic watercolor painting techniques and experiment with these techniques on watercolor paper.
Curated OER
Mixed Media Painting
Students create mixed media still life paintings in this "Happy Accident" art lesson introducing the concepts of using pen and ink, watercolors, and pastels. The lesson can be adapted for various grade levels and abilities ranging from...
Curated OER
Texture With Chemical Reactions
Students explore the use of different textures in watercolor paintings in this late-elementary lesson. Emphasis is placed upon the art element of texture using the science of chemical reaction. The lesson includes one possible extension.
Curated OER
Take a Look at Nature With Landscape Lesson Plans
Let local nature inspire original art with these landscape lesson plans.
Sargent Art
Picasso and Beyond!
After reviewing the life and art of Pablo Picasso, learners set out to create abstract, cubist, relief portraits. They'll draw, color, paint, and cut out portraits just like the ones Picasso created. The instructional activity is...
Curated OER
Shaded Bottles
Learners draw, and then paint three-dimensional bottles to practice shading which shows shape and perspective. The step-by-step process for creating dimensional still life art is outlined, which makes teaching art an attainable task. Oil...