Getting to Know
Shape and Form in Art
Introduce youngsters to the important role shape and form play in art with this extensive collection of activities and projects. From teaching first graders how to create mandalas to engaging third and fourth graders in the design...
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Islamic Art and Geometric Design
After an overview of Islamic traditions and art, young artists create their own geometric shapes and patterns using only a straightedge and a compass.
Curated OER
Lesson: Younger Than Jesus: Understanding, Looking at, Making Abstract Art
Before the class makes abstract art, they see contemporary examples and analyze them. They look at art made by abstract artists under the age of 33 then use similar techniques to create an interesting collection of their own. The lesson...
Curated OER
Eye-Popping Op Art
Students examine and discuss work of Hungarian artist Victor Vasarely, recognize visual components of Op Art, compare traditional Renaissance perspective with Op Art's illusion of three-dimensional space, and create original painting...
Curated OER
Principle of Art Balance
Reinforce a strong art vocabulary which can also apply to aspects of math and science. Kids read about various types of balance or symmetry found in art. They analyze three paintings based on vocabulary and read a how-to for creating...
Curated OER
Understanding Symmetry Through Visual Art
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...
Dick Blick Art Materials
Painted Story Quilt
Creating story quilts is a great way to combine art, social studies and literature. Kids select a story, a published one or one of their own, to illustrate, paint on a canvas square, embellish, and mount on a felt backing.
American Institute of Architects
Architecture: It's Elementary!—First Grade
Build an interest and appreciation for architecture in your young learners with this fun 10-lesson art unit. Engaging children in using their five senses, the class first observes the environment around them, paying...
Curated OER
We are Reflections of Canada - Our People, Our Places, and Our Landscape
A series of four lessons on the places, people, and landscape of Canada. These excellent lessons should provide your charges with an increased understanding of the history and culture of Canada - the largest country in North America....
Curated OER
Numbers In Art
Help develop an awareness of the natural and manufactured environment and relate the subject matter to young learners' lives. The interpretation of the meaning of art is reinforced and its application to self and other audiences is...
Dick Blick Art Materials
Start with a Circle...
The Golden Ratio. The Divine Proportion. Yup. It's math and art blended into one colorful activity. Young artists combine colored tissue paper circles and parts of circles to create geometric patterns. As a bonus, kids get to figure out...
Curated OER
Visual Arts
Students identify different kinds of lines in art and nature. They use continuous, curved line to create a drawing.
Armory Center for the Arts
Place Value Collage
How can art represent math? Use a lesson on place value collages to illustrate the different meanings that numbers have in their designated places. Kids observe photographs and paintings that show place value, then work on their own.
Curated OER
Creating AB Patterns
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.
SeaWorld
Shark!
Here is an impressive collection of lessons on sharks. In them, pupils undertake a serious study of sharks, their habitats, their social structure, and how humans adversely impact their existence. These lessons effectively integrate...
NTTI
Transform Your Geometry into a Work of Art
Mathematicians utilize artwork to help illustrate the major ideas of transformations and tessellations. They visually identify transformations including reflections, rotations, and translations. They discuss how artists have used...
Project Articulate
Textured Landscapes with Grant Wood
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...
Curated OER
Weather or Not!
Young pupils will be sure to love this series of four lessons which deal with the winter season. These cross-curricular lessons cover visual art, science, math, writing, literature, and movement. Absolutely fantastic! The images of...
Curated OER
Patterns in Dance and Math
Young scholars analyze how repeated body movements and shapes can represent and extend patterns. In this pattern analysis activity, students discuss patterns in dance, math, and everyday living. Young scholars demonstrate a dance using a...
Curated OER
Come Tool Along With Me
Students create metallic Bas-relief scultures using basic art supplies and the technique of "tooling" in this Art lesson with croos-curricular connections in Social Studies and Math. A scoring rubric is included for assessment and...
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Do You See What I See?
Can art play tricks on your eyes, and can a still painting really appear to vibrate? The second lesson in a four-part series discusses the way our beautiful brains translate visual images. It highlights the style of optical art and...
Curated OER
Terrific Tessellations
Students create to pieces of artwork using two primary colors and tessellation techniques. This is an excellent lesson that can be accomplished using standard art techniques or educational software such as Adobe Photoshop or Microsoft...
Curated OER
Parts of Art
Young scholars define and use new vocabulary associated with the elements of art. As a class, they brainstorm different ways in which we communicate with one another. In groups, they view different pieces of art from the Native American...
Curated OER
The Very Busy Spider
Youngsters explore visual arts by participating in a geometry identification activity. They read the book The Very Busy Spider and identify the techniques spiders use to create webs. Have you ever noticed that their webs are geometric...