Curated OER
Visual Vocabulary
Students interpret and name the vocabulary termed acted out by the mime. In this science/language arts/physical education instructional activity, students are given a set of vocabulary terms to discuss within their group. Next, students...
Curated OER
Exploring Weather Conditions Through Painting
Your advanced class will paint a picture of a particular weather condition. In this painting lesson students describe elements of art in pieces of artwork. They analyze the weather and seasons in the artwork. The students use paper,...
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
Animals in Art
Second graders demonstrate visual awareness by listing seven to nine types of animals shown in the artwork on the tour. They draw three types of textured lines or patterns shown in the tour artwork and model an imaginary animal using clay.
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...
TED-Ed
Bringing a Pop-up Book to Life
Breath life into the pages of a text with this instructional video on creating pop-up books. From choosing a topic, through the planning and creation phases, this video examines how to develop engaging visual...
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Strangest Dream
Do words change or add meaning or interest to a work of art? The final activity in a four-part series on the beautiful brain as a work of art focuses on art analysis. Scholars write a story about exploring art from the inside....
Curated OER
Recycling With Art
Students create works of art from recyclable materials. In this visual arts activity, students investigate works of art created from recyclable materials. Students choose an emotion to convey and then create an art piece from materials...
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Step Inside the Brain
Before digital microscopes, scientists hired artists to draw the things visible in the microscope. Through training in neuroscience and art, Cajal revolutionized the way we view the beautiful brain. The third activity in a series of four...
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...
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Brain Inspiration
"Neuroscientists consider Cajal as important to their discipline as Einstein is to physics." The first of four lessons has scholars view Santiago Ramon y Cajal's drawings of neurons. They reflect and respond to the art through writing...
Curated OER
Soft Sculpture Birds
Art can mimic life, and animals are always interesting subjects. Learners create large soft sculptures (stuffed) birds using paper, paint, and other basic collage materials. They view images of birds, and discuss bird traits and shapes....
Curated OER
Rock art
Learners study rock art they use art materials, colored photographs and rock art examples to: differentiate between symbol, petroglyph, pictograph, and rock art. They interpret rock art to illustrate its importance in the cultural...
Art Institute of Chicago
Color Combinations
Explore color through an examination of pointillism and light. Class members view Georges Seraut's famous painting on a computer, zooming in and out to see the details and effects of the technique. They then cover how light and color are...
EngageNY
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 12
How can opinions slant facts? Workshop participants learn how to examine primary and secondary sources and identify the author's point of view. They also examine how visual art impacts the meaning and rhetoric of sources. Full of...
Curated OER
"ART ZOO 'Blacks in the Westward Movement', 'What Can You Do with a Portrait', and 'Of Beetles, Worms, and Leaves of Grass'"
Students study black history, examine portraits and portrait making and create their own portraits, and investigate their natural environment. This humanities lesson provides a text that can be used to teach lessons in black...
National Library of Medicine
Electricity, Frankenstein, and the Spark of Life
Shocking! After viewing a short clip from the 1931 movie, Frankenstein and reviewing electricity references in Mary Shelley's novel, class members examine Luigi Galvani's and Alessandro Volta's observations on electricity and muscle...
Curated OER
Classifying Plants and Insects
Art and science come together in a instructional activity based on Flower Still Life by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder. Learners classify plants and insects in the painting by color, leaf shape, size, reproduction,...
Curated OER
Performance Art and The Waste Stream
Students research local waste management services, discuss findings, give opinions about what they have found, offer solutions and ideas, and create performance art, design art works, and fine art works to convey information on waste...
Curated OER
Tread Lightly: Visualizing Footprints
The student reflects on concepts of ecological footprints and climate changes. In this Art lesson, students will produce a visual representation showing understanding of how ecology and climate affects the world.
Curated OER
Combating Corrosion
Young scholars perform an experiment to show the chemical reactions that occur when metal corrodes. They apply the results of the experiment to the conservation efforts of art curators trying to restore an ancient Greek bronze. This...
Curated OER
Do We Control Nature, or Does Nature Control Us?
Student examine the theme of man versus nature in art. In this man versus nature lesson, students examine various pieces of art and discuss the theme as it is depicted. They discuss whether the themes shown in the artwork are relevant...
Earth Day Network
Conserving Water Through Art!
Having fresh, clean drinking water is a privilege many people take for granted. Help raise awareness about the scarcity of water and the importance of conservation by discussing different ways water is used in everyday life. Brainstorm...
Arts & Humanities
Make Your Own Flower Garden
Get into art with a little instructional activity on flower parts. The class reviews basic information regarding flowers and then they use a paper mosaic technique to create visual representations of the lovely plants.