I’ve found that metallic markers and tissue paper make a great combination. The shiny color and matte paper really show each other off. D...
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Wet-on-Wet Watercolor Flowers
One thing that watercolor paint loves to do is run together. Instead of fighting that tendency, I showed my students how they can make “pudd...
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Hundertwasser Portraits
I’m hooked on the Vienna artist Hundertwasser, so I thought I would try combining his style with my popsicle portrait project. I think his a...
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How to Draw a Dandelion
I wanted to use new gel pens in my art journal class, and some dandelion doodles got me experimenting. The trick is to draw them in a very o...
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The “What Am I?” Rubberband Project
A recent donation of old rubber bands was the inspiration for this project today. Students were given an empty CD case, white paper insert, ...
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Strathmore Art Journal Cover
I’ve been looking for a cover treatment for my student’s art journals, and think this is pretty good solution. One container of foam stick-o...
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Earth Day Mural from Mamascout
Amy from Mamascout shared her post about her Earth Day project with me, and I think it may bring some inspiration to others. I love how she ...
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Art Trading Cards, or ATCs
Art Trading Cards are miniature works of art (2.5" x 3.5") that fit inside standard plastic card sleeves. This type of art was sta...
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Masking Tape Letter
I tried this masking tape and marker project with kinders and they really enjoyed it. The students were given full permission to scribble, a...
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Geometric Print Man
When introducing printmaking to young students, it helps to keep things simple. Sometimes the most striking images are the result. 1. Each s...
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David Hockney Landscape
David Hockney, a contemporary artist living in Los Angeles, created photocollages in the 1980s, compiling a 'complete' picture from ...
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Recycled Mosaic Picture Frame
I love the look of stone mosaic art, but it is expensive and not really practical for young kids. I thought I’d try a variation of this ide...
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Sarah’s Fish Journal Page
This is another reason why I love kids art. Today a first grader made her own version of my “One Fish” journal project posted below. I must ...
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One Fish Art Journal Page
It’s fun to add a little texture to your journal pages with yarn. 1. A fish is drawn on heavy watercolor paper, traced with a crayon and cut...
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Kandinsky Trees
Kandinsky is perhaps most famous for his abstract circle paintings. But if you apply his idea to construction paper, some pretty interesting...
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Recycle Mosaic Faces
I was wishing for some pretty colored paper to collage with when I realized my stash of recycled food boxes would do the trick. I save these...
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Painting on Popcorn
“My 5 year old girl started with trying to glue popcorn kernels on the outline of her hand. It morphed into covering the whole plate. We had...
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Homemade “Oscars”
Sometimes unusual requests lead to new discoveries. This time a parent was looking for student-made awards for an event he was hosting. I fo...
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Abstract Portrait: A Lesson in Cropping
To crop a picture is to remove outer parts to accentuate the subject matter. Chuck Close was famous for making portraits of people extremely...
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Watercolor Cow Face
A piece of stock art inspired this simple watercolor cow with bold, colorful outlining. The trick is to trace the drawing of the cow many ti...
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Tie-Dye Looking T-Shirts
This was a big hit today in my afterschool class today – a pseudo tie dying project but without all the unsafe ingredients. My sample had ju...
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Wild Side/Calm Side Self Portraits
This lesson starts with a discussion about how lines and colors can show emotion. A great book to read first is "Don't Let the Pige...
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Op Art Swirl
Op Art is a math-themed form of abstract art, which uses repetition of simple forms and colors to create optical effects. 1. The students ma...
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Paper Mache Bowls
My after-school paper mache class just finished their bowl project, and I love how they turned out. The key is to just not take any shortcut...
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Tissue Paper Collage
This is really good for young kids (age 5 and 6) who may not have used a paint brush before. The only catch is finding liquid starch, which ...
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How To Draw a Duck
I received a gift set of Dr. Ph. Martin’s inks and decided to show my students how to use them as a wash by adding water. 1. Using pencil o...
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Kandinsky Circles in Felt
Spring is our biggest school fundraising season and our Silent Auction is our best event. I am always on the lookout for classroom projects ...
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Kid’s Video from Sydney, Australia
<p>I</p> Shoebox City from ShopfrontArts on Vimeo . This video was sent to me from ShopfrontArts in Sydney, Au...
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Flowerpot Painting
Here’s a good first step for kids to learn how to to add some perspective to their drawings. Rather than make a flat profile drawing of a fl...
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Paper Mache Houses
Here’s a recycling paper mache project idea turned out really well last month. Empty Goldfish cracker boxes (used for our snack) were the st...
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Tinted and Shaded Circles
Once students know how to mix basic colors, they can learn how to tint (add white), and shade (add black) to a color. 1. Each student gets a...
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April Fool’s Eye Glasses
These glasses are pretty much guaranteed to create lots of giggles. Just be sure that children don't try to do much more than pose in th...
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