These are so stinkin’ cute I can’t even deal. I think this is my favorite art project of all time! To get ready for this project, my students read some awesome books by Eric Carle, who illustrates them using a great painted-paper collage technique to create textures. (If you aren’t familiar with his books, you […]Read more "Animals and Habitats"
Snowflakes are an example of geometry in nature. Each snowflake has its own geometric pattern, repeated in radial symmetry. It’s no wonder that snowflakes are a favorite project in my classroom! All those budding 4th and 5th grade engineers love this project! We start with a 6″ square of paper, folded into two triangles, make […]Read more "Snowflakes"
Perspective is hard. I like to start on basic understanding of spatial planes as early as I can. This project is good for grades 3-5, and produces great results with basic shapes. I start by showing students a picture of a landscape and having them pick out the foreground, middle ground, and background. I point […]Read more "Pumpkin Perspective"
Kids love Halloween, and I’ve found that they also love to learn about Dia de Los Muertos, or Mexican Day of the Dead. I spend the first two weeks of October (or, two classes, since I only see kids once a week) playing traditional Mexican music, showing videos of Dia de Los Muertos festivities, and […]Read more "Calavera"
I got a request from my principal to have students make posters for the West Virginia Governor’s Conference on Tourism. As is often the case, we didn’t really get much time to make it happen. Luckily, I work with some awesome teachers who showed the students a video I made about places to visit in […]Read more "My Favorite Place"
I’m generally not a fan of projects where kids all do the same thing, but I think there is a place for old-fashioned guided drawing assignments. The monkey-see-monkey-do nature of guided drawing makes drawing less intimidating for students, and it shows students how to break objects down into simple shapes in order to draw them. […]Read more "Wise Owl"
my husband and me These are so awesome, but require some patience and time. I got this idea from Superhero Art Teacher Holly Bess Kincaid, who has an incredible website full of great art lessons. I did this with 5th graders. Day one: I start by asking students to design a toy action figure of […]Read more "Cubees"