During the first week of school, you want to be teaching routines and expectations for your art class. I always like to ease into the school year with some simple, yet creative projects to get to know my students. I am going to share with you three fun Back-to-School ideas that you can try in your art classroom. 1. Creative Backpack My students used the template created by Hey Art Mama to make these creative backpacks. (I do not receive … Read more…
My students and I recently made two colorful artworks for our school fundraiser. We painted a stool with acrylic paints. I had kids from grades K-3 come up two or three at a time to take turns painting the sections. After the base layer was dry, we used magazine cutout words to decoupage the stool. Black sharpies were also used to outline and accent the edges. Students in grades K-3 helped with this project and I had some older kids … Read more…
I found this cute book called My Very Silly Monster Book of Shapes. I read this book to my Kindergartners and then we did a shape monster art project similar to the shape monsters seen on this blog. After reading the book, the kindergarteners were given the choice of several different shape templates: rectangles, ovals, stars, hexagons, squares, etc. They traced the template onto construction paper. Then, I demonstrated how to make eyes by cutting circles from white squares, then … Read more…
I was on a mission last year to find some excellent books about KINDNESS for kids. I found NINE books to recommend to you. There were others I came across, but these were my favorites. If you have any good recommendations for books about kindness, please share in the comments! Thank you! (Amazon Affiliate links have been used in this post at no extra cost to you.) I think kids need to be taught kindness. They need to be made … Read more…
We made 3 fingerprint plates for our school auction. The materials we used were Bisque fired dinner plates from Mayco. Underglaze in various colors Fine line writer bottle (filled with glaze) Clear Gloss Glaze The first was a Dr. Seuss themed “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” plate for the Kindergartners. The fish are made from their fingerprints. The second was a bird plate for the 1st graders. All of the birds were made from the kids’ fingerprints. Their … Read more…
My 1st graders are working on these fun boats now to go along with their explorer unit. Okay, I know they are not really explorer ships, but we can pretend, right? And they are so fun and cute. The kids love them! How to Make a Boat: Gather empty milk cartons from the lunch room. Wash and wash again to get rid of all those icky germs. Let dry overnight. Use a utility knife to cut the milk carton down … Read more…
(Affiliate links are used in this blog post, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting Art is Basic!) In my last blog post, I told you about a children’s book called I’m Not Just a Scribble. The author, Diane Alber, gave us a behind the scenes interview about her process and her future books. After reading this book, some of my students in grades K-3 created these cute scribble creatures with BIG personalities! (The one on the … Read more…
