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Yayoi Kusama Dotted Pumpkins for Kids

I love the results of this dotted pumpkin project inspired by the dotted pumpkins of Yayoi Kusama.  I did this art lesson with 3rd/4th grade. (Amazon Affiliate links have been used, at no extra cost to you.) I based our project after the lesson taught on the blog Plastiquem.  First, I read the book Yayoi Kusama, From Here to Infinity, which is an inspirational book about her artwork and life.  This is on my list of top 10 favorite books … Read more…

Whimsical Landscapes (Justin Vining artist study)

I love this lesson!  I teach about contemporary artist Justin Vining and the kids explore the qualities of watercolor pencils to create their own whimsical landscapes. You can see artwork from another year at this blog post. You can read my interview with Justin Vining here. I even got this lesson published in a magazine! Here are some of my 4th/5th grade students’ artworks from the end of last year. When teaching this lesson, I show the students some YouTube … Read more…

Getting to Know You Activity: Art History Folded Petals

Art History Folded Petal– Getting to Know You Activity     This is a fun and educational “Getting to Know You” activity I did with some classes last year.  I have these art history folded petal templates in my shop. On one side are artworks from art history with a little prompt.  For example, Dog Lying in the Snow, by Franz Marc.  The prompt is “Draw a favorite animal.  On the reverse side of the folded petals, the students draw … Read more…

9 Kindness Books for Kids

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…

Back to School Ideas

I am not quite ready to go back to school yet and I am guessing you are not ready either.  But, the Art Ed Blogger’s Network is here to help you start planning!  Our topic this month is the “first week of school”. A few years ago, I compiled a huge list of tips for the first days of school.  These tips were submitted by art teachers all over the world.  This gigantic list of tips will help you get … Read more…

Children’s Mural at Church about the Beatitudes

I realized I never posted pictures of our finished mural at church.  I’ve been so busy with end-of-the-year stuff for school. I worked on this mural all year with the 4th/5th grade Sunday School class.  It is 4 ft x 8ft. These were the best kids to work with! They had great ideas, were mature and got along so well! The process was a long one, with a few mistakes along the way.  We started by getting plywood for our … Read more…

Class Project for Auction: Clay Mosaic Mirrors

Class Project for Auction:  Clay Mosaic Mirrors

Every year my students and I create artworks for our school’s auction.  If you look here, you can see some of the auction artworks from previous years.  This year, each student in grades K-8 made textured clay circle tiles.  We glued them on to several mirrors. The process to make the clay circle tiles is quite simple, yet it teaches the kids several important skills for working with clay. First, roll out a flat piece of clay (called a “slab”). … Read more…