I made a list of easy-to-understand artistic behaviors for elementary school students and start from the basics. Start from the ground and work up. Many of my students come to kindergarten and they haven’t done weaving before or they don’t…
I wanted to explain to you how our art class periods are structured. Students have art twice a week for 40 minutes. Typically, we start with a 5 minute art warm up drawing in a sketchbook. Then we move to…
Safety Note: Since using x-acto knives can be dangerous for kids, you must follow standard safety precautions, teach the kids how to use them properly and get permission from your administration. Read about some safety precautions in this document. Disclaimer:…
I want to show you a beautiful book I discovered called Peanut Butter and Jellyfishes: A Very Silly Alphabet Book by Brian P. Clearly. The book was illustrated by Betsy E. Snyder and I think the pictures are fantastic. The…
In my last post, I wrote an overall recap of the National Art Education Association conference. I also gave a summary of the artist Jesse Reno’s speech. In another post, I put together a little art history quiz of artworks…
Hi, artsy friends! It’s taken awhile for me to gather all my pictures and information from the National Art Education Association conference and compile them into a recap. At my school, if you go to a conference, you present…
When I found out that Jesse Reno was going to be at the National Art Education Conference this year, I was stoked. I’ve been following his artwork and blog for several years and I love how layered and complex his…
How well do you know artists throughout history? Take this quiz to test your knowledge. If you are reading from a blog reader or email, you may need to click on over to the actual blog post. Art History Quiz…
With all the fancy projects an art teacher can find on Pinterest, sometimes it’s good to go back to the basics. Simple drawing and painting of familiar subjects. This week my students drew art manekins. You could see much more…
An article I wrote was published in the April issue of Arts and Activities magazine! Big thanks to the editor, Maryellen, for publishing my article. I really appreciate it! Writing about art and teaching is a hobby of mine (as…
I have something to share with you that I’ve been working on for a long time. I created a list of “what artists do” for elementary students. I have seen lists that were written for high schoolers, but those seemed…
Do you want to know what will really get first graders excited about drawing still lifes? Have them bring in their own stuffed animals! I invited the kids to bring in their favorite stuffed animals to draw. I also had…
Hello! Today I am going to catch up on some of the clay projects my students have been working on. The last few weeks we have been busy learning clay techniques, building and glazing. We weren’t able to use regular…
I have a fun creativity drawing project and excellent children’s book to share with you today. I came across this book called A World of Your Own (Amazon Affiliate link) by Laura Carlin and thought it looked intriguing, so I…
Vassily Kandinsky was one of the first pioneers of abstract art. Abstract art is art that does not attempt to show things realistically, but uses lines, shapes, colors and textures to show emotions and meaning. Kandinsky was…