I love these charming birds by the 1st graders! So colorful and a beautiful experience with watercolors. We read the lovely book The Boy Who Drew Birds, which is about the naturalist/artist John James Audubon. It is a great book…
I gathered up all of the art journals and sketchbooks I could find in my house (I’m sure there’s more, as they are scattered here and there.) Some are finished and many are in various stages of completion. Don’t they…
Here is an easy Starry Night inspired project that I like to teach to my kindergarten art classes. There is a great Van Gogh book for kids called Vincent: Starry Starry Night. It’s a must-have! After viewing the swirling lines,…
I got the idea to write this post based on a recent discussion about teaching portfolios in the Facebook Art Teachers group. I thought sharing parts of mine might be helpful to a prospective teacher who is building their portfolio. …
Rolled up paper tubes, colored stickers, feathers, scrapbook paper… using up whatever was left in the scrap box at the end of the year! These were made by 1st graders.
I am honored to have an article published in the Summer 2013 edition of Cloth Paper Scissors PAGES magazine. It is on the newsstands now. The digital version is available here. I wrote about my watercolor doodles and showed how…
Keeping with the Lego theme, I thought I would round-up some of the coolest Lego art projects I’ve found on the internet. Thanks to all these people for their awesome ideas! 1. Lego Drawings from Shine Brite Zamorano 2. Lego…
I wrote a blog post earlier about our visit to the Lego Brickworld Convention. Part One is here. There were all kinds of fun characters built out of Legos. There was a whole huge table with interconnecting pieces. There were…
Last weekend I took a trip with my husband and daughter to Schaumburg, IL to see the Lego Brickworld Convention. My husband is an avid Lego collector and builder. As an art teacher, I saw some fun things I snapped…
Welcome to the 4th post in my series On Teaching Art. The first post and the background behind this series is On Teaching Art: Art vs. Craft. The second post was On Teaching Art #2: Organizing Curriculum. The third post…
There are lots of great ideas on the internet and I have enjoyed reading so many art teacher blogs. There are over 300 art blogs on the art teacher blog directory. That is a lot of blogs to browse! Some…
So, you’re in charge of Spirit Week! Do you need some good ideas? Be sure to check out my newer post “10 More Spirit Day Ideas for Scho0l”. Spirit Days can be fun scattered throughout the year or all in…
This is a tried and true clay lesson for kids. Who doesn’t love cute monsters? The 2nd graders started by making pinch pots. This handout shows you how. Turn the pinch pot on its side and add eyes, teeth, ears,…
Hi! Happy Summer! When I am not teaching art to little kiddos, I spend some of my free time writing articles and submitting them to various magazines. I am a contributing editor for Featuring magazine, which is a relatively new…
This oil pastel drawing project is inspired by the artwork of Paul Gauguin, in particular his painting Tahitian Landscape. To build up a little enthusiasm, when the kids arrived to class there was an envelope at their seat. I told…