Marcia

Marcia

Marcia is an elementary art teacher and loves painting, drawing, sculpture, art journaling and clay. Her blog, Art is Basic, features many exciting art projects for kids.

Needlework Inspiration

A smiling woman holding a happy baby dressed in a colorful outfit, possibly inspired by intricate needlework.

Inspiration Avenue’s theme this week is needlework, so I thought I would show you some of the things I have done that goes with this theme.  I have taught some needlework projects as well with my elementary students. Weaving on…

1st Grade Complementary Color Collage

Colorful abstract collage featuring geometric shapes in orange, blue, and neon red on a clean white background using complementary colors.

Here is an easy project for first graders to introduce complementary colors.  We started off by coloring a mini-color wheel (did not include the tertiary colors).  Then, we identified the complementary colors on the color wheel.  Next, the children were…

Mobiles– 7th and 8th Grade

A hanging mobile with black and white patterned shapes suspended from the ceiling.

Mobiles, by 7th and 8th gradersI wanted to share with you some of the mobiles that the middle school kids are doing at my school.  I share a room with another art teacher, and I see all the projects they…

Patterned Still Life– 5/6s

Abstract artwork featuring various geometric patterns in colors like pink, blue, green, yellow, and brown.

The 5/6s were developing their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination through observational drawing of a still-life.  Their goal for this unit was to use proportion, overlap and pattern to create a unified composition of a still-life.  They viewed a…

It’s all good…

Fire trucks and firefighters are outside a residential house on a good, sunny day. Trees line the street.

It’s all good… Even though my car got totaled this week…. Yes, that’s totaled.  Even though it doesn’t look like that much damage, apparently the cost to fix it is more than the car is worth.  The other person did…

Nonobjective Line Drawing– 3/4s

Nonobjective pencil drawing with various shaded geometric shapes and lines.

Third/Fourth Grade:  The students learned how to identify realistic, abstract and non-objective art.  The 3/4s worked on a non-objective graphite drawing.  Using only shapes, lines, texture and value the students drew an interesting non-objective design.  Non-objective art is art that…

Day of the Dead Skeletons– 2nd grade

A white skeleton drawing with colorful handprints and shapes on a black background, inspired by the spirit of the Day of the Dead.

2nd graders learned about Day of the Dead by reading the book Pablo Remembers.  They looked at diagrams of skeletons and drew them with pencil on black paper. Next, they used white paint to paint the skeleton. They added flowers…

Felt Monsters!

Two colorful, box-shaped felt monsters with faces, one orange with black hair and one pink with red and yellow hair.

We also made Felt Monsters in our after school Halloween Crafts Class.  I got the idea from this blog!  Thanks Amanda! Finished monster by 3rd grader Use a piece of wood block, glue a piece of felt to all sides.…