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.

Artist Trading Cards

Multiple colorful drawings of snowmen arranged on a table, showcasing various artistic styles and decorations, resembling a collection of Artist Trading Cards.

My 5th/6th graders made these artist trading cards using the African Adinkra carved stamps they made.  Each kid made one or two cards and decorated them with markers.  We are sending them to a school in Minnesota, art teacher Nicole…

Art puzzle

Hands assembling an art puzzle with colorful pieces on a gray table.

   Here’s a fun little way to get kids excited and looking at an artwork closely.  I printed out small copies of a picture I was introducing to them and then laminated these.  Next, I cut them into little pieces…

Collage Suggestion

A vibrant collage showcasing various butterfly illustrations and mixed media materials.

One fun thing to try is to photocopy your artwork in black and white and then cut and paste pieces of it onto a collage.  Use paints on top to embellish it. Stage 1: Stage Two:   During the next…

Valentines Prints

Bright pink abstract art with peace signs, hearts, and spirals in white. Artist's signature at the bottom right.

Here are some of the finished styrofoam Valentine’s prints by the 1st graders.  One trick that made these work MUCH better is when I dug out the jar of ink-retarder.  The prints look so much better than the first ones…

Pipe Cleaner Weaving

A colorful pipe cleaner weaving of various yarns on a rectangular frame with a pinecone and holly design near the bottom.

  We made this with my first grade class.  I took mat board, and the kids stapled their own pipe cleaners to the ends and then weaved in yarn, ribbons and feathers.  The kids did a great job on their…

Pointillist Trees

A pointillist painting of people relaxing on a lawn near a river with trees; there are umbrellas and a black dog.

The 3/4s painted Pointillist Trees.  They have studied trees in Science.  We learned about the artist Georges Seurat by reading Scholastic Art magazine.  Students identified and described Pointillist paintings.   They created a Pointillist painting of trees showing dimension and form by color mixing. …

Kindergarten Penguins

Handmade penguin figurine on paper with a drawn blue sky and fish, making it a delightful kindergarten project.

The kindergartners are studying penguins in their classroom, so we made penguins out of model magic modelling compound.  One trick to get the parts to stick better is to use just a bit of regular hand lotion on your hands…