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Fingerprint Plates for School Auction

We made 3 fingerprint plates for our school auction. The materials we used were Bisque fired dinner plates from Mayco. Underglaze in various colors Fine line writer bottle (filled with glaze) Clear Gloss Glaze The first was a Dr. Seuss themed “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” plate for the Kindergartners.  The fish are made from their fingerprints. The second was a bird plate for the 1st graders.  All of the birds were made from the kids’ fingerprints.  Their … Read more…

Sailboats from Milk Cartons- 1st grade

Earlier I wrote a tutorial on how to make sailboats from milk cartons. My 1st grade students have finished making their sailboats.  Here are some of their finished projects! After the boats were made, the students drew pictures of their boats.  I had stuffed animals available if they wanted to draw a stuffed animal in the boat. Have you ever made boats with your kids?

Milk Carton Sailboat Tutorial

My 1st graders are working on these fun boats now to go along with their explorer unit.  Okay, I know they are not really explorer ships, but we can pretend, right?  And they are so fun and cute.  The kids love them! How to Make a Boat:  Gather empty milk cartons from the lunch room.  Wash and wash again to get rid of all those icky germs.  Let dry overnight.  Use a utility knife to cut the milk carton down … Read more…

“Not Just a Scribble” Creatures

“Not Just a Scribble” Creatures

(Affiliate links are used in this blog post, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting Art is Basic!) In my last blog post, I told you about a children’s book called I’m Not Just a Scribble. The author, Diane Alber, gave us a behind the scenes interview about her process and her future books. After reading this book, some of my students in grades K-3 created these cute scribble creatures with BIG personalities! (The one on the … Read more…

I’m Not Just a Scribble: Children’s Book Author Interview

(Amazon Affiliate links are used in this post at no extra cost to you.)   Have you heard of the book I’m Not Just a Scribble… ?   “Scribble, the book’s main character, never thought he was different until he met his first drawing.  Then, after being left out because he didn’t look like everyone else, Scribble teaches the drawings how to accept each other for who they are.  Which enables them to create amazing art together!”-  from the book’s description. … Read more…

Heart Art Projects for Kids

Heart Art Projects for Kids

Now is the time to start planning for Valentine’s Day art projects.  I am going to share with you a few heart art projects I have taught in my school. First is the Map of My Heart. It is one of my favorites. I found the heart map idea in this book, Playful Learning.  Start by drawing a heart in pencil on your paper.  Think of all the things that you love or that are important to you.  What is … Read more…

Bird and Nest Art Project

Visual textures are implied textures you can see such as cloudy, shiny, and windy and can be drawn as such. The opposite of visual texture is tactile texture which is texture that you can feel.  Feathers, yarn, ribbon and tissue paper are used to add real texture in this sculpture project featured in this blog post. There are many ways to teach about texture including metal tooling, clay and sculpture (like you will see here.)  This bird in a nest art … Read more…