Repeated Shape Designs
This is a simple challenge that leads to a variety of creative artworks! Choose one shape to repeat throughout your artwork. Use markers, watercolor paints or any art media of your choice. The challenge is to arrange the…
Elementary Art Lessons, Projects & Teaching Ideas for K–5
Because art is fundamental to who we are. Art has always been a basic form of human communication. From cave walls to classroom walls, art helps us express ideas, tell stories, and better understand the world around us. I believe art is an essential part of every child's education, which is why I chose the name Art is Basic. Here you'll find K–5 creative art lessons, teaching ideas, and printable resources to help K–5 art teachers inspire young artists.
Read More...Repeated Shape Designs
Train Track Mural Drawings
If you would like a fun activity for a group of young kids or even your own little train enthusiastic, try this railroad track mural art project! My students worked in groups of 3 or more. First, they…
Printable Art Award Certificates for the End of the Year
I have new Award Certificates in my shop! These are suitable for classroom teachers and art teachers. They can be modified and used for a variety of reasons. I also have a set of Yearbook Cover award certificates.…
Design Your Own Fidget Spinner: Free Download!
Fidget spinners are all the rage! Design and color your own using this pre-drawn sheet. (Note: this is just a drawing for fun, not to actually spin.) I was inspired to make this sheet after I saw an…
Designer Tree Houses
Hi! One day when I was sick I left a sub lesson plan for my students to design their own tree houses. I printed out examples of tree house drawings for inspiration, like these here and here. There is…
Medieval Paper Mache Figures
This is a project from the archives. I used to teach a combined 5th/6th grade class. Every year, we made medieval paper mache figures. The 5/6s studied the Medieval period in their social studies class. We used newspaper…
“Wild About the Arts” Fine Arts Night
It has been several weeks since our Fine Arts Night and I have been waiting until things settled down here to write all about it. Many, many thanks to my co-worker Katie for taking photographs of the event!…
Art Using Train Tracks
In my last blog post, I reviewed the book Old Tracks, New Tricks. It is a super cute and creative book. The book itself is good for up to about 1st or 2nd grade, in my opinion. The…
Review of Old Tracks, New Tricks– Children’s Book about Trains
I have a fun book to share with you today. Innovation Press sent me a free copy of Old Tracks, New Tricks (Amazon affiliate link) to review. I selected to receive this book because it looked cute and…
Mixed Media Collages by Kids – Inspired by Sabrina Ward Harrison
In my last post, I showed you some of Sabrina Ward Harrison’s artwork and talked about what she shared with us at her artist visit. Her artwork is very inspiring, messy and beautiful. Please check out the other…
Mixed Media Artist: Sabrina Ward Harrison
We recently had artist Sabrina Ward Harrison visit our school to give an artist talk and workshop with the kids. Today I am going to introduce you to her artwork and life as an artist. In Part Two…
Clay Masks with 3rd Grade
To make these charming clay animal masks, we used plastic face molds (with a layer of plastic wrap in between) as a slump mold for the clay. Another option was to use the back side of a…
Iron Pour Event
This month I participated in an Iron Pour event. This was put on by a group of iron artists in our community. My friend invited me to do this because she had done this last year and thought…