A World of Artist Journal Pages Review
I am excited to share with you the book A World of Artist Journal Pages. It just arrived in the mail yesterday and it is thick.. just full of inspiring art pages. And I am super excited because…
Art Projects for Kids + Tips for the Teacher!
Art Projects for Kids + Tips for the Teacher!
Elementary Art Projects & Creative Lessons for Kids
Welcome to Art is Basic, a blog full of elementary art lessons, easy art projects, and teaching ideas for K-5 classrooms. Browse hundreds of engaging activities designed to inspire young artists.
Read More...A World of Artist Journal Pages Review
Making an Assemblage & Learning about Louise Nevelson
I have seen variations of this project many times but have never tried it with my students. I am pleased with how our assemblages turned out! This was a great opportunity to clean out the junk in…
Paper Masks and Paper Sculpture Techniques
These lovely paper masks were made by my second graders. The students learned different paper manipulation techniques including controlled tearing, punching paper with Fiskars squeeze punchers, cutting with paper edgers , crimping paper with a paper crimper, making…
Printing with Cardboard Strips: First Grade
My first graders created these unique and expressive pictures by stamping with pieces of cardboard. Here’s how you can print with cardboard. First, cut pieces of cardboard into strips small enough for young kids to easily hold. Pour…
Easy Dot Pictures
I was out for a couple days with a sub earlier this year (around Valentine’s Day) and I found this easy dot picture idea. Since it was around Valentine’s Day, I left in my plans that kids could…
Tissue Paper Bowls – Paper Mache
I’m excited that I am now part of the Elmer’s Crafty Blogger Crew! I have long been a fan of Elmer’s products and already frequently use their glue sticks, glue bottles and paper mache paste. I decided since…
Our Silhouette Mural is Finished!
Our silhouette mural is finished! It went pretty quickly once we got started. Each of the figures represents different subject areas at school. Students in grades 4-6 did most of the painting and I had some students in…
Inspired by Artist Justin Vining: Abstract Whimsical Landscapes
This may have been my favorite unit we studied all year! We looked at the whimsical landscapes of contemporary artist Justin Vining. Here is one of his paintings: We watched videos of him talking about his influences, watched…
Art Show at Library for Youth Art Month
We’re celebrating Youth Art Month with a small exhibit at the local public library. How are you sharing your students’ artwork? The left side of this exhibit is the middle level art teacher’s projects and the right side…
Emily’s Blue Period – Personal Collages for 3rd Graders
Our school librarian introduced this book to me and I think it is such a sweet story. This book is called Emily’s Blue Period by Cathleen Daly. The illustrations are lovely. This is a story about Emily, whose…
Shape Paintings and Color Mixing with Kindergartners
Wow, I’ve been so busy. Aren’t we all though, right? But really, this is one of the most busy times of year. Parent-teacher conferences this week and March is when the yearbook needs to be finished up. I…
Art Award Certificate (Free Printable)
This is a beautiful art award certificate to use for art shows, end-of-year awards or simply to celebrate your students at any time! Click here to download the high resolution printable ART AWARD CERTIFICATE! If you would like…
Art Inspired by Microscopic Things (3rd grade)
My students are really interested in science and I always love when I can connect an art lesson to things they talk about in their science classes. This unit came about because on a day when I was…
An Interview with Artist Justin Vining
Back in September, I posted a huge list of contemporary artists. One of the artists, Justin Vining, saw that I included his artwork in my post and left a comment on my blog. We exchanged a few emails…
Starting a Mural at School!
We are starting a huge mural at school!! I will keep you updated as we start to paint it. It’s hard to see what’s going on in these pictures, but we traced figures on to large white…