Fall Leaf Printable
Aren’t the colors of the fall leaves breathtaking? I scanned some of the leaves that I found on the trees here in Wisconsin. Feel free to print these out, color designs on them with permanent or paint markers,…
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.
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Mosaic Stepping Stones and Coasters
I have been wanting to make some more permanent artworks to beautify the school grounds. I had pairs of kids working on these stepping stones. This was such a fun project I am planning on making more in…
Art Rubric for Elementary
Do you use rubrics for self-assessment with your students? I developed this rubric based on others I had seen online. I wanted to get my students thinking more about their artwork and writing a few sentences in…
William Wegman: Photomontage Project for Kids
My third grade students learned about the photography, films, paintings and children’s books by contemporary artist William Wegman. I actually talked to Bill on the phone and had an interview with him, which you can read in this…
An Interview with William Wegman
Wow, do I have a treat for you today! I had the amazing opportunity to talk with American artist William Wegman on the phone. Bill is well known for his photographs of Weimaraner dogs, dressed in all sorts…
Dot Day Celebration
Like many other art teachers around the world, my students participated in International Dot Day. The students dressed up in polka dots, we watched the story of The Dot and sang along to The Dot song. If you…
All About Me Crayon
We started the day by reading the book The Day the Crayons Quit (Amazon Affiliate link used, goes to help pay for the costs of this website), which is super funny and adorable. Then, they traced a crayon…
Reach for the Stars – Back to School Bulletin Board
I hope you are enjoying your first few weeks back to school! Here is a Reach for the Stars bulletin board my students made as their first art projects. The tape letters were made by 1st graders. I…
How to Organize Ribbon for Kids
Don’t you just hate when your ribbons get into a big tangly mess? If I ever let a class of kids loose in a box of ribbon, this is what happens: I figured out a way to store…
International Dot Day Poster
Hi friends! After a few days of panic, I am able to log in to my blog again. Erick at Bluehost deserves a raise. I had three other techs look at it and they couldn’t figure out the…
Cool Hands, Warm Heart (Kindergarten)
I’m still catching up on sharing projects from last year! This is an easy lesson to teach kindergarteners about cool colors vs. warm colors. First, show the kids how to trace their hands, while leaving space in between…
Huge List of Contemporary Artists
Are you looking for some new contemporary artists to teach your students about? On the Facebook Art Teachers group, members suggested LOTS of contemporary artists that they teach their students. These are now all compiled into ONE HUGE…
A Tour of My Art Room
GUYS! I am SO EXCITED! Our new addition is complete and the physical space of our school has doubled. It is so nice to not have to push your way through the halls. It’s like there’s breathing room…
Welcome Back to School, Art Teachers!
Welcome back to school! Are you ready? We start our staff meetings tomorrow and then the kids come on Wednesday! With the new school year starting, I thought I would highlight some old posts that might be helpful…
Painting on Cloth | 3rd Grade
Painting on cloth gives such nice, soft colors and is a challenging change from painting on paper. We tied our lesson into African Korhogo cloth painting and you can read about this project in previous posts here. We…