Make a Magical Wand
Every so often, I host after school art classes. I try to have some fun projects that I wouldn’t normally teach during the school day. These magical wands were a hit with both the boys and girls who…
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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Art and the Brain: How do kids imagine their brains?
[cryout-pullquote align=”left|center|right” textalign=”left|center|right” width=”100%”] How do you experience your brain? What does your brain do for you? How can you express the feelings of your brain? [/cryout-pullquote] Students at our school connected with a scientific researcher to create…
Interview Questions for Art Teaching Job
I opened up my email this week and was thrilled to read the following message: I wanted to thank you for your post regarding portfolios and interviewing. I was recently hired at a fantastic school, and the interview…
Pinteresting Art Ideas!
It’s no secret art teachers love Pinterest. In this new blog series, I will round up some of my favorite Pinspiration for art teachers. If you’d like to see all of my Pins, follow me on Pinterest. It’s…
Drawing Maps for Figurines with 2nd Graders
I came up with this idea from my daughter’s obsession with playing with her figurines and maps. She has a few of these map sets that come with a large fold-out map, a book and a bunch of…
Art Discussion Signs for Bulletin Boards
I have been dreaming about how I will be setting up my art room next year, as we will be having two art rooms and I will have a lot more space! The art discussion cards that I…
Carving Rubber Stamps with 5th and 6th Graders
Before I left for my maternity/medical leave, my 5th and 6th graders were carving rubber stamps. They were turning out so well and I can’t wait to see all of the finished projects. Here are some of our…
Adventures in Shapes, Shading, Texture and Lines
First of all, thanks for being a loyal blog reader (or) welcome, if you are new! I have a personal update to share with you… I went on medical leave this week and Monday was my last day…
Penguin Collage Paintings with Kindergarteners
Thank you, Patty Palmer, for this fun penguin collage project idea! We used paint dotters to paint the backgrounds instead of paintbrushes (and I also didn’t get out all the extra collage supplies because so much of our…
Fruit and Flowers, Mice and Me!
Fruit and Flowers: I colored in the sketch that I showed you here. I mostly used colored pencils, watercolor pencils and watercolor paints. A Mouse: My 5th/6th graders are painting animals and my go-to demo is always a…
Concentric Patterned Hearts: 2nd Grade Valentine’s Day Project
Concentric means that the shapes share the same center and are placed inside one another. Patterns are arrangements of repeated parts Creating concentric patterned hearts are a great way to explore creativity, pattern making, size and shape. We…
Artsy Book Club
Did you join the Artsy Book Club on Facebook? It was started by Cassie Stephens. You should come join us! We are starting to work through the book One Drawing A Day: A 6-Week Course Exploring Creativity…
Paper Mache Masks — 3rd & 4th Grade
These paper mache masks by the 3rd/4th grade received lots of compliments when they were hanging in the hallway. The class was studying Native American history in their Social Studies and we looked at some Pacific Northwest Coast…
100th Day of School Art Project: Kindergarten
Our 100th day of school was this past Friday and I thought I would participate with a 100th day art project for the first time ever. If your 100th day of school has already passed, this might be…