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.
Monoprinting with Markers
Today was another one of my summer art workshops with kids at school. We did monoprinting with markers. 1. Draw on a piece of plexi-glass with washable markers. In progress design. 2. Spray your paper with water, two…
Gridded Drawings– 5th/6th grade
This was another fun project at the end of the year. The 5th/6th grade students marked off a one inch grid on their white paper. Then, they chose a photo to enlarge and draw. It could be a…
Body Pictures– Summer Camp
I am teaching 3 summer art sessions. Each session is two hours long with one or two art projects. For this session, I had 2 students going into 4/5th grade, 2 students who just finished kindergarten, and one…
Starry Nights– kindergarten
This was one of my FAVORITE lessons this year. I just loved how each and every one of them turned out. They are so expressive and colorful. This is a new spin on a Starry Night lesson. I…
Art Teacher Blog Directory
Did you know I have an art teacher blog directory on my blog? There are over 240 art teacher blogs added. If you have not added yours, you should do so! This is probably my most viewed page…
Clay Suns– third grade
I told you I had a bunch of lesson plans that I have not shared with you yet. I have enough to take me through the whole summer! Here are some simple clay suns. We looked at some…
Clay Leaf Dishes– Kindergarten
Near the end of the school year we had the lovely opportunity to have the grandfather of one of our students come into the classroom to teach us more about clay. He is a ceramicist in the area.…
New Books
While on vacation, I read the book Columbine, which is about the school shooting in Colorado. I’m interested in psychology, schools and kids. A depressing and heart wrenching read, but a thoroughly comprehensive look at the psychology of…
Re-Art Swap
Once a year, a local art store hosts a Re-Art Swap where anyone can drop off old art materials and then pick up things they want. All for free! Today, I volunteered for a few hours at the…
Disneyworld
Oh, how much fun was Disneyworld! We had a blast. We drove to Florida from Madison, WI which took us 2 1/2 days of driving. Then we went to the different Disney parks for 6 days. My daughter…
Organizing all those handouts!
How do you organize your handouts for school? When I started teaching I thought it would be best to organize by unit or by grade level or in binders… I tried all sorts of things. But it was…
Tessellations– 3rd Grade
We are out of school now for the summer, but I have some projects that I have not blogged about yet to share with you. I will update the blog throughout the summer with artsy thoughts, my summer…