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.
Three colorful glass pendants: a yellow duck on the left, a red flower in the center, and a red heart on the right.

Girls Night Out

The other weekend, I went out for a Girls’ Night Out at our local paint your own pottery place.  They also do glass fusing, which I excitedly tried for the first time.  It was a blast!  We were…

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Color collages featuring various green elements: plants, animals, and text, surrounded by handwritten notes about the color green.

Color Collages

 I really enjoy these pictures.  These were made by second graders.  This is a monochromatic color exercise.  The students flip through magazines to find pictures and swatches of one color and shades of that color.  They filled in…

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A blue and purple octopus painting surrounded by small, colorful, square, and round mosaic tiles.

Mosaic Frescoes

The 4/5s (4th/5th graders) learned about Greek and Roman mosaics and frescoes.  We poured mosaic cement onto masonite boards and then placed our mosaic tiles onto the cement.  When it dried, we painted with watercolors on top.  A…

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Kid's colorful drawing of three whimsical rainbow fish underwater, with coral and sea plants at the bottom.

Rainbow Fish

First, we read the book Rainbow Fish. Then, the kids drew pictures of fish. Next, we colored them using neon crayons and regular crayons.  Color REALLY hard and thickly.  Demonstrate this to the children so they see how…

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A figurine in a metallic outfit holding a flag and shield, standing on a base labeled "DARWIN OF OTFORD." Week Update included.

Week Update

Well, I haven’t updated since this past Sunday, so I will briefly tell you what I’ve been up to..  parent-teacher conferences were on Tuesday.  We are in the middle of various projects… monochromatic rhythm paintings (which are awesome…

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A display board showcasing various student artworks, including paintings, drawings, and mixed media pieces from our recent Art Show.

Art Show

It’s been a couple weeks, but we had a regional Youth Art Month show at the mall here.  Here are my panels.

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A Japanese wall scroll with artwork of birds and mountains, hanging on a purple wall.

Japanese Scrolls

Third Grade Japanese Scrolls We watched a powerpoint about Hokusai, the Japanese printmaker.  The students made styrofoam prints using imagery of nature.  We practiced using calligraphy brushes with India ink.  The students assembled their calligraphy and prints, along…

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