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.

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.

March 13, 2011
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A Japanese wall scroll with artwork of birds and mountains, hanging on a purple wall.

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…

March 11, 2011

A child's painting of a penguin on ice with a purple sky, a flying bird, and abstract shapes in the background captures the charm of polar animals.

Arctic Animals

The 1st graders used their observation skills to draw detailed animals from pictures of these animals. This project complemented their study of the Arctic in Language Arts/Social Studies class.

March 10, 2011
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Beautiful oops

If you haven’t seen this book yet, it is probably my favorite kids’ book! I love it! My 18 month old loves to play with all the flaps.

March 7, 2011
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Hands arranging green paper cutouts on a black sheet atop a wooden table.

Inside Out Pictures

Inside Out Pictures The Primaries learned about positive and negative space. They exercised their cutting skills and spatial awareness. Step One: Cut out shapes from a 4.5″ x 9″ colored piece of paper. Step Two: Take all of…

March 4, 2011
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Oil pastel landscape drawing with red mountains, a blue river, green grass, trees, and a small brown hut. Ideal for 2nd grade art projects.

Oil Pastel Landscapes Inspired by Paul Gauguin – 2nd grade

Oil Pastel Landscapes This project focused on learning about foreground, middle ground, background, shadows, and color mixing. The students learned simple depth techniques. The 2nd graders used oil pastels to draw a tropical landscape. They learned how to…

March 1, 2011
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Mixed media art featuring a colorful abstract painting with a central circular pattern surrounded by vibrant swirls of yellow, orange, and purple.

Personal Mixed Media Art

February 27, 2011
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A colorful abstract face made from clay, featuring various shapes and textures on a white background, inspired by traditional Clay African Masks.

Clay African Masks– 3rd grade

For this project, we drew African masks and then constructed them from slabs of clay. These were painted with acrylic paints and then sprayed with varnish.

February 26, 2011
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Two people working at desks in a cluttered room with materials and papers stacked around, and fabric for weaving hanging on the wall.

Giant Weaving

We finished the giant weaving. I had kids in all different classes work on it when they were done with their projects. I like how it came out. We are going to make a few more and…

February 25, 2011
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Baby scrapbook page with a purple bird sticker, purple flower, and various colored and patterned paper layers.

The other baby scrapbook I made– blank pages, no pictures yet

February 19, 2011

Multiple colorful drawings of snowmen arranged on a table, showcasing various artistic styles and decorations, resembling a collection of Artist Trading Cards.

Artist Trading Cards

My 5th/6th graders made these artist trading cards using the African Adinkra carved stamps they made. Each kid made one or two cards and decorated them with markers. We are sending them to a school in Minnesota, art…

February 18, 2011
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Art puzzle

Here’s a fun little way to get kids excited and looking at an artwork closely. I printed out small copies of a picture I was introducing to them and then laminated these. Next, I cut them into…

February 17, 2011

A vibrant collage showcasing various butterfly illustrations and mixed media materials.

Collage Suggestion

One fun thing to try is to photocopy your artwork in black and white and then cut and paste pieces of it onto a collage. Use paints on top to embellish it. Stage 1: Stage Two: During…

February 14, 2011
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Bright pink abstract art with peace signs, hearts, and spirals in white. Artist's signature at the bottom right.

Valentines Prints

Here are some of the finished styrofoam Valentine’s prints by the 1st graders. One trick that made these work MUCH better is when I dug out the jar of ink-retarder. The prints look so much better than the…

February 11, 2011
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Abstract painting with black flower patterns on a background of alternating pink and purple squares, using carved stamps for unique texture.

Carved Stamps– 5th/6th grade

My 5th and 6th grade class carved stamps from E-Z Cut and then we printed them many times. They looked at African Adinkra stamps and then used those designs for inspiration. We printed them on artist trading cards,…

February 9, 2011
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