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Fingerprint Plates for School Auction

We made 3 fingerprint plates for our school auction. The materials we used were Bisque fired dinner plates from Mayco. Underglaze in various colors Fine line writer bottle (filled with glaze) Clear Gloss Glaze The first was a Dr. Seuss themed “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” plate for the Kindergartners.  The fish are made from their fingerprints. The second was a bird plate for the 1st graders.  All of the birds were made from the kids’ fingerprints.  Their … Read more…

Class Project for Auction: Clay Mosaic Mirrors

Class Project for Auction:  Clay Mosaic Mirrors

Every year my students and I create artworks for our school’s auction.  If you look here, you can see some of the auction artworks from previous years.  This year, each student in grades K-8 made textured clay circle tiles.  We glued them on to several mirrors. The process to make the clay circle tiles is quite simple, yet it teaches the kids several important skills for working with clay. First, roll out a flat piece of clay (called a “slab”). … Read more…

Milk Carton Sailboat Tutorial

My 1st graders are working on these fun boats now to go along with their explorer unit.  Okay, I know they are not really explorer ships, but we can pretend, right?  And they are so fun and cute.  The kids love them! How to Make a Boat:  Gather empty milk cartons from the lunch room.  Wash and wash again to get rid of all those icky germs.  Let dry overnight.  Use a utility knife to cut the milk carton down … Read more…

Bird and Nest Art Project

Visual textures are implied textures you can see such as cloudy, shiny, and windy and can be drawn as such. The opposite of visual texture is tactile texture which is texture that you can feel.  Feathers, yarn, ribbon and tissue paper are used to add real texture in this sculpture project featured in this blog post. There are many ways to teach about texture including metal tooling, clay and sculpture (like you will see here.)  This bird in a nest art … Read more…

Printmaking with Apples: Pumpkin Jack-o-Lanterns

This was a fun introduction to printmaking.  I did this project with Kindergartners.  I got the idea from this image on Pinterest. I read them The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons.  I cut apples in half and the students dipped them into orange paint and stamped them on their paper.   The next art class, I provided them with printouts of images I found online of jack-o-lanterns and the students used markers to draw faces and stems on the pumpkins. … Read more…

New! Texture Rubbing Practice Sheet

New!  Texture Rubbing Practice Sheet

Easy, simple, fun! Brand new in my shop, a texture rubbing practice sheet.  Use this handy sheet as a practice for making texture rubbings. Kids love using crayons to make texture rubbings, but they don’t always realize that they can use them to color inside a shape. Peel various color crayons. Place a texture plate under the paper. I have used the Melissa & Doug Shade-Tex plates. Hold the crayons on the side and rub over the paper to reveal … Read more…

Back to School Letter Art for Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st grade

Hi all!  I hope your school year is off to a great start.  This project is how I began the year with my youngest students.  First, I read them two short books about creativity and making art.  First, we read Think Big.  It’s very short and simple (about two words on each page), but it shows different ways people express themselves.. dancing, sewing, cooking, woodworking, theater, art, etc. The title Louise Loves Art has two meanings.  Ask your students if … Read more…