Inside every kid lies the heart of an artist.
Dive into 50 engaging 6th-grade art projects to inspire creativity and teach vital art skills in middle school students.
Dive into 50 engaging 6th-grade art projects to inspire creativity and teach vital art skills in middle school students.
Road-scapes Grant Haffner Style.... Elementary and Middle School ArtMixed Media Road Trip Landscape Art Lesson, Grant Haffner styleI have been preparing art lessons for the next school year. Recently, I gave this lesson a test run... I taught it online to my art club students in Vancouver, BC. They are elementary students (ages 6-12) They enjoyed the introduction to one point perspective and learning about contemporary artist, Grant Haffner. Here you can see what they created in one hour. This a
Fifth Grade students studied gesture drawings and the sculptures of George Segal. Students then created their own gesture sculptures showing...
After nearly a decade of teaching secondary students, I've had a lot of time to test out a variety of 2d art projects. Let's face it: as teachers, sometimes we plan and plan and plan. We are so excited to deliver the project, and then... it flops. Students are uninterested and the final products aren't
This is a fantastic project that I did with my grade 5/6 class before March break. I wanted to do something with 2 point perspective, as ...
In 6th grade, we talked about how colors can evoke emotions. For example, red can mean love or anger. The students took self portraits with ...
I always like to start the year with a review of lines. Every grade level does a project that reintroduces all the different ways to make lines. By 4th and 5th grade, we are ready to turn those lines into something really amazing! These projects are partially inspired by the many "zentangle" lessons out there, but I don't actually teach the zentangle method. I have the students start with a line pattern and then fill it with doodles. We focused on contrast-making some areas dark, and some light. I love when I look around the room and tongues are hanging out. That's how you KNOW the kids are concentrating! We started this project by taking a digital picture of each student, then cutting off the hair and attaching it to a piece of cardboard. These long pieces of poster board were donated to my classroom last year, so we put them to good use! The kids used eraser and pencil to plan the shape of their hair, then used thick and thin sharpies to divide into sections and create the patterns. We used colored markers to create the background and help the line designs stand out. 4th/5th Grade Bad Hair Days You guys, my students are amazing. They seriously impress me and surprise me every day. We began this project in art class, and I sent them to their classroom with the expectation that they would finish their black and white patterns on their own in their classroom. Not only did they finish them, but they came back BRILLIANT! We finished the marker background today in the art room.
These planets look as great in person as they do in these photos! There are a few versions of this project out there, so I don't get any points for originality, but regardless, it's a great project and more importantly, the kids really seemed to like creating them. The project took about 5-40 minute periods. On day 1 I showed everyone how to create the "waves" and blend them in an upward facing direction. On day 2 I set up a splatter paint station and demo'd how to start shading the planets. I flipped this lesson and used mostly video demo's which was incredibly useful because it took the kids 3 perios to complete the planets. So instead of having to demo the shading every period for my 5-5th grade groups, I just replayed the video and they saved on work and transition time. They had to make 5 or more planets. On the final day they cut and glued their planets, making sure all the shadows were on the same side. We discussed light sources and I explained that on a 2D surface, having a consistent light source would make their art look better even though they pointed out to me that in space there would most likely be multiple light sources ah, my 5th graders always thinkin!).
Welcome! This blog post features a guided tutorial of how to create a drip sculpture inspired by one of my FAVORITE contemporary artists, Dan Lam. Before exploring this project, check out Dan Lam's eye catching drip sculptures on her website here and her Instagram page here. Dan Lam’s "tactile, technicolor sculptures use unconventional materials to
Inspired by pinterest... I took photos of the children a few days before starting the lesson. Use a white background when taking the profile photo. Use photo shop to create the silhouette or other photo editing software. I had the silhouettes printed on large 11x17 paper at my office. The day we started the lesson we talked about the elements of art, line, shape, form, value, space and some principles such as pattern and rhythm with the use of a power point. To finish the class, I had students trace them on the light table on 12x18 paper. Students also practiced creating patterns based on some examples on a worksheet I created for practicing the zentangle designs. I assessed the students designs and discussed some more options, ideas and things to stay away from on day two. I also equipped each table with some step by step zentangle pages I got from various sources on the internet including pinterest. These helped a lot! Students outlined their pencil silhouette with black sharpie. We then started dividing the background into large sweeping sections. Students then began creating Zentangles in the sections using ultra fine point sharpies and regular sharpies to fill in areas with black. After a few days of working, we decided the final step would be to fill in the silhouettes with black. I did experiment with adding watercolor in a wash and tie-dyed fashion to the background. That looked cool too. We didn't do that to our final project due to time needs for our short time together. The final results were great! I made suggestions for students to add details to areas, add more contrast by adding blacked out areas and finally to spend a little time sharpening and cleaning up various lines. The turned out GREAT!
I found this easy little hand art project on theforestroom last week and thought it would be a clean and a simple project to do in my daughter's 3rd grade class... Well, it's not as easy as it looks- they had to really concentrate to complete. This is a really clever way to also document your child's hand size/age. My lines were not the straightest! Simple Instructions: With a pencil, trace your hand & fingers perpendicular (or exactly vertical) to the paper. Start at the top of the paper drawing straight lines horizontally, and repeat (any colors or all one color). When your lines touch your fingers or hand, make an arch and come down at the other side of finger or hand (refer to below). (8 -9 years old) The results were so varied from kid to kid, it's amazing! I think all of them did awesome! I wasn't able to post all of their hand projects. Join my exclusive email list for my upcoming Candice Ashment Studio shop! I do NOT SPAM! You won't be sorry when you get the SUPER SECRETE SALES & SNEAK PEEKS! Thank you for stopping by
The great thing about this Earth Day art project is that you can adjust it to what your kids are interested in and what supplies you have.
This unit focuses explicitly on Dale Chihuly: his life, his art. The artmaking pursued in this unit is inspired by one of Chihuly’s most well-known themes: the bowl.
This week 4th grade is starting their Robin Mead inspired landscapes! She's a contemporary artist from Georgia, and you can check out her work on her website here! I was also inspired by the awesome art teacher, Lauralee Chambers, from her beautiful student examples on Instagram! Here's Robin Mead's Instagram too :) She has a Youtube channel too! Here's how we created ours! Materials: Sax 90 lb paper pencils Sharpies Crayola artista II watercolor Big Kid's Choice Paintbrushes Robin Mead examples Day 1: Show examples of Robin Mead's work, and show examples of other 4th grade work from Lauralee Chamber's art room. Then I demonstrated how to add the water, ground, mountains, and sun. After I drew it out, I traced it with Sharpie, and let them get to work. When enough had drawn and traced, I demonstrated how to blend their watercolors in a way similar to Mead's work. They did a great job, and enjoyed creating their own landscapes! Here's some examples of Robin's work! It's so beautiful and colorful!! Here's a video, showing how to draw a Robin Mead inspired landscape! Here's some great student examples on day 1 of instruction! here's Mrs. Braswell's class, working hard on theirs! Here's Mrs. Torres' class, finishing up! Just beautiful!! DISCLOSURE: LINKS TO PRODUCTS ARE AFFILIATE LINKS, WHICH MEANS I GET A SMALL COMPENSATION FOR SALES. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING OUR BLOG!
Well this is another great pinterest finds and also a spin on one point perspective. We did the drawing in pencil. Then outline in sharpie. It keep my 5th graders guessing what it was going to be until we painted all blue. Some of the figured it out. Then we draw sea life and colored that in with color pencil and glued them on. It was something different then the city. Well like I said I found this on pinterest, but here is the link from where it really came from. http://www.onceuponanartroom.com/ Thanks so much Chani for the great project
Want to teach students how to turn fractions to percentages…while also engaging them? In this blog, I’ll show you how you can use an art quilt lesson to help your students with fractions and converting to percentages.
We have recently wrapped up our summative watercolor project, called "identity maps". Students learned to express aspects of themselves usin...
Seriously spooky Halloween Art Activities for Kids! Have fun in the classroom with these fun and creative Halloween printable coloring pages.
Neurographic Art has been a hit the past couple of years in middle school art rooms across the country! This mindful, intentional mark-making drawing method provides students with lots of freedom, …
These close-up oil pastel drawings were inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe and the way she focuses on the details of an object. 8th grader...
Welcome! This blog post features a guided tutorial of how to create a drip sculpture inspired by one of my FAVORITE contemporary artists, Dan Lam. Before exploring this project, check out Dan Lam's eye catching drip sculptures on her website here and her Instagram page here. Dan Lam’s "tactile, technicolor sculptures use unconventional materials to
A collection of beautiful spring-themed artworks made by elementary kids. My faves are the tulips and sun/moons. Drop by for inspiration.
Student sample This project was BY FAR the most talked about lesson throughout the school year. It is best suited for upper middle school and/or high school level students. This project pushed thei…
You are going to love this list of fun art projects for kids! Art is a wonderful creative outlet for kids of all ages. These easy art ideas for kids a
Inside every kid lies the heart of an artist.
High school winter holiday art project featuring chalk pastel on black paper produces vivid results.
In this Aquarium Perspective Lesson, Middle School students will dive right into learning about the principle of perspective while designing an aquarium.
6th Graders did a really nice job on this project. We started off by learning a lot about the artist Roy Lichtenstein. We watched this video and read through this handout. Using iPads and computers students worked on editing their photo to make it in a comic book style. They drew from the image they created. I had to stress to them to draw what they were seeing and not what they thought it should look like. After seeing Lichtenstein's work, students set to work using only primary color markers (and black). They were to fill in some areas solid, and use Lichtenstein's dots in other areas. I had two very different types of students with this project; one group were the students who totally embraced the idea of using interesting colors on their face, and the other who were so self conscious about it they would work with their drawing on their lap so no one could see it. Even in this day in age, you know of the "selfie," many students were just so embarrassed to do this project. It was not because of the colors, but the idea of the self portrait. Do any of you struggle with your older students at the idea of a self portrait? How do you go about problem solving it?
Inside every kid lies the heart of an artist.
Food Truck. Dragon Eyes. Graffiti Name. Tim Burton Inspired Selfies. Scratch board Drawing. These art lessons are the most popular with my students.This collection of my students' favorite art lessons will keep your art students engaged for weeks. These art lesson plans will cover 5-8 weeks of lesso...
Ready, set, POSE! I use my iPhone to take photos of my students. I usually do this on a day during which they are intently engaged with another lesson, and pull one or two students at a time into t…
Please Note: All images seen below are of my students artwork only. These photos/lessons are not posted in any particular order regarding the flow of my curriculum. OP ART- “3D PAPER CONE DRA…
Once upon a time (in my first year of teaching), I taught a tessellation project to my 4th grade students. Just like any good fairy tale, at some point things took a turn for the worse. As great as some of the projects turned out, I was exhausted by the amount of hovering it required me to do as a teacher and left me yearning for a different project. But again, just like any good fairy tale, this story has a happy ending... After taking a 3 year break from tessellations, I have finally made my comeback with an awesome tessellation project for my 5th grade students. Yayyyy! I started this project by showing my students an awesome PowerPoint that I put together that explains exactly what a tessellation is, some famous examples from history, and then differentiates between the 3 major types of tessellations: translations, rotations, and reflections. After showing them the PowerPoint, I gave each of my tables a basket that contained a few 3"x3" pieces of tagboard, a written set of directions (in case students get confused), scissors, and tape. Then I showed them step-by-step how to create a translation tessellation piece using my document camera (see the directions to the left). **A trick that I used this time teaching was to have students draw their shape from one corner to the adjacent corner. That way they don't have to worry about lining up the cut-out piece directly across from the original cutout.. you just have to line it up on the side. (This sounds confusing.. just look at my visual below.) Once students finished creating their own pieces, I passed out large sheets of scrap paper and had them practice making tessellations with their piece. This was their opportunity to make sure that their piece was properly crafted and that it would work. This was also a great opportunity for me to be able to walk around and assist those that found that their piece wasn't working. Once they verified that their pattern piece would work, I asked them to turn their piece around and see if they could see something that they could make their shape into (some type of character or monster). Monsters are honestly the easiest to do because, as I explained to my students, you can take any type of blob shape and slap some eyes on it and call it a monster (just being real). :) Once my students knew what they were going to make their shape into, I gave them a sheet of 9"x9" white drawing paper to use for their final project. I advised my students to use the original edges of their tessellation piece to help them to line up their shape on their sheet of paper. Even though this cuts off part of the piece, it really does help to make sure that everything stays properly aligned. I also explained to them that just because you can't see the whole shape, doesn't mean that they shouldn't add the additional details they were planning to add for their character - they just need to add what they can see. Once their pencil drawing was done (including adding details), students were asked to outline everything with a sharpie marker, and then add color with either crayons or color sticks. Many of my students decided to take their tessellation patterns and make each shape into its own character in a series (instead of just repeating the same thing over and over). Doing that really helped to keep more of my kids engaged in finishing their project because it made it a little more creative and a little less repetitive. If you are interested in this lesson, I have an incredibly awesome package posted up in my store. Seriously.. it has EVERYTHING. Included in the package: 1. Tessellation PowerPoint: An introduction to what tessellations are, a brief history, M.C. Escher (with a link to a interview he did), his influences, his artwork, and the three main types of transformations used in making tessellations – translation, rotation, and reflections. This PowerPoint includes animated slides, which make it easier for students to visualize the shape’s movements. 2. Color Your Own Worksheets: Grid-filled pages that students can demonstrate how to draw translation, rotation, and reflection tessellations on. 3. Practicing Transformations Worksheet: Worksheet asks students to reflect specific shapes over horizontal and vertical axes, translate shapes, and rotate shapes. 4. Step-by-Step Direction Sheets: Three step-by-step instruction sheets with visuals showing how to create stencils for all three transformations. These instructions also match up with the included videos, which also demonstrate how to create them step-by-step. 5. Practice Tessellation Sheet: This page includes the base stencil for all three transformations shown in the videos and step-by-step sheets. 6. Transformation Videos: 3 videos demonstrating how to create a reflection tessellation, translation tessellation, and rotation tessellation (including how to do a graphite transfer or light table/window transfer for complex details). Also available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Fifth Grade students studied gesture drawings and the sculptures of George Segal. Students then created their own gesture sculptures showing...
