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My older students are drawing an tracing symmetrical Day of the Dead skulls this week, but that’s a little too advanced for kinder and first gra...
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Instant coffee makes a great paint that is inexpensive and the perfect brown for this time of year. I thought a haunted house would be a good subject ...
I found this idea about combining Munch?s Scream and blow painting from Washington Elementary School in Michigan, and it was a huge hit two years ago....
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I tried this project three different ways today, and the third time ended up the charm. First was with a black chalk pastel sky (too dark), then gray ...
I found this wonderfully simple project at Crafty Sticks, just in time to finish off my afterschool Popsicle Stick class. This canoe is a similar to m...
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For a simple animal in motion, here?s a tutorial on how to draw a running rabbit. ? View and download Running Rabbit tutorial
I keep looking for new ways to introduce students to weaving, and this one is working our pretty well for my students this week. Paper strips are wove...
Yesterday my afterschool students had fun making this colored stick banner. I think a lot was due to the brush Sharpie markers, and the punched holes ...
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Maple leaves are easy to draw if you break them down into simple steps as shown below. I think the irregularity of hand drawn ones actually look more ...
I never realized how much spiderwebs have in common with zentangles, which are basically repeated shapes. Try some fine tipped white poster markers on...
Awhile back I was experimenting with a black foam pumpkin that I found at Michaels and a parent donated several rolls of orange painter’s tape....
To start off my afterschool Model Magic class, a nod to the movie “Frozen” and the very popular Olaf character. He?s just too easy to make...
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So here are two first grade paintings from my ?Stick Person? project, now renamed (thank you Ms. B!) Aura Paintings. I adore them and am putting this ...
Here is my Hanging Bat tutorial, remade in my pdf format. I suspect some readers out there might already have Halloween on their mind. ? View and down...
If you?ve ever painted on a flat coffee filter, you?ll know how fun it is to watch the color seep and spread and grow. That’s what got me starte...
My experiment in diagramming art instructions. Maybe visual projects need visual instructions? It would be interesting to truly test different approac...
Pete the Cat seems to have a lot of fans these days, so I thought I’d make a tutorial on how to draw him. Older students might notice that there...
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I love this idea of putting “people” teeth in a pumpkin, so whoever thought of it first is pretty genius. I’m using it this week for...
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We did it! Thanks so much to the generous donors (Jill Schalet, Denise Matthews, Louee Newton, Crystal Townsen, Jannike Johnsen, Wendy Slepian, Corinn...
Art Trading Cards are simply mini works of art, the size of baseball cards (2.5″ x 3.5″). I’m bringing them back as an afterschool c...
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Say yes to stick figures for a day, and let students just concentrate on their fine motor painting skills. Students draw themselves in stick figure fo...
This little bird may not look like it, but he represents about a year of trial and error with afterschool clay and playdough classes. I knew there was...
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I recently received this lovely collection of art in my email, and when I learned that Vivaan, the artist was only 4 years old, I was amazed. I know l...
Kinders are learning about trees in my school, so I created this lesson that lets them paint one, roots and all. PREP: Draw and cut a trunk stencil as...
I?ve tweaked this project over the years, and this is still my favorite version. 1. To make a sturdy pallet, the students arrange 20 popsicle sticks h...
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I?m learning that when I try to come with a new art trading card project, it helps to look for subject matter that can be multiplied. A cute cat drawi...
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Here?s a new project I tried for an art party today ? Sharpie markers on a silk scarf. It?s the same process as you may have seen on t-shirts, but the...
Here is a 4th graders finished work from my Black Glue Painting class. Students ?drew? on acetate with black glue (50/50 white glue and acrylic), let ...
More possibilities for coffee filters and liquid watercolor paints, this time as an ode to artist Keith Haring. PREP: Use an old steam iron to flatten...
I love cartoon characters with giant heads as it makes them instantly cute, and also frees young artists to not worry about proportions. There?ll be p...
