Category: Blog

free lessons, advice, suggestions

Summer Art for Kids

If you are like me, you are ready for the children to go outside! There are plenty of art activities they can make or draw outside. Plenty of children of all ages like to draw with sidewalk chalk. Children can be inspired by drawing a large circle or square and adding a variety of lines and shapes and colors. Older ones can print out abstract paintings of Picasso with noses going in one direction and eyes in another. Tomato Soup cans of Warhol can be inspirational.

I have a product containing art lessons for the outdoors for sale in my store on teachers pay teachers. Here is the link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Art-Lessons-for-the-Outdoors-3849980

 

Spring Coloring Sheets

Are you quarantined with bored children? Maybe they are busy with assignments and need a break. My Spring Coloring Sheets can be just the thing to break up the boredom! You get 10 sheets of Spring flowers to color for $2! Here’s the link:  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Spring-Coloring-Sheets-2468036

 

Jungle Animals Art Projects

Mizz Mac’s Easy Artsy Jungle Animals Art Projects is a group of 9 art projects organized from the beginner to the more advanced student. The jungle animal art of Henri Rousseau, Albrecht Durer, and the Oxacans is mentioned as artists in history to view. The projects begin with working with shapes which can be used to reinforce the geometric common core standards of math. Science and nature are also reinforced with the inclusion of observation drawing of jungle flora and fauna. These projects can be visual presentations of what has been learned academically.
The group contains a content page, an introduction, a list of jungle animals, supply lists, and examples of each finished project.
Animal Shapes Collage- creating natural shapes (animals) from geometric shapes(cut construction paper)
Animal Shapes Paintings-create animals using blob shape painting method
Brightly watercolored animals-create using the wet on wet watercolor technique
Night wanderers- creating shapes using a variety of media
Papier mache animals https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Jungle-Animal-Art-Projects-1122694

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week

Back when I taught school and there was Teacher Appreciation Week, the parents would overload the workrooms with food. Those of us who were special teachers would sometimes roam the three workrooms and see who had the best food! A few years later the parent group organized the food and started bringing in the same brunch casseroles and fruit for all the the workrooms. It ceased to be fun!

To celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week Teachers Pay Teachers is having a site wide sale May 9-10! Everything in my store is 20% off and with Teachers Pay Teachers added 10% that makes my products going for 28% off. Don’t ask me how that works out because I am no mathematician. That’s just they say! Just be sure to add the code at the top of my store page when you check out. To get to my store just click on the sale graphic here! Mizz Mac

 

How to Draw a Leprechaun

Have you ever wondered how to draw a leprechaun? They are such wee folks. Saint Patricks Day is right around the corner. Wear green at school or get pinched! My art lesson, Leprechauns, Pots of Gold, and Rainbows, contains directions for drawing leprechauns, pots of gold , and rainbows. It also contains a wee bit a of the legends of leprechauns. Click on the image to go to my store.

Symmetry and Snowflakes

Last weekend my town had a bit of a scare- we thought we were going to get a bit of snow. Those of us in the South run to the store and get a jar of peanut butter, a loaf of bread, and a gallon of milk. Why milk? Who knows. It may have all gotten started back in the early ’60s when we had a powerful ice storm hit and the pine tree limbs broke the power lines. We were without electricity for about two weeks. I was a child but I guess we all lived off peanut butter and bread and the milk stayed cold outside!

For those of you getting hit with the current ice and snow storms here is a product of mine on tpt. There are instructions for cutting out snowflakes and ideas as to what can be created with the snowflakes. For the math teachers there is also a note on symmetry.

On the Farm an art project Fall theme

Many teachers use the farm theme for fall. It is a good one to teach children about animals and where our food comes from. October is a good month for corn and corn mazes and scare crows. Art teachers can teach color mixing with paint. Little ones can learn red and yellow make orange pumpkins.  Creating art with warm colors can be taught with an “On the Farm” theme.

Plastic farm animals can be bought at the dollar stores or the dollar bins at the big box stores. These are great for children to use to draw and create their own symbols or art style. Of course the internet is full of farm animal images to choose but sometimes these are difficult to draw and there may be copyright issues.

Fall landscapes of farms can also be taught. Artwork by artists such as Grandma Moses or Grant Wood can be found and projected and analyzed for colors used, how texture is created, and how was depth (close-up and far away) achieved.

I have created an On the Farm product with art lessons and examples of the steps. Here is the link:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/On-the-Farm-art-projects-2068051

cover-for-on-the-farm-art-projects

Click on the link above for my product’s page. There you will find a preview, thumbnail examples, a description, and purchasing information. Mizz Mac

Back to School with Lines and Shapes in Art

I have some cool intro to art lessons based on the first element of art design: the line. For those of you who don’t know all art is made up of the elements and principles of design. The elements are like the puzzle pieces in a work of art and not all of them go in but they do need to be put in the right places for the work of art to make sense. The principles of design are the structures or how the elements are arranged in the work to create interest or mood.

I usually start off my class teaching the line because most children can draw a line even if its a crooked line. There are five kinds of lines in art: horizontal, vertical, diagonal, zigzag, and curvy. When we draw we use these lines to make shapes. And there are only two kinds of shapes in art: geometric and natural. So when we use lines and shapes in our art, it makes creating works of art very simple and easy.

Here is one of my art lessons you can purchase:

All-About-shapes

Just click on the picture to preview or purchase.