Animal Masks

While I was student teaching I learned a great way to make paper masks. The students color, cut and paste the features they want to add to their mask on an 11"x14" sheet of construction paper. Afterwards I fold the bottom corners in and staple. I do this project in 3 weeks: the first they sketch their idea, the second they draw and color on the construction paper, and on the third they cut and paste parts that stick out (ears, hair, whiskers, etc). I do this project with second grade and they love the final product!

Amazing Projects With Plastic Bags

I have recently become aware of Craftzine which is a magazine dedicated to new ideas in crafts. You should definantly check out his site and even subscribe to the magazine. Here is a link to craft projects made out of plastic shopping bags. Some of these could be used in the classroom and are quite inexpensive! They introduce students to the idea of found object art, recycling, and fashion design. It's really amazing what you can do with a plastic bag.http://craftzine.com/projects/

Snowflake Sculptures

These snowflakes are truly sculptural. I don't do much holiday art, but seasonal art is fine for everyone! This site includes a lesson plan.http://www.bobsedulinks.com/Snowflakes.htm

Mask Making

Kids love mask making projects. I've used folded paper, paper cutouts, plaster, papier mache, and clay. It doesn't matter what the material is-if you say they are making masks your students will be overjoyed. I've made animal masks, Aztec masks, artist masks, and African masks. My next mask making venture will be Egyptian Death Masks-like King Tuts.



This is a great link for mask project ideas. http://www.masksoftheworld.com/

Useful Art Websites

Sorry about the break over the holidays, to make up for it I'm sharing this wonderful list of art websites put together by art educator Jeanne L Bayless.

http://www.bobsedulinks.com/art_teachers.htm
Try the site above for links to the items below

[ http://www.kinderart.com/painting/impasto.shtml ]3D Texture Artelementary and high school

[ http://www.sgi.com/grafica/fold/page001.html ]A Paper Folding Activity

[http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/high/Nerina-ArcPortraits.htm]Arcimboldo Style Self Portraits high school

[ http://www.hitchams.suffolk.sch.uk/ict_art/index.htm ]Art and ICT

[ http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/explore/qts.cfm ]Art Quotes

[ http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/ ]ArtsEdge Kennedy Center [

http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/teach/les.cfm?subjectId=VAR&otherSubjectId=&gradeBandId=&showDescriptions=true&sortColumn=&x=16&y=6]ArtsEdge Lessons Visual Arts

[ http://www.getty.edu/education/for_teachers/ ]Art Educators art themes:Elementary & High School

[ http://home.att.net/~tisone/lessonpg1.htm ]Basic Art Lessons

[ http://members.aol.com/Art1234567/Art.html ]Computer Art Lessons

[ http://www.creativedrama.com/ ]Creative Drama and Theatre Education

[ http://www.kinderart.com/painting/creature.shtml ]Creature PaintingCycle 1-2 elementary

[ http://www2.evansville.edu/studiochalkboard/draw.html ]Drawing: ArtStudio Chalkboard

[http://www.arts.ufl.edu/art/rt_room/teach/encounters/drawing_encounters.html]Drawing Encounters

[ http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/arttiedye.htm ]Easy Tie Dye K

[ http://syrylynrainbowdragon.tripod.com/home.html ]Elementary Art LessonPlans

[ http://www.guggenheim.org/artscurriculum/lessons/collections_picasso.php]Experimenting with Picasso

[ http://members.aol.com/powers8696/artindex.html#lesson%20one ]ExploreArt lessons for various levels

[ http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/pdfs/mc_collage.pdf ]ExploringTheme Through Collage lesson plan pdf

[ http://canada.kidsdomain.com/craft/bouquet.html ]Fall Bouquet

[ http://canada.kidsdomain.com/craft/fallleaf.html ]Fall Leaf Print

[ http://www.kinderart.com/painting/fallleafwc.shtml ]Fall Leaf WaterColours

[ http://www.kinderart.com/printmaking/reflections.shtml ]Fall ReflectionsCycle 1

[http://www.things2make.com/Things2make_files/instructions%20under%206/Frothy%20paint.htm]Frothy Paint Activity elementary

[ http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/art/contents.htm ]General ideas andActivities

[ http://www.tenet.edu/halls/finearts.html ]Hall of Fine Arts large Listof links to Fine Arts resources Secondary

[http://www.dickblick.com/lessonplans/2007lessonplans/impressionist_tile.pdf]Impressionist-Style Tile high school pdf

[ http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/lessons.html ]IncredibleArt Lessons

[ http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/ ]Incredible Art Department

[ http://www.kidsart.com/lessons.html ]Kids Art

[ http://www.geocities.com/~jlhagan/K9-14/introduction.htm ]Learning Howto Draw illustrated notes for teachers

[ http://www.sdmart.org/education-plans.html ]Lessons from the San DiegoMuseum of Art

[ http://www.sanford-artedventures.com/teach/walkindesert_contents.html]Line and Wash Landscapes Cycle 2-3

[ http://members.aol.com/Sabetour/Monapat.html ]Mona Lisa Pattern Printout

[ http://www.kinderart.com/painting/winterwonderland.shtml ]Painting Treesin Winter elementary

[ http://www.dickblick.com/lessonplans/2006pixeldrawings/ ]Pixel Drawing high school lesson

[ http://www.goshen.edu/art/ed/artlsn.html ]Planning Art Lessons

[ http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/schools/4_11/primaryart/index.shtml]Primary Art lessons with video

[ http://www.sagecraft.com/puppetry/ ]Puppetry Home Page Secondary

[ http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson106.shtml ]Refrigerator toRenoir: 10 Great Art Lessons Online

[ http://www.kinderart.com/drawing/shadow.shtml ]Shadow Pictures Elementary

[ http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/artpainting.htm ]Straw and MarblePainting

[ http://www.learner.org/resources/series202.html ]The Art of Teaching theArts High School Level (free signup for teachers)

[ http://www.dickblick.com/lessonplans/2007lessonplans/clayplaque.pdf ]VanGogh Clay Plaque pdf

[ http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/artsed/g7arts_ed/g7vtblae.html ]VisualArt Secondary

[ http://www.nhptv.org/kn/vs/artlaba.htm ]Visual Arts from KnowledgeNetwork

The Insanity of Santa

Around the last few weeks before vacation the kids get wilder than usual. I try to avoid highly academic projects or projects that have a lot of steps. Instead, I focus more on fun projects that will make the kids excited enough that they stay interested and out of trouble.
1. Clay finger puppets- I show the kids how to build and add features with smaller pieces of clay. I fire them and they paint their puppets with tempera the next week.
2. Cartooning- I have a Bruce Blitz cartooning book that I share with the students. They make their own cartoon characters off of it.
3. Clay ornaments- I use tempera and glitter to decorate.
4. Watch art related movies in the classroom.

An Easy Way to do Papermaking

Papermaking with a large group can be tough in terms of supplies and mess. So this is my advice. Make the paper pulp for the students before they lesson and store it. Demonstrate how you made it for them when you start the lesson so they can understand the process. Rather than use screens, which you would need many depending on the class size, have them press the pulp into shapes and add inks to color. You could also have dried flowers and textiles for your students to press into the pulp.