Curated OER
Cave Paintings: Studying the Past
Students are introduced to prehistoric paintings with the cave art at Lascaux and Altamira. They, in groups, role-play the members of a clan and design appropriate cave paintings for their group.
Curated OER
O'keefe's Flowers
Students participate in a lesson about the artist Georgia O'keefe by examining here artwork as a model for style. The art is displayed and students are allowed the time to paint their own paintings. Then they write a journal about the...
Curated OER
Soybean Science
Fourth graders explore food science by participating in a cooking activity. In this soybean oil lesson, 4th graders listen as the teacher gives them a background on soybeans and their use by humans today. Students grind soybeans and...
Curated OER
New Visions of the World
Students explore the art of Kazimir Malevich and Piet Mondrian as an analysis of abstract painting. In this abstract painting lesson, students explore the painting style of the two artists. Students analyze the use of shape, line,...
Curated OER
Art of Mexico - Painting
Students create a personal painting of thanks, explain importance of devotional art in Mexico, and critically view art work from another culture. Next, students evaluate self and peer work.
Curated OER
Inquiry Lesson About Color
Students investigate the color choices artists make in their work, and to practice the scientific process of predicting, observing, inferring, and interpreting. This lesson's purpose is to prepare students for a museum visit.
Curated OER
Wide Awake Dreaming
Learners examine and discuss works of art by Juan Miro and other surrealist artists. They discuss paintings of Juan Miro, create a drawing of a dream-like creature, and write a description of their creature.
Curated OER
Picasso's Three Musicians
This lesson has students read or be read a book about Picasso and the technique of Cubism. They are shown a sample of what they are doing to be doing and discuss the drawing process. Using a photo of a musical instrument, they sketch it...
Curated OER
Native American Clay Pots
Learners explore world culture by conducting an art project in class. In this Native American culture lesson, students identify the types of materials American Indians utilized in their artistic endeavors, specifically clay. Learners...
Curated OER
Water Quality
Students investigate the properties of oil and water by making marbleized paper. They examine fish species by making Japanese fish prints and 3-D cardboard fish. They create posters that present messages about conserving our waterways.
Curated OER
Edward Hopper's House by the Railroad: From Painting to Poem
Learners analyze Edward Hopper's painting and Hirsch's poem to explore the types of emotion generated by each work. For this literary and art analysis lesson, students discuss how Hopper establishes tone and analyze Hirsch's use of...
Curated OER
Fiber Fusion
Create works of art using fabric. Learners use fabric, tissue paper, acrylic gel, and paint to create a unique and interesting piece of work. They discuss the different techniques that can be used to create works of art and evaluate...
Curated OER
Coming Full Circle
Students develop and design their own clothing line in this Visual Arts instructional activity about the intricacies of the fashion world. Emphasis is placed upon current and vintage designs, famous designers, and the development of...
Curated OER
Lao Design: Mask making
Students examine the concept of symmetry in Lao art and apply it to their own works. They construct full-face masks by copying the stencils onto colored paper. Students apply creative touches by painting and drawing on their assembled...
Curated OER
The Art of Locomotion
Tenth graders examine the artistic legacy of trains by comparing the representations of trains in the painting of Turner and the photographs of Terry Evans. They write an essay, story or poem using their own observations of trains,...
Curated OER
Descriptive Writing: Using Art to Inspire description
Write with the senses! Try using art to inspire writers to consider all of the senses. Here, the class is divided in half. Each group looks at one of two images, imagines the senses that would be engaged, and records answers to five...
Curated OER
Monoprint Screams on Clay
Using a famous painting as a model, have your class create their own works of art. Learners take a look at the painting "The Scream" by Edvard Munch, discuss their thoughts on it, and use a similar process to design their own art. What a...
Curated OER
Faux Cloisonne Enameling
Middle and high school students engage in enameling and apply design elements. They study the history and tradition of Cloisonne. The history of traditional Chinese Cloisonne dates back over 700 years, with the most beautiful, artistic...
Polk Bros Foundation
American Presidents
Emanuel Leutze's painting Washington Crossing the Delaware. Alexander Gardner's photograph of Abraham Lincoln. What do these works of art tell us about the character of these American Presidents? After examining the techniques the...
Curated OER
Complementary Superheroes
Students discover the color wheel. In this color lesson, students find the primary colors, secondary colors, and contrasting colors. They look through the designs of super hero logos and create their own using what they know about color.
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Angles on Kandinsky
Not only is Wassily Kandinsky fun to say, his art contains tons of angles. Learners discuss Kandinsky's music-inspired abstract art and four types of angles. They search one of his paintings for obtuse, right, straight, and acute angles,...
Curated OER
Photo Tinting
Encourage your artists to go wild with their color choices in this fun art lesson. Similar to the pop art by Andy Warhol, your class will color ordinary black and white photos with vibrant colors to simulate photo tinting. What a fun way...
Brooklyn Museum
HIDE/SEEK: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture
Visual arts lessons don't always mean the children need to make art. Here, they will practice using their visual literacy skills to analyze four images through the compare and contrast method. The first two images deal with gender...
Curated OER
Periodic Pigment
Students make paint using the ingredients from recipes from the 17th century. For this paint making lesson plan, students follow a recipe with vegetable oil, eggs, pigment, paintbrushes, and more to make their paint.