Art
"I can't do it" never accomplished anything; "I will try" has performed wonders. -- George P. Barnham
A to Z Kids Stuff: Art Recipes: http://www.atozkidsstuff.com/artrecipes.html
How about some peanut butter play dough? Or soap crayons, sun baked clay, rainbow stew, or macaroni coloring--they're all here.
The Art Book (Art Assessment): http://kinderart.com/artbook/
Students will create separate projects to compose an eight-page art book. Activities include lessons on colors (neutral and warm colors), texture (texture bugs), pattern (caterpillars), paint mixing, and more. Altogether these lessons make up a terrific elementary primer on art.
Art Designs and Ideas for Kids: http://www.designmantic.com/industry/art-designs-and-ideas-for-kids.php
Art History Guide: http://arthistory.about.com/
Art-Rageous!: http://www.art-rageous.net/index.html
"...sections on art lesson plans, genealogy, gardening, and much, much more."
Art Teacher on the Net: http://www.artmuseums.com/
Art Institute of Chicago: www.artic.edu/
Artsonia: www.artsonia.com/ is a free website that encourages young artists by displaying their work online. The art is sorted by project, school and country, which also features an "Artist of the Week" section.
Bar Code Art: http://www.barcodeart.com/art/art.html
Block Posters: http://www.blockposters.com/
Block Posters allows users to upload images to create custom posters for free. Upload an image, choose your pster options and then download and print your own personalized huge poster.
Butterfly Life Cycle Mobile: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/butterfly/lifecyclemobile/
This version of the butterfly mobile reinforces life cycles; have your students create the correct order by placing them top to bottom in sequence.
Columbus Museum of Art: http://www.columbusmuseum.org/index.php
CraftBits.com: http://www.CraftBits.com
While this site wasn’t designed specifically for educators, but you will find some great craft projects you can use with your class here.
Craftfreebies: http://www.craftfreebies.com/index.html
Free Arts and Crafts Resources for Home Learning: couponfollow.com/research/free-arts-crafts-resources
Guggenheim: http://www.guggenheim.org/
The High-Rise Pages: http://www.xs4all.nl/~hnetten/index.html
If you include architecture appreciation as part of your art curriculum, be sure to take a look at this site devoted to the man-made steel and glass wonders of the world: high-rises. Your students can access information and photos of skyscrapers across the globe, including links to city skylines and monuments to current and fallen edifices.
Inside Art: http://www.eduweb.com/insideart/index.html
An Art History Story/Game
International Directory of Sculpture Parks: http://www.artnut.com/intl.html
Browse geographically through an annotated set of links to the official home pages of sculpture gardens.
Kaleidoscope Painter: http://www.permadi.com/java/spaint/spaint.html
Kaleidoscope Painter creates colorful spiraling fractal twisters based on the movement of your mouse. There are also recursive lines and moire patterns, as well as puzzle.
KinderArt: http://www.kinderart.com/
Not only is this site visually pleasing and easy to navigate, it is also chock-full of over 100 free lesson plans, activities, and other useful materials. Celebrate each season, or click on the Cool Pick to teach students about art technique. Use the Art Lessons section for resources on topics from art history to printmaking, or browse the Art Library to read the art glossary, skim articles, or enter a contest.
KinderArt: The Art Book - Portfolio Assessment for Kids: http://kinderart.com/artbook/
Students will create separate projects to compose an eight page art book with additional pages for the cover and conclusion. Activities include lessons on colors (neutral and warm colors), texture (texture bugs), pattern (caterpillars), paint mixing, and more. Altogether these lessons make up a terrific elementary primer on art.
KidsArt.com: Fruit and Vegetable Prints: http://www.kinderart.com/printmaking/fruit.shtml
This lesson uses bits of fruit, veggies, a dab of paint and sheets of paper to show students how to create prints with naturally created stamping tools.
Kidsart.com: Plant Dye Paints: http://www.kinderart.com/painting/plantdye.shtml
Let your students imagine that they no longer have those tempera watercolor paints sitting in your classroom; in fact, there are no modern art tools at all. What will they do for color? This lesson plan will show you how.
Landscape Painting: http://www.talentteacher.com/001cl.html
Follow the steps in this painting to create a beginner's watercolor landscape with a fan brush. This lesson plan gives alternative materials for pricey artist supplies, and techniques are basic enough for elementary students to handle.
Learn to Draw a Manatee: rangerrick.org/draw/learn-how-to-draw-a-manatee/
Lesson Plans: http://www.albrightknox.org/ArtStart/lMonet.html
These classroom lesson plans are for grades K-12 from teh Albright-Knox Art Gallery.
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art: http://www.brooksmuseum.org/
Miscellaneous Art Recipes: http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/recipe8.html
Some unique art recipes here--try eggshell sidewalk chalk for one, or different varieties of soap crayons
The Miraculous Draught of Fishes: http://www.nga.gov/feature/artnation/bassano/index.htm examines Jacopo Bassano's 1545 painting & compares it with other works that also depict the New
Testament story in which Jesus calls Peter to become a disciple. Bassano's painting was one in a long line of "copies," or variations on a theme, a standard practice in the Renaissance. Here we see that certain elements -- garments & figure groupings -- were copied from another work but were altered to achieve greater dramatic effect.
MoMA Multimedia: http://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/interactives/57/interactives-online-projects is a section of the Museum of Modern Art's website: http://www.moma.org/. In this section of the website, you choose a picture, look at it, and write about it. If you wish, your writing can be published on their site.
Money Orgami: http://members.cox.net/crandall11/money/
Monochromatic Painting: http://ericir.syr.edu/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Arts/Visual_Arts/ARA0009.html
Students will understand the uses of tints and shades, as well as the connections in painting between color and emotions. They must paint along a specific scene guideline to create their own monochromatic illustrations.
The Museum of Ephemeral Cultureal Artifacts: http://www.edgechaos.com/MECA/MECA.html
This site offers a gallery of wall art, robot gallary, pinball designs.
Museum of Modern Art's Art Safari: http://artsafari.moma.org/
This learning adventure introduces students to ways of looking at and thinking about art by guiding them through a set of questions and answers. Along the way, students are prompted to respond to questions such as, What is going on in this picture? At the end of the safari, students can submit their evaluations for posting on the site. They can also explore other areas to create their own art or browse paintings or sculptures.
Museum of Web Art: http://www.mowa.org
This site would be equally appropriate for your art students or your computer/technical classes. The Museum of Web Art (MOWA) highlights some of the Web's most unique designs. In four galleries, you'll find exhibits on designs that move, work, change, and remain constant. Be sure to visit the Kid's Wing, filled with interactive computer drawing activities.
The National Gallery of Art: http://www.nga.gov/education/classroom/
A collection of educational resources, including art and lessons can be found on this government Web site.
National Gallery of Art: http://www.nga.gov/home.htm
The National Gallery of Art, an amazing Washington, D.C., resource, offers this beautiful, full-service site. The site's most useful feature for educators is its variety of virtual tours. Topics range from the art of the Italian Renaissance to that of Jackson Pollack. Students can even concentrate on one artist or one painting -- Edouard Manet's "Bullfight," for instance -- to learn about historical details and understand close readings of paintings.
National Portrait Gallery: http://www.npg.si.edu/
NGA Kids Adventures with Art - Activities and Projects: http://www.nga.gov/kids/kids.htm
National Gallery of Art section especially for kids
Painting Like an Impressionist: http://ericir.syr.edu/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Arts/Visual_Arts/ARA0012.html
Here is a more detailed art lesson in Impressionism, where students must examine and then apply the same techniques and rules used by the Impressionist painters. Mood, complementary colors, lighting, and technique are all covered.
Pablo Picasso's 'The Tragedy': The Metamorphosis of a Painting: http://www.nga.gov/feature/picasso/index.htm uses x-rays & infrared light to reveal that Picasso sketched & painted at least four works on this panel before painting over them in 1903 to produce "The Tragedy." He did not, however, merely paint over the previous images; rather, he incorporated each layer into the subsequent one, believing that, "What comes out in the end is the result of the discarded finds."
Paper Toys: http://papertoys.com/
Print, cut, fold and paste your own models in black green or brown. Some of the models available are: Mississippi Queen Riverboat, Tyrannosaurus Rex, "Old Glory" Desktop Animated Flag, Frank Lloyd Wright House, Neuschwanstein Castle, Sydney Opera House, Bruce Lee Paper Doll, White House, World Trade Center Complex, "If You Ever" Card, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Angkor Wat, Bill Gates' House, Chrysler PT Cruiser, Taj Mahal, and a whole lot more. You can also email a greeting to friends using any of these models.
Photography: The Art of Light: http://library.thinkquest.org/25473/
This comprehensive site is bound to inspire young shutterbugs from ages 12 to 19. It leads students from the history of photography to the composition of photos. Helpful for kids of the digital generation, the site includes a post-processing section that describes the scanning technique. After they read about photography, students can use the simulations in the "Interact" section to take their best shots at setting apertures and photo finishing.
Picassohead: http://www.mrpicassohead.com/create.html
Drag and drop some rather odd features onto a canvas to create your own Picasso-style face.
Picasso's Faces: http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ArtSSPicassosFaces35.htm
This light-hearted approach to a study of Picasso--the artist and his works--lets students create their own divided portrait while studying the innovative and entirely different techniques employed by Picasso.
Pigments Through the Ages: http://webexhibits.org/pigments/
Plant Dye Paints: http://www.kinderart.com/painting/plantdye.shtml
Let your students imagine that they no longer have those tempera watercolor paints sitting in your classroom; in fact, there are no modern art tools at all. What will they do for color? Ask them to first name some plants that might produce a dye, and then experiment. This lesson plan will show you how.
Printed Trees: kinderart.com/art-lessons/printmaking/printed-fall-trees/
Pumpkin Swirls: kinderart.com/art-lessons/drawing/pumpkin-swirls/
The Puppetry Home Page: http://www.sagecraft.com/puppetry/
From Japanese Kabuki to Hacivad in Turkey to the Moderno Teatro de Muñecos de Costa Rica, this site describes all sorts of types of puppetry. In addition, the site includes information for students to create their own puppets in the styles of various national theaters. An excellent glossary and exposition even touch on such obscure topics as marionettes, shadow puppets, and ventriloquism.
Puzzle Factory: Coloring: http://www.thepuzzlefactory.com/coloring/coloring.cfm
A multitude of various types of puzzles to play online can be found here.
“Sawdust Clay”
Sawdust clay dries to a hard, rough finish that can be sanded and painted.
Materials:
* sawdust (If you don't have a workshop, your local lumberyard will be glad to give you some sawdust. Take a paper bag, and they'll fill it for you.)
* wallpaper paste
* water
* bowl
* wooden spoon
* pipe-cleaner pieces or toothpicks
* tempera paints, markers (optional)
Homemade Wallpaper Paste
* 8 Mix 3 tablespoons (24 g) of flour with 1 tablespoon (14 g) of sugar in a microwave-safe bowl.
* Add 1/2 cup (120 mL) of water. Stir well.
* Cook for 30 seconds. Stir again. Cook for 30 seconds more.
* The paste should be soft, smooth, and thick.
Here's How:
1. Mix the sawdust clay.
* Combine 1 scoop of sawdust and 1/2 scoop of wallpaper paste in the bowl. A thick dough will form.
* Stir as you slowly add water until the dough has a putty consistency.
2. Shape the clay into different forms. Make little creatures, puppets, bowls, and vehicles.
3. Add pipe-cleaner details.
4. Let your creatures dry until hard. Paint them with tempera paint or decorate with markers.
School Tours: http://www.nga.gov/education/school.htm features 38 paintings & sculptures selected from tours designed for students in Grades PreK-3 & 4-12. Each work is accompanied by an explanation of its significance & is presented alongside other works related to a theme -- weather, animals & nature, heroes & heroines, elements of art, the painter, the sculptor, American art, Renaissance art, mythology, & others. Information is provided about scheduling a school tour & about more than 150 teaching resources that the Gallery loans (free) to educational institutions, community groups, & individuals.
SkyscraperPage.com: http://www.skyscraperpage.com/
If the race for the world's tallest building fascinates your students, bring them to SkyscraperPage.com. They can learn about new skyscrapers that cities plan to build and monitor the construction processes. Be sure to check out the special computer diagrams of the world's tallest buildings, where you can look at all of the world's buildings together or focus on one particular city. There are breathtaking photographs of skylines, too.
Smithsonian American Art Museum: http://americanart.si.edu/
Snowflake Paining: rangerrick.org/crafts/make-a-snowflake-painting/
"No snow? No problem! With just a sponge, a cereal box, and some paint, you can create this beautiful snowflake scene."
Solar System Model: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/astronomy/solarsystemmodel/
You could easily add an asteroid belt and/or planetary moons to this solar system mobile. Students will put the planets in order, and create them according to their relative sizes. Click on any of the planets to learn more about our solar system.
Storm King Art Center: http://www.stormking.org/
"Storm King Art Center is located one hour north of New York City, in the Hudson Valley."
Styles - Portrait Triptych: http://ericir.syr.edu/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Arts/Visual_Arts/ARA0203.html
Impressionism, realism, and abstraction are all considered in this art lesson on portraits. Students will create their own works in the three styles presented, starting from a selected magazine clipping. Background information and instructions will guide students through their final designs, which are to be mounted in triptych style.
Swirly Bird Nesrts: https://kinderart.com/art-lessons/drawing/swirly-bird-nests/
Children can make a textural drawing of a bird nest with eggs using a few simple supplies.
Thaumatropes: http://www.randommotion.com/html/thauma.html
The thaumatrope is an early motion device you spin. While you spin the thaumatrope your brain retains what it sees on one side when it sees the other side - so your brain thinks it is seeing both sides.
Then & Now: http://www.nga.gov/feature/thenandnow/thenandnow.htm
"In these photo essays you'll view comparative images that demonstrate the many ways, some subtle, some obvious, in which the National Gallery's West Building--and the environment that surrounds it--have changed through the years."
You Be the Conservator: http://americanhistory.si.edu/kids/santos/
This Smithsonian Web site invites students to play the role of a museum conservator, discovering clues about an historical object in order to preserve or restore it.
Vincent Van Gogh Gallery: http://www.vangoghgallery.com/
Virtue & Beauty: http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2001/virtuebeauty/vbintro.htm features nearly a dozen portraits of women in Florence created between 1440 & 1540. These paintings, marble
sculptures, medals, & drawings reflect a time when subjects in art expanded to include not only rulers & their consorts but also women of the merchant class.
WebMuseum: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/
Take a tour of the WebMuseum, see the works of Paul Cezanne, medieval art, and take a walking tour of Paris.
Whale Mobile: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/Whalemobile.shtml
Print out templates for beluga whales, blue whales, humpback whales, and Orcas to create this ocean-themed mobile.
What's Your Impression?: http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ArtWhatsYourImpression-Impressionism26.htm
A little background on the history of Impressionism, along with selected viewings of representative artists' works introduces students to this hugely formative style of art. They will then have a chance to create their own impressionistic painting during an outdoor field trip.
Why is Mona Lisa Smiling?: http://library.thinkquest.org/13681/data/link2.htm
The Wonder Behind the Wizard of Oz: http://www.cis.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1995/2/95.02.02.x.html
This site is actually an in-depth lesson plan geared toward seventh- and eighth-grade drama students. Your class will discover how books get turned into movies using The Wizard of Oz as an example. They'll first read L. Frank Baum's original, unabridged novel and then watch the 1939 film. Your students will have to be perceptive by noting when and why the two diverge.
The World Art Treasures Project: http://www.bergerfoundation.ch/index.html
A collection of images organized by artist, region, and period.
A to Z Kids Stuff: Art Recipes: http://www.atozkidsstuff.com/artrecipes.html
How about some peanut butter play dough? Or soap crayons, sun baked clay, rainbow stew, or macaroni coloring--they're all here.
The Art Book (Art Assessment): http://kinderart.com/artbook/
Students will create separate projects to compose an eight-page art book. Activities include lessons on colors (neutral and warm colors), texture (texture bugs), pattern (caterpillars), paint mixing, and more. Altogether these lessons make up a terrific elementary primer on art.
Art Designs and Ideas for Kids: http://www.designmantic.com/industry/art-designs-and-ideas-for-kids.php
Art History Guide: http://arthistory.about.com/
Art-Rageous!: http://www.art-rageous.net/index.html
"...sections on art lesson plans, genealogy, gardening, and much, much more."
Art Teacher on the Net: http://www.artmuseums.com/
Art Institute of Chicago: www.artic.edu/
Artsonia: www.artsonia.com/ is a free website that encourages young artists by displaying their work online. The art is sorted by project, school and country, which also features an "Artist of the Week" section.
Bar Code Art: http://www.barcodeart.com/art/art.html
Block Posters: http://www.blockposters.com/
Block Posters allows users to upload images to create custom posters for free. Upload an image, choose your pster options and then download and print your own personalized huge poster.
Butterfly Life Cycle Mobile: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/butterfly/lifecyclemobile/
This version of the butterfly mobile reinforces life cycles; have your students create the correct order by placing them top to bottom in sequence.
Columbus Museum of Art: http://www.columbusmuseum.org/index.php
CraftBits.com: http://www.CraftBits.com
While this site wasn’t designed specifically for educators, but you will find some great craft projects you can use with your class here.
Craftfreebies: http://www.craftfreebies.com/index.html
Free Arts and Crafts Resources for Home Learning: couponfollow.com/research/free-arts-crafts-resources
Guggenheim: http://www.guggenheim.org/
The High-Rise Pages: http://www.xs4all.nl/~hnetten/index.html
If you include architecture appreciation as part of your art curriculum, be sure to take a look at this site devoted to the man-made steel and glass wonders of the world: high-rises. Your students can access information and photos of skyscrapers across the globe, including links to city skylines and monuments to current and fallen edifices.
Inside Art: http://www.eduweb.com/insideart/index.html
An Art History Story/Game
International Directory of Sculpture Parks: http://www.artnut.com/intl.html
Browse geographically through an annotated set of links to the official home pages of sculpture gardens.
Kaleidoscope Painter: http://www.permadi.com/java/spaint/spaint.html
Kaleidoscope Painter creates colorful spiraling fractal twisters based on the movement of your mouse. There are also recursive lines and moire patterns, as well as puzzle.
KinderArt: http://www.kinderart.com/
Not only is this site visually pleasing and easy to navigate, it is also chock-full of over 100 free lesson plans, activities, and other useful materials. Celebrate each season, or click on the Cool Pick to teach students about art technique. Use the Art Lessons section for resources on topics from art history to printmaking, or browse the Art Library to read the art glossary, skim articles, or enter a contest.
KinderArt: The Art Book - Portfolio Assessment for Kids: http://kinderart.com/artbook/
Students will create separate projects to compose an eight page art book with additional pages for the cover and conclusion. Activities include lessons on colors (neutral and warm colors), texture (texture bugs), pattern (caterpillars), paint mixing, and more. Altogether these lessons make up a terrific elementary primer on art.
KidsArt.com: Fruit and Vegetable Prints: http://www.kinderart.com/printmaking/fruit.shtml
This lesson uses bits of fruit, veggies, a dab of paint and sheets of paper to show students how to create prints with naturally created stamping tools.
Kidsart.com: Plant Dye Paints: http://www.kinderart.com/painting/plantdye.shtml
Let your students imagine that they no longer have those tempera watercolor paints sitting in your classroom; in fact, there are no modern art tools at all. What will they do for color? This lesson plan will show you how.
Landscape Painting: http://www.talentteacher.com/001cl.html
Follow the steps in this painting to create a beginner's watercolor landscape with a fan brush. This lesson plan gives alternative materials for pricey artist supplies, and techniques are basic enough for elementary students to handle.
Learn to Draw a Manatee: rangerrick.org/draw/learn-how-to-draw-a-manatee/
Lesson Plans: http://www.albrightknox.org/ArtStart/lMonet.html
These classroom lesson plans are for grades K-12 from teh Albright-Knox Art Gallery.
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art: http://www.brooksmuseum.org/
Miscellaneous Art Recipes: http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/recipe8.html
Some unique art recipes here--try eggshell sidewalk chalk for one, or different varieties of soap crayons
The Miraculous Draught of Fishes: http://www.nga.gov/feature/artnation/bassano/index.htm examines Jacopo Bassano's 1545 painting & compares it with other works that also depict the New
Testament story in which Jesus calls Peter to become a disciple. Bassano's painting was one in a long line of "copies," or variations on a theme, a standard practice in the Renaissance. Here we see that certain elements -- garments & figure groupings -- were copied from another work but were altered to achieve greater dramatic effect.
MoMA Multimedia: http://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/interactives/57/interactives-online-projects is a section of the Museum of Modern Art's website: http://www.moma.org/. In this section of the website, you choose a picture, look at it, and write about it. If you wish, your writing can be published on their site.
Money Orgami: http://members.cox.net/crandall11/money/
Monochromatic Painting: http://ericir.syr.edu/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Arts/Visual_Arts/ARA0009.html
Students will understand the uses of tints and shades, as well as the connections in painting between color and emotions. They must paint along a specific scene guideline to create their own monochromatic illustrations.
The Museum of Ephemeral Cultureal Artifacts: http://www.edgechaos.com/MECA/MECA.html
This site offers a gallery of wall art, robot gallary, pinball designs.
Museum of Modern Art's Art Safari: http://artsafari.moma.org/
This learning adventure introduces students to ways of looking at and thinking about art by guiding them through a set of questions and answers. Along the way, students are prompted to respond to questions such as, What is going on in this picture? At the end of the safari, students can submit their evaluations for posting on the site. They can also explore other areas to create their own art or browse paintings or sculptures.
Museum of Web Art: http://www.mowa.org
This site would be equally appropriate for your art students or your computer/technical classes. The Museum of Web Art (MOWA) highlights some of the Web's most unique designs. In four galleries, you'll find exhibits on designs that move, work, change, and remain constant. Be sure to visit the Kid's Wing, filled with interactive computer drawing activities.
The National Gallery of Art: http://www.nga.gov/education/classroom/
A collection of educational resources, including art and lessons can be found on this government Web site.
National Gallery of Art: http://www.nga.gov/home.htm
The National Gallery of Art, an amazing Washington, D.C., resource, offers this beautiful, full-service site. The site's most useful feature for educators is its variety of virtual tours. Topics range from the art of the Italian Renaissance to that of Jackson Pollack. Students can even concentrate on one artist or one painting -- Edouard Manet's "Bullfight," for instance -- to learn about historical details and understand close readings of paintings.
National Portrait Gallery: http://www.npg.si.edu/
NGA Kids Adventures with Art - Activities and Projects: http://www.nga.gov/kids/kids.htm
National Gallery of Art section especially for kids
Painting Like an Impressionist: http://ericir.syr.edu/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Arts/Visual_Arts/ARA0012.html
Here is a more detailed art lesson in Impressionism, where students must examine and then apply the same techniques and rules used by the Impressionist painters. Mood, complementary colors, lighting, and technique are all covered.
Pablo Picasso's 'The Tragedy': The Metamorphosis of a Painting: http://www.nga.gov/feature/picasso/index.htm uses x-rays & infrared light to reveal that Picasso sketched & painted at least four works on this panel before painting over them in 1903 to produce "The Tragedy." He did not, however, merely paint over the previous images; rather, he incorporated each layer into the subsequent one, believing that, "What comes out in the end is the result of the discarded finds."
Paper Toys: http://papertoys.com/
Print, cut, fold and paste your own models in black green or brown. Some of the models available are: Mississippi Queen Riverboat, Tyrannosaurus Rex, "Old Glory" Desktop Animated Flag, Frank Lloyd Wright House, Neuschwanstein Castle, Sydney Opera House, Bruce Lee Paper Doll, White House, World Trade Center Complex, "If You Ever" Card, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Angkor Wat, Bill Gates' House, Chrysler PT Cruiser, Taj Mahal, and a whole lot more. You can also email a greeting to friends using any of these models.
Photography: The Art of Light: http://library.thinkquest.org/25473/
This comprehensive site is bound to inspire young shutterbugs from ages 12 to 19. It leads students from the history of photography to the composition of photos. Helpful for kids of the digital generation, the site includes a post-processing section that describes the scanning technique. After they read about photography, students can use the simulations in the "Interact" section to take their best shots at setting apertures and photo finishing.
Picassohead: http://www.mrpicassohead.com/create.html
Drag and drop some rather odd features onto a canvas to create your own Picasso-style face.
Picasso's Faces: http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ArtSSPicassosFaces35.htm
This light-hearted approach to a study of Picasso--the artist and his works--lets students create their own divided portrait while studying the innovative and entirely different techniques employed by Picasso.
Pigments Through the Ages: http://webexhibits.org/pigments/
Plant Dye Paints: http://www.kinderart.com/painting/plantdye.shtml
Let your students imagine that they no longer have those tempera watercolor paints sitting in your classroom; in fact, there are no modern art tools at all. What will they do for color? Ask them to first name some plants that might produce a dye, and then experiment. This lesson plan will show you how.
Printed Trees: kinderart.com/art-lessons/printmaking/printed-fall-trees/
Pumpkin Swirls: kinderart.com/art-lessons/drawing/pumpkin-swirls/
The Puppetry Home Page: http://www.sagecraft.com/puppetry/
From Japanese Kabuki to Hacivad in Turkey to the Moderno Teatro de Muñecos de Costa Rica, this site describes all sorts of types of puppetry. In addition, the site includes information for students to create their own puppets in the styles of various national theaters. An excellent glossary and exposition even touch on such obscure topics as marionettes, shadow puppets, and ventriloquism.
Puzzle Factory: Coloring: http://www.thepuzzlefactory.com/coloring/coloring.cfm
A multitude of various types of puzzles to play online can be found here.
“Sawdust Clay”
Sawdust clay dries to a hard, rough finish that can be sanded and painted.
Materials:
* sawdust (If you don't have a workshop, your local lumberyard will be glad to give you some sawdust. Take a paper bag, and they'll fill it for you.)
* wallpaper paste
* water
* bowl
* wooden spoon
* pipe-cleaner pieces or toothpicks
* tempera paints, markers (optional)
Homemade Wallpaper Paste
* 8 Mix 3 tablespoons (24 g) of flour with 1 tablespoon (14 g) of sugar in a microwave-safe bowl.
* Add 1/2 cup (120 mL) of water. Stir well.
* Cook for 30 seconds. Stir again. Cook for 30 seconds more.
* The paste should be soft, smooth, and thick.
Here's How:
1. Mix the sawdust clay.
* Combine 1 scoop of sawdust and 1/2 scoop of wallpaper paste in the bowl. A thick dough will form.
* Stir as you slowly add water until the dough has a putty consistency.
2. Shape the clay into different forms. Make little creatures, puppets, bowls, and vehicles.
3. Add pipe-cleaner details.
4. Let your creatures dry until hard. Paint them with tempera paint or decorate with markers.
School Tours: http://www.nga.gov/education/school.htm features 38 paintings & sculptures selected from tours designed for students in Grades PreK-3 & 4-12. Each work is accompanied by an explanation of its significance & is presented alongside other works related to a theme -- weather, animals & nature, heroes & heroines, elements of art, the painter, the sculptor, American art, Renaissance art, mythology, & others. Information is provided about scheduling a school tour & about more than 150 teaching resources that the Gallery loans (free) to educational institutions, community groups, & individuals.
SkyscraperPage.com: http://www.skyscraperpage.com/
If the race for the world's tallest building fascinates your students, bring them to SkyscraperPage.com. They can learn about new skyscrapers that cities plan to build and monitor the construction processes. Be sure to check out the special computer diagrams of the world's tallest buildings, where you can look at all of the world's buildings together or focus on one particular city. There are breathtaking photographs of skylines, too.
Smithsonian American Art Museum: http://americanart.si.edu/
Snowflake Paining: rangerrick.org/crafts/make-a-snowflake-painting/
"No snow? No problem! With just a sponge, a cereal box, and some paint, you can create this beautiful snowflake scene."
Solar System Model: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/astronomy/solarsystemmodel/
You could easily add an asteroid belt and/or planetary moons to this solar system mobile. Students will put the planets in order, and create them according to their relative sizes. Click on any of the planets to learn more about our solar system.
Storm King Art Center: http://www.stormking.org/
"Storm King Art Center is located one hour north of New York City, in the Hudson Valley."
Styles - Portrait Triptych: http://ericir.syr.edu/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Arts/Visual_Arts/ARA0203.html
Impressionism, realism, and abstraction are all considered in this art lesson on portraits. Students will create their own works in the three styles presented, starting from a selected magazine clipping. Background information and instructions will guide students through their final designs, which are to be mounted in triptych style.
Swirly Bird Nesrts: https://kinderart.com/art-lessons/drawing/swirly-bird-nests/
Children can make a textural drawing of a bird nest with eggs using a few simple supplies.
Thaumatropes: http://www.randommotion.com/html/thauma.html
The thaumatrope is an early motion device you spin. While you spin the thaumatrope your brain retains what it sees on one side when it sees the other side - so your brain thinks it is seeing both sides.
Then & Now: http://www.nga.gov/feature/thenandnow/thenandnow.htm
"In these photo essays you'll view comparative images that demonstrate the many ways, some subtle, some obvious, in which the National Gallery's West Building--and the environment that surrounds it--have changed through the years."
You Be the Conservator: http://americanhistory.si.edu/kids/santos/
This Smithsonian Web site invites students to play the role of a museum conservator, discovering clues about an historical object in order to preserve or restore it.
Vincent Van Gogh Gallery: http://www.vangoghgallery.com/
Virtue & Beauty: http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2001/virtuebeauty/vbintro.htm features nearly a dozen portraits of women in Florence created between 1440 & 1540. These paintings, marble
sculptures, medals, & drawings reflect a time when subjects in art expanded to include not only rulers & their consorts but also women of the merchant class.
WebMuseum: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/
Take a tour of the WebMuseum, see the works of Paul Cezanne, medieval art, and take a walking tour of Paris.
Whale Mobile: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/Whalemobile.shtml
Print out templates for beluga whales, blue whales, humpback whales, and Orcas to create this ocean-themed mobile.
What's Your Impression?: http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ArtWhatsYourImpression-Impressionism26.htm
A little background on the history of Impressionism, along with selected viewings of representative artists' works introduces students to this hugely formative style of art. They will then have a chance to create their own impressionistic painting during an outdoor field trip.
Why is Mona Lisa Smiling?: http://library.thinkquest.org/13681/data/link2.htm
The Wonder Behind the Wizard of Oz: http://www.cis.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1995/2/95.02.02.x.html
This site is actually an in-depth lesson plan geared toward seventh- and eighth-grade drama students. Your class will discover how books get turned into movies using The Wizard of Oz as an example. They'll first read L. Frank Baum's original, unabridged novel and then watch the 1939 film. Your students will have to be perceptive by noting when and why the two diverge.
The World Art Treasures Project: http://www.bergerfoundation.ch/index.html
A collection of images organized by artist, region, and period.