It's here: ROUND Paper and Why It's the Best Thing EVER

Oh hey there, friends!

I hope this here blog post finds you either on summer vacation or getting dangerously close. Either way, you may find yourself asking "wait, why am I reading an art teacherin' blog?!" Because you are just so dedicated, that's why! Or delusional. Either way, welcome! 

You might know that I occasionally work with Prang Art Supplies to craft supplies for you and your students. A couple of years ago, when I was painstakingly cutting out circles for my students to use for Dot Day, with hands cramped, I reached out to my buddies at Prang and said,

"You know what would be REALLY great? If y'all made some round paper outta that good paper you have." 

And so...they did!

It's the perfect paper for Dot Day but also...ANYTHING that happens to be round! I thought I'd share not only my fave Dot Day lessons here (I'm only 6 months early as Dot Day is usually celebrated September 15th) but also a FREE download for your artists to brainstorm all the round things. 

But first, if you'd like to get your hands on this paper, you can find it here.

I created a FREE download for you and a video that will walk your students through drawing both a pizza and a donut! If you'd like that AND a free lesson plan, just click here!

For this FREE download, just click here!

Get started on your art making adventure here!

In need of some Dot Day inspo? Then check out this lesson plan! It's one I have used with students as young as kindergarten for years!

Need some more Dot Day inspo? I created a blog post of my 14 very favorite Dot Day lessons which pair perfectly with this here round paper! You can find them all here. 

And, of course, if you need a good book on SHAPE to reinforce all things dotty and round, then don't forget to check out my book Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes!

Why You NEED Modeling Clay in your Art Room!

When I first started teaching my art room had NOTHING in it but a bowling pin, a Leonardo da Vinci board game with the pieces missing, a coffee can of broken crayons and...a TON of modeling clay. I cast the clay aside not thinking I'd ever have use for it. But when my curriculum called for a "clay unit"...and I had no kiln and no budget, this stuff came in super handy. Turns out, my students and I loved it and used it to explore more than just sculpting. It became a vital tool for learning lines, shape, texture and more. Here's how:

I love using modeling clay for early finishers, lesson review, preview to sculpture and more! I created these clay sheets just for you! Please feel free to use them in your art room. 

Also, I know a lot of you need to turn in lesson plans. My friends at Prang created one for you! You can download it here!

To purchase your modeling clay, here's what I'm using. 

Here you go:

This is a great sheet to use to introduce clay to your students! You can find all of these downloads here. 

I use this sheet after introducing line or when I'm doing a line review with my students. Of course, I read my book Larry the Line and this follow-up activity ties in perfectly! You can find my book Larry the Line here. 

I'm closing in on nearly 200 five-star reviews of my book Larry the Line! I love to see Larry in your art rooms...thank you so much! Get yourself a copy here.

Once my students learn about lines, we move on to shape...so I created these sheets so students can see how to use lines to create shapes. These sheets can be found here!

Of course, my book Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes is the perfect companion to these shape sheets.

You can pick up a copy of Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes here!

Thanks, y'all! Enjoy!

Let's Celebrate Vincent van Gogh: My Fave Van Gogh Art Lessons!

Hello, friends! 

Sunday, March 30th was Vincent van Gogh's birthday! I love Vincent and the story of his life. He was one of my favorite artists to share in the art room. When I was writing my book Find Your Way, a decide-your-direction art adventure, I knew I wanted to include van Gogh. I wrote Find Your Way to read to my students while they worked...and they were always fascinated with his artwork and his life. 

In case you are not familiar with my book, YOU are the main character in the book as the events unfold in real time. It all begins, as most adventures do, in the art room. The reader decides which art adventure to take. When I read this book to my students, we voted on which adventures to go on...and they loved it! I share much more about reading this book to my students here. 

In honor of this amazing artist, I thought I'd put together some of my favorite Vincent-inspired art lessons. I also created two FREE downloads just for you and your students to go with their very favorite van Gogh lesson...a James Rizzi and van Gogh mashup!

The complete lesson with instructional video can be found here. As for the free downloads, just tap the links below the illustrations!

Find the front of the drawing sheet here.

And the back of the sheet here! 

I always keep sheets like these in sheet protectors because...these kids are messy! You can find the sheet with the silly faces and more details on the lesson here. 

Since spring is here, doing a Vincent van Gogh inspired cherry blossom painting might be fun too! I have that lesson available here. 

I'm a big ole fan of Charley Harper so this lesson brings him and Vincent together in one super cute and fun lesson. Details with video here. 

There for a while, I was really into crafting this massive masterpiece murals with my students. They are a lot of fun...but a lot of work. When they come together...it's amazing! You can find details on this second grade Starry Night here. 

Of course, mark making and brushstrokes are always important to chat about when learning about van Gogh. This second grade lesson focused on that while also talking about warm and cool colors.

Here's what the painting exploration looked like after the first day.

And here's our final touches with India ink. Full lesson here. 

These second grade Super Hero Selfies were always a favorite lesson...it's one we did EVERY year! The sky was inspired by, you guessed it! Van Gogh! Lesson details here. 

Van Gogh also inspired my creations! I created this needle felted light up Starry Night dress and a Sunflowers sweater all thanks to him.

Most recently, I even made some buttons for a sweater and earrings...both from polymer clay. Lesson how-to here.  

I'll leave ya with another illustration from my book Find Your Way! The book features 7 different artists, over 80 illustrations, 32 different endings, a biography of each artist and a project inspired by each artist too! It was a labor of love...I hope your students enjoy it as much as mine did!

Let's Create a Folk Art Flower Crayon Batik!

I Hey, y'all! Have you ever tried doing a crayon batik with your students? It's something that I've seen art teachers do and have always wanted to try but...just didn't seem to know how to make it happen. Do I use ink or acrylic paint? Do the kids rinse it off or wipe it with a sponge? Do I dilute the paint or no?

I decided to give it a go and I will say this: there was a huge learning curve! I tried several methods and came up with what worked best for me. 

But! Even if you don't go the batik route, the flower drawing portion of this lesson still yields beautiful results. Says me. 

I created both a video for your artists AND this free download! 

And here's the video:

Now, if you don't want to go this route, you could use this flower idea sheet to create this lesson that I did with my second graders. It's always a hit and the results are so stunning:

You can find all the details for that lesson right here! In fact, you can find ALL of my favorite art lessons for spring in that link...and most come with video!

I've always wanted to do a crayon batik lesson. I learned some things along the way and I shared a lot of those tips in the video. But...here are some other things I'd recommend:

* Use thick paper Because this paper is going to be crumpled and then saturated with paint and water, it could tear easily if thin paper is used. I'm using 80 lbs. mixed media paper.

* Work small I learned this the hard way! Because students will be adding color by firmly coloring with crayon, be ready for a little coloring fatigue. A way around that is to use small paper. I used 6" and 4" squares. I wouldn't recommend anything larger!

* Use India ink, not paint I noticed that with acrylic paint, it didn't really stay in the crumbled areas once rinsed where the permanent ink did.

* Crumble the paper ONCE I tried crumbling the paper multiple times to add more cracks and you can see that in the piece that is in the golden frame. However, once I rinsed the ink off the paper, all those cracks caused weak spots in the paper and it did tear in a couple of places. Which leads me to my next suggestion:

* Rinse once and that's it! I would recommend students carry their artwork to you on a tray so as not to drip. Then, simply slide the artwork under the running water, allow the ink to rinse off quickly and then set on a paper-towel covered surface like a counter. This should be a quick process to keep the paper from becoming too saturated and fragile. 

And...by the way...the "gold frame" I used for mine is actually a paper plate from Hobby Lobby! I spotted them a while back and had to get them to frame student artwork in!

Also! Are you going to NAEA next week? If so, I'd love to see you there! I'll be hanging out with my friends at Prang in their booth number 117. I'll be there on Thursday, March 20th and Friday, March 21st from 11am - 2pm. I'll have all of my books with me to sell and sign. Prang has some super fun hands-on activities planned for you that I know you'll love!

But if you can't make it, know that you can always find my books here! I always sign my books before sending them out. 

Have a great week, y'all!

Let's Make a Sandwich Collage!

Hey, friends! I'm coming at you today with a fun lesson that's the perfect thing to introduce collage, ignite the imagination and review shapes...a Sandwich Collage!

I shared a similar lesson years ago and you can find it here. And, if you want to continue on the food theme, I have a whole unit of lessons for you! It's one of my fave themes and you can find details here. 

For this lesson, all you'll need is construction paper, glue or a glue stick, scissors and maybe markers and crayons. I created this video for you to play for your students so...have fun!

For a quick link to the supplies I am using, jump over here!

I mentioned that this lesson would be a great way to reintroduce the element of art of SHAPES to your students. When I wrote my book Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes, I wanted it to go beyond the basic shape books I had on hand. So I dug into the first and second grade curriculum on shapes and made sure to include that.

As an art teacher, I focused on geometric and organic shapes. However, in the classroom, teachers talk a lot about sides and vertices. Which...I learned from my students! To support the classroom teachers and continue the education of shapes in the art room, I included the vocabulary and standards in my book.

Because Alfred the Ape Knows his Shapes introduces so much, I recommend reading it in two parts! On the first day of the collage project, try reading about how line creates shape, the difference between organic and geometric shapes and what makes a shape. The first half of the book chats about geometric shapes, what makes them unique and how to tell them apart. From there, the book discusses organic shapes. Perhaps that could be discussed on the second day, when the artists focus on the organic shapes of the food they wish to include in their collage sandwich.

By the way, if you are interested in checking out free lessons and downloads, you may want to subscribe to my email list! You can do so here.

And often I share videos on YouTube before I have a chance to chat about them here. So...be sure to subscribe! You can do so here.