Artwork by Zoe at Jeremy Ranch Elementary
Creating art lesson plans for your students is a work of art in and of itself. As the teacher, you want your students to be engaged, learn something and feel confident in their final art project! Creating art they love will fuel their love of creating art. Here are a few tips for art teachers on creating memorable art lesson plans.
Choose An Artist to Highlight in Your Art Lesson Plans
There are endless artists to choose from. Within each artist there could be hundreds of lessons to choose from as well. From the impressionistic styles of Monet to the abstract style of Kandisky, kids will love learning about the infinite places they can take their art (and all the places art can take them!). After you choose your artist and piece of art, choose 5 to 10 facts about that artist to focus on. The more information students learn about the artist, the more they will enjoy trying out some of their styles.
Include Art Elements and Techniques
When you include techniques and elements of art in an art lesson plan it can help deepen the lesson as well as increase your student’s skill set. We love this Elements of Art project. On one page, it touches on the elements line, shape, color, form, space, texture, and value. Every student’s piece is very unique to their own interests and the end product is a great way to showcase their skills.
Family and Self Portraits
This project is great for students to practice multiple techniques as well as a way to compare their growth and skills year after year. From shading to blending to color mixing, portraits have it all! There are many different ways to draw a portrait, whether it’s abstract or realism, they are a great project for students to create to look back on for years to come. Students are interested in skills needed to master drawing the face. This article from The Art of Education, 10 Portrait Projects to Build Skills and Creativity, has lesson plans for students in Kindergarten up to 12th grade. There is something for everyone!
Organizing Your Art Lessons Plans
Once you choose the lesson plans you want to introduce to your class the next step is to organize! The Deep Sparkle has some great advice on what to do with lesson plans to keep them neat, organized and easily accessible. Whether you want to store your lesson plans as hard copies or on the computer, there’s some great information on how to do it.
I hope this blog helps you create some memorable lesson plans for your students. You can also go to SilverGraphics Art Lesson Plans page to see over 20 of our favorites!