Teaching kids to mix and blend colors empowers them to design creative works of art.
Dynamic lesson plans will help your students cultivate a lifelong love of art. Some of these projects can be messy, but they're well worth the trouble. Have kids put on their smocks and help clean up afterward. Chances are they'll remember the extra effort you put into your interactive art lesson plans for the rest of their lives.
Collaborative Wall Art
For a great start to a new school year or season, decorate your classroom together, as the Lesson Plans Page suggests. Kids will learn about working together and thinking creatively while building drawing skills. Let each child describe her idea for a theme, and then have all of the students vote on several favorites that you'll turn into bulletin board-sized wall art. Form students into small groups to work on these projects. Incorporate other students' ideas as much as possible, and start the projects the following day after you've gathered materials and planned the basic designs using students' ideas. A "scrapbook" about summer vacations makes a fun wall art project, with each child creating a scrapbook page of his own and adding it to the board.
Music and Art
Encourage creative interdisciplinary thinking by combining music and art. Give students drawing or painting supplies, and play a song for them as they paint---it could be classical, jazz, swing, indigenous or any other type of music. Tell them to paint the music. Try instrumental music first; if kids enjoy the lesson, you can let them try it with other types of music. Have them share their paintings with each other and talk about the artistic choices they made afterward. This activity works well with students of all ages.
Edible Art
Kids love art they can eat---and so do teachers and parents. Edible art also encourages creative thinking by showing kids that they can create interdisciplinary projects. KinderArt has some nice project ideas, like decorating an Easter egg cake or cupcakes or cutting cookie dough into different shapes and then painting the cookies with frosting. Use this chance to teach them about geometric shapes for a truly interdisciplinary lesson plan. Gingerbread houses make another great edible art project.
Three-Dimensional Scene
Create a collaborative three-dimensional scene that depicts a particular season. It might be a village scene, a nature scene or a combination. Kids will love creating a Halloween scene that shows a neighborhood filled with trick-or-treaters and colorful trees, for instance. Encourage them to think creatively by adding subtle details, like a ghost in a window. Have them create the scene with clay or origami.
Interactive Online Activities
Online activities, while best used sparingly, can reinforce skills learned in class and show kids that art and technology can merge. EduWeb's game "The Case of Grandpa's Painting" teaches kids about art history as they investigate a mystery, which helps develop critical thinking. Princeton Online also lists other online art activities.
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