Implementing Art History into the Classroom

It is important for students to learn about the history of art, including famous artists, movements, the evolution of art, and different techniques used at different time periods. In Emphasis Art: A Qualitative Art Program for Elementary and Middle Schools the authors suggest having students learn about art history through educational games (Clements, 248). Students can play matching and sorting games with famous images and artists. This would challenge the students and allow them to learn in a fun way. They could play the games with friends or on their own. I feel that this would be an effective way to teach these concepts.

Paper Plate Fish

In this kindergarten lesson, we created patterned fish from paper plates. I started with a paper plate that had a 5x5 grid drawn on it. On a scratch sheet of paper, I made a pattern using at least three different shapes, and then I transferred my pattern to the grid on the fish. I colored my pattern and the rest of the fish using markers. I cut out a triangle for the mouth, and glued the triangle on the body of the fish for a fin. Then I glued an eye on my fish and added another triangle for a tail fin. Last, I attached some fishing line to the mouth to look like I caught it.


For an extension activity, students could write about their fish. They could give the fish a name, write where they caught it, and who they went fishing with in a few short sentences, or they could dictate a story about the fish to an adult who could write it down for them.

Wrap Yourself in Memories- Paper Quilts

For our next project we created paper quilts from scrapbook paper. Each of us chose eight different pieces of paper that were linked to memories or important people, places, or events in our lives. I used a template to cut a square from four of my pieces of paper. I used a different template to cut a circle from the other four pieces of paper. Then, I glued each of my circles on a square. I had four pieces, so I cut each of them into fourths to create 16 different quilt pieces. I arranged the pieces how I wanted them on my quilt, and then glued them onto a sheet of white paper. I drew the border with markers.

After doing this project, students could be introduced to fractions. Each quilt block was made up of four parts, so the completed projects could be used to connect to the students' background knowledge. Students could be given slices of a paper pie or paper quilt blocks, which they could arrange and glue down. They could then find out how many eighths of the pie are red, how many of the sixteen quilt block are blue, etc.

Clay Pinch Pots

This was a peer-taught lesson in which we formed small bowls from clay. I started with a ball of clay. I kneaded it for a few minutes to get all of the air bubbles out, and then I formed it back into a ball. By pinching the sides out, I made it into a bowl shape. When it was in the shape I wanted, I rubbed water on it with my fingers to smooth out the surface and eliminate fingerprints. Then I painted my bowl with acrylic paint. I used black paint on the outside of my bowl and a shade of blue green on the inside. Then I painted symbols on it. I painted blue waves to symbolize water because I love the ocean and swimming. I painted green leaves around the bottom because I love trees, flowers, and other plants in nature. I put white polka dots around the inside of the bowl because I love summer nights when there is a clear sky so I can see the stars.

To extend the learning, students could learn some historical Native American symbols, such as the symbols on a winter count or the Lakota alphabet, and they could write a short message using the symbols.

Jasper Johns Name Art

Marissa and I taught this 3rd grade art lesson to the class. We taught the class about Jasper Johns and pointed out his use of color, pattern, and repetition in his artwork. Then students created their own artwork that included these 3 concepts. Students folded a white sheet of 11"X 16" paper to create a grid with 12 squares. They glued this grid onto a sheet of 12" X 18" colored construction paper. Then they glued small squares of paper onto every other square of the grid to create a checkerboard. They wrote some form of their name on the paper with oil pastels, placing one letter in each square. On the white squares, they painted over the oil pastels with watercolor. They used at least two of the following colors in their work: a secondary color, an intermediate color, and a shade. When their artwork was complete, students wrote 3-5 sentences explaining how they made a pattern.

We displayed the students' name art on a bulletin board titled, "What a Colorful Class." I love the way they turned out. Each student's personality and creativity is reflected in their work.

For an extension activity, students could take photographs of the letters of their names found in their environment. Students could go outside during the school day or bring cameras home with them to photograph letters on signs or letters found in nature. They could print them out and arrange them to spell their names in a collage. This could be used to teach about design and other areas of art.

Springtime Printmaking

This was a fun lesson in which we used everyday objects to make unique patterns. First, on a white sheet of 12" X 18" paper, I drew a bee because it reminded me of spring. Next, I used various objects--a Q-tip, fork, sponge, and piece of cardboard-- to stamp paint onto my drawing. Each of the objects had its own unique design, as you can see from the stripes of my bee. The end result was a very colorful, one-of-a-kind creation!

An extension activity for this lesson would be to learn the history of printmaking. In social studies, students could learn how the printing press worked and how it had an impact on society. This could lead to a unit on inventors. Each student could choose a famous inventor to research and dress up like. The class could hold a wax museum to share what they learned.

Melting Into Spring

 For this lesson, we created colorful spring creatures from melted crayons. I started with a large piece of wax paper, a variety of crayons without the paper on them, and a file. I used the file on the crayons to create small shavings, which I scattered on the right side of the wax paper. I used many different colors. When the right side of the wax paper was covered with shavings, I folded the left side over so my shavings were between the two layers. Then a hot iron was placed on the wax paper for a few seconds. This melted the crayon shavings. I created two different pieces of art in this way. I then traced a template of a butterfly on one and a caterpillar on the other. I cut them out, glued them on construction paper to create a border, and decorated them with permanent markers and oil pastels.

To extend the learning from this lesson, the class could learn about life cycles in science. The class could "adopt" a caterpillar, watch it grow, and follow its life cycle until it becomes a butterfly. They could journal about the changes they see and predict what will happen next. When the butterfly comes out of the cocoon, students could release it onto the playground.

Yarn Balloon Eggs



At Easter time, one group of teacher candidates taught a lesson in which we made balloon eggs out of balloons, yarn, and a glue mixture. First, I blew up my balloon to a size that was just a little larger than a softball. Then, on a foam plate, I made a glue mixture by mixing equal parts Elmer's glue and water. I had about 20 pieces of yarn that were approximately 20 inches long each. I soaked each piece of yarn in the glue mixture and then wrapped them around the circumference of the balloon in different directions. The pieces overlapped in many places. After all yarn pieces were attached to the balloon, I set it on a plastic cup and let it dry. Once it was dry, the balloon was popped and the yarn egg held its shape. My egg is in the back left in the photo below.

Because this project helped students learn about the math concept of circumference, an extension activity for this project would be to learn about volume in math. Students could blow up balloons to different sizes or use other objects and submerge them in water to find out how much volume each of them has. There may need to be a clip or a string attached to the balloon to keep it under the surface of the water.

Blooming Into Spring

In Art Methods class, we created oil pastel flowers after learning about the work of Georgia O'Keeffe. Various examples of her flower paintings were shown, and her use of line and color were emphasized.  I started with a 9" X 9" sheet of heavy white paper. Oil pastels were used to draw and color a flower that took up the whole paper. Crayons could have been used as well. It was important to use pressure on the pastels to ensure there were no white spaces so that the pastels would resist the paint. After the flower was colored in, I painted over the entire paper with watered-down black tempera paint. Immediately after applying the paint, I used a paper towel to wipe off the flower. Most of the paint came off of the oil pastel, but it stayed on the white paper. It works better to start from the center of the flower and wipe it off in the direction of the petals. I wanted some white to remain in my flower, so I used a white oil pastel.

An extension activity for this project would be to study flowers and other plants in science. Students could each plant a flower to be kept in the classroom near a window. They could water them every day and measure growth. The parts of a plant (roots, leaves, stems) could be learned, and in older grades, students could learn about plant cells and create their own clay model of a plant cell.

Hidden Safari

For our next art lesson, our class created hidden pictures of animals that may be seen on a safari. This lesson would work well for first or second graders, but it could be adapted for any age/grade. College students love it too! First, we made "magic glasses" to help us see the animals. We used a template to cut a glasses shape from red construction paper. We cut out a hole in the middle of the glasses and covered the hole with a transparent red film. Elmer's glue was used to attach the film to the construction paper.

Then, we set aside the glasses we had made and practiced drawing animals. We used upside down drawing. With this technique, we just turned a picture of an animal upside down and focused on the lines we saw to draw the animal. First and second graders would not use the upside down drawing technique. They could be creative when drawing animals.

After we had practiced for a few minutes, we began our hidden animal drawings. We each chose an animal that we may see on a safari. I chose a rhinoceros. On a white piece of drawing paper, we used light blue colored pencil to draw the animal we had chosen. Again we used the upside down drawing technique. When the animal was complete, we used warm colors to draw repeated shapes on top of the image. I used yellow, orange, and red to mask my drawing. Then we created a border for our drawings out of colored construction paper.

The rhinoceros in my artwork is very difficult to see when looking at the piece. This is why the "magic glasses" are needed. By putting on the glasses, the warm colors seem to disappear, and the blue colored pencil stands out. This allows the viewer to see the hidden animal. We also created three clues to help the viewer guess the animal hidden in the picture. For my rhinoceros, the clues included the following: 1. This animal has horns. 2. This animal is large and dangerous. and 3. This animal is gray.

As an extension activity for this lesson, students could create a collage of either warm colors or cool colors. They could be provided with magazines, scissors, and glue to cut out pictures/color swatches of warm or cool colors (their choice) and paste them together on a single piece of paper to create a collage. They could then label the colors and display the collages in the room.