Need a follow up turkey coloring sheet for a Thanksgiving lesson? Or maybe just looking for a good adult coloring page for yourself? Here’s a turkey that I think offers more creative fun than your average bird. The graphic lines of the tail and feathers have LOTS of possibilities. • View and Download Turkey Coloring page MATERIALS • Print of … Read More
Sometimes I find easy art projects for kids that aren’t easy to replicate for lots of students. That’s when technology steps in. This fox painting looks like students recycled newspaper for the background of a painting, but actually one sheet was scanned and printed for all of them. No need to make your own, just download my file in the … Read More
DIY fall festival banners don’t get much cheaper than this. Just rolls of paper, thick black marker, and lots of crayons. Oh, and lots and lots of kids to color. MATERIALS • Large roll of paper, about 30″ wide • Black Sharpie marker, chisel tip • Crayons DIRECTIONS Prep: Cut long strips of paper from a roll, about 6′ long. … Read More
If you’d like a peek at one of my classroom boards, here is a look at my step by step pumpkin painting instructions. I wanted students to see how easily they could make a dimensional looking pumpkin. Drawing a circle and painting it orange would not produce nearly the same results, so it was important to follow these steps. After … Read More
Mosaic art for kids can happen with simple beans, thanks to all the varieties available. The earliest examples of mosaics have been found at a temple in Mesopotamia, which means this is one of the oldest art forms around. SUPPLIES • Cardboard, 2″ x 2″ or similar rectangle • Dried beans, four or five different types • Craft glue • … Read More
Looking for some simple turkey drawing inspiration? Here are some variations I’ve tried over the years. Marker, watercolor, tempera and poster markers – they all start with this PDF tutorial that you can download below. If you choose to paint, large paper (like 18″ x 24″) is fun for younger students as it gives them room to draw all those … Read More
Here’s a lesson about the Mayflower for kids to trace and paint. It’s a map of the Mayflower’s journey, and will look old and wrinkled when complete. • View and download PDF Mayflower Map for Tracing MATERIALS • Printed copy of tracing map for each student • Tracing paper or Sandwich Paper from restaurant supply store, like Smart & Final … Read More
Here’s how to color a turkey, and end up with a very cool looking work of art. Sgraffito is the art of scratching color away to reveal something underneath. The idea is to draw a turkey, trace it with a black marker to make the lines stand out, color it well, cover all with a black pastel, and then scratch … Read More
Add a grid to your leaf art projects and students can’t help but fill the entire paper. Draw a different type in each and you have a very pretty painting. MATERIALS • Watercolor paper or multimedia paper • Black Sharpie marker • Liquid watercolor paint DIRECTIONS 1. I used my printer to make lines that divided the paper into 6 … Read More
These lovely watercolor turkeys show how Thanksgiving art projects don’t have to be brown and boring. Volunteer art docent Tricia from Brentwood, CA had her 4th grade students first draw them on 12×18 white paper with Sharpies. They added oil pastel accents and finished with water color from edge to edge. Love the color! Here is my tutorial she followed: PREP • … Read More
Here are some easy DIY owl decorations that use some of my favorite craft supplies. Love the earthy look of these woodsy little owls. The good news is that these craft sticks and little wooden shapes come in all sizes these days, so you can make a family of owls all day long. I just recommend that you stick to … Read More
Show your students how to draw the Mayflower and they just might make some beautifully detailed ships. The sails may look a little complex at first glance, but with a little planning they all make sense. Just make sure to draw then with curved sides so it looks like the wind is filling them up. If you like this drawing … Read More
To follow my pumpkin lesson for very young elementary students, here’s how to draw a pumpkin with older ones. I’ve added overlapping and shadows. Pumpkins just have it all when it comes to art projects. The built in ridges help show off their dimension so they don’t look like flat circles, and the bright orange color is so festive to … Read More
Thanks so much to Baechtel Grove Middle School in Willits, CA for sharing their work-in-progress Harvest banners. They look amazing! I recently made this new Harvest Banner template for my PDF shop after seeing how popular my hand drawn post was. I know that not everyone can sketch out giant ears of Indian corn, or even has time to, so … Read More
Now you can make your own Indian corn harvest banners for home, school or festivals with my latest PDF mural template. Buy it once and create as many giant ears of Indian corn that you could every possibly need. My sample has pretty realistic colors, but you could go abstract too with bright random colors. The simple corn shape will … Read More
I’ve tried more air dry clay projects than I can even remember, and this owl that has definitely had the best rate of success with all age students. No tiny parts that can fall off, and the folding ends up making it even stronger. Add a hole or a hook on back for an easy display. MATERIALS Air dry … Read More
Pumpkin drawings are fun, but watercolor pumpkins are the best for practicing lots of painting techniques. The line work alone is perfect for teaching kids how to give their circles dimension, let alone all the shading possibilities. MATERIALS Watercolor paper Bowl, about 6″ diameter for tracing Sharpie marker, black Liquid watercolor paint DIRECTIONS The bowl is traced in pencil in … Read More
This fall leaf art project makes the most of two medias — tempera paint and oil pastels. They each add a little zing to the other. This project was about using three pigments to make varying shades of warm colors. Students could combine yellow, red, and white in any proportions they wanted. The results were all widely very different, but … Read More
In the spirit of giving for the holiday season, I’d like to offer this free Thanksgiving Mural to help decorate your home or classroom. The five-page file that you can download below has the four pages needed to color and tape together as shown, and single coloring sheet as well. When complete, it will make a charming 16″ x 16″ … Read More
A cute turkey drawing can be made just by adding a funny hat. This guy is pretty simple, and at the very least, you will get something far more interesting than just tracing your hand. • View and download PDF Turkey tutorial MATERIALS • Color print of Turkey tutorial • Black Sharpie • Crayons • Liquid watercolor paint DIRECTIONS 1. … Read More