Many children enjoy being creative and exploring different art supplies and materials. Many teachers find that mixing art with other subjects is the perfect way to have their students learn from more than one avenue and resource. Sound appealing? Follow along as we unpack a wealth of activities that’ll allow you to do just that!
1. Texture Kittens
These kittens are made that much cuter and more adorable when you add different textures to them. The possibilities are endless with a piece of paper and a creative mind when it comes to this type of artwork.
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2. Natural College
This is a fun art project that can be used in a few different ways. You can integrate a nature walk or hike prior to it. It is made even more adorable when you cut a photo of your students and paste it in the middle! What a nice keepsake!
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3. Cartoon Drawing
Cartoon drawings are simple projects for kids that they can take part in and not feel too intimidated. They can also pick and choose their favorite character to draw in order to become even more invested in this art class task. They can take their pick!
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4. Pointillism
This is an easy method to create a piece of art that looks complicated and intricate. Many famous artists are known for their pointillism work. This type of design can be achieved by using an easer that is on the back of the pencil.
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5. Dale Chihuly Inspired Work
The possibilities are endless for how to include famous artists from around the world in your next art class. Having the students create art in a similar style to their work is an easier way than only lecturing about art history to your young learners.
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6. Foil Painting
This task is lots of fun! It’s a fun idea to work with foil and paint on foil instead of traditional paper. Your children or students will most likely enjoy this switch. They can use their creativity and different types of art supplies to create unique pieces.
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7. Trash Collage
This collage has a really cool effect at the end. It’s a fun challenge for the students to incorporate trash into their artwork. They will be surprised that this is their task as chances are they have never been asked to do this before.
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8. Hot Air Balloon
This is an activity for kids that utilizes oil pastels. It is the perfect art activity for a lot of different lessons, such as lessons about warm and cool colors, patterning, and more! Each balloon will be custom, personalized, and look completely different from the next.
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9. Bubble Wands
Craft activities like this are excellent because they require such few materials and they can be used many times. A spring art activity like this is perfect and you can pick pastel spring colors of pipe cleaners too.
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10. Paper Pinwheels
This task can be completed whether you are one of the art educators or you are a mainstream classroom teacher. Daily art activities like this are simple enough that even students who are not comfortable making art will still complete them.
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11. Coffee Filter Sun Catcher
These sun catchers are absolutely beautiful! All they take to make are some coffee filters, black construction paper, and a few other inexpensive items. Art activity ideas like this are fun to make and cheap to justify. Take a look down below!
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12. Paper Plate Spring Garden
These adorable and cute pop-up flowers are the perfect craft for springtime. Creative art activities like this one will allow your students to be creative and design their favorite types of flowers. Brown construction paper can even be useful here.
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13. Robot Puppets
Sometimes the happiest art activities are the ones that the students enjoy the most. If you have a student who loves robots, then they will definitely like building and designing their very own robot puppet. Brown paper bags are the basis of this assignment.
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14. Draw Your Breath
A lot of schools are incorporating meditation and mindfulness into the classroom more and more. You can do this activity on white paper or even yellow construction paper. It’s an amazing art lesson for students as they focus on their breathing.
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15. Pool Noodle Boats
What a fun way to ring on a summer day with students. Using old or inexpensive pool noodles is the first step in this activity. The kids will have an absolute blast designing and decorating the flag of their boats.
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16. Dish Brush Dandelions
This is a neat take on a stamping activity. Using simply a dish brush, black construction paper, and some paint, you can create dandelions, fireworks, or anything their hearts desire! It is an interesting technique that they probably have not done before.
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17. Ivory Soap Carvings
This task might present some challenges for students as they learn to whittle soap. Using child-safe materials like toothpicks or very dull skewers might be the best way to tackle this craft. You can use any brand of soap bar you’d like.
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18. Hedgehog Painted Rocks
Rock painting is usually a hit with students. This task is a complement to lessons that involve nature because students can take some time to go out and collect rocks that they will want to paint when they go back inside. You can decorate the entire classroom!
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19. Nail Polish Marbling
The effect that this creates is quite amazing! Nail polish and marbles are all that is needed to reach this stunning effect. The swirls that the students create will each be unique and custom depending on how they move the marbles around and the colors they choose.
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20. DIY Dreamcatchers
Making DIY dreamcatchers can spark creativity in kids. Using yarn, beads, and a few other items, your students can get this look as well. Hanging them up can make their rooms look so much brighter after they’ve finished their craft.
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21. Marbled Fall Leaves
Take the marbling effect one step further by cutting out the craft to be certain shapes after its dried. In this case, these fall leaves have a burnt auburn or orange look to them after the marbling has dried. Your students will love to make these!
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22. Chalk Pastel Leaves
This idea is another leaf-inspired craft. It uses oil pastels to create this smudged look. This activity might be best to incorporate around fall or Halloween season when the leaves start to change different colors and fall off of the trees. Check it out here!
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23. Words to Live By College
You might learn something new about your students from the words and quotes they choose to include in their assignments here. They can use magazines to cut out images and words they want to save and paste onto their assignment.
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24. Literary-Based Crafts
Another strategy to engage students in art is to bring in their favorite literary texts. Having the students create and make their favorite storybook characters out of different art materials and supplies will make them excited to come to art class!
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25. Blindfold Painting
This activity is sure to lead to some hilarious results that will definitely get some laughs. If you have limited supplies, changing up assignments you already give will freshen up the work and tasks you assign the students to do. This task uses basic supplies plus you’ll need a blindfold.
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26. Edible Finger Paint
You definitely need to make sure that the kids know that only this finger paint is edible! This finger paint can be used by the students to make beautiful creations. There are so many artistic elements to a task or assignment like this!
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27. Places I Have Gone
This is a fantastic end-of-the-year keepsake. This assignment can involve different art elements and principles of design as well. You can print out and copy enough footprint outlines for your students or you can have them draw them themselves.
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28. Step By Step Drawings
Step-by-step drawing videos like this one are important for students to participate in because they take the stigma out of art. Some students assume they are not good at art and don’t want to try. Step-by-step videos make art seem less intimidating.
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29. A Fortune Teller
Once your students get the hang of how to make these, they will be obsessed. They can write in the open spaces or draw pictures that will tell whoever dares to use it their fortune. All you need is some paper and a couple of spare minutes.
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30. Squirt Painting
This is an awesome idea! Doing this activity outside is the best idea. You can purchase dollar store spray bottles and fill them with paint colors. The canvases will have drips and drops of lots of fun colors. It creates a very effective when it is finished.
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31. Salt Painting
If you have some spare salt around your house or classroom, this is an excellent way to use it. Adding an additional element to painting will surprise the students because chances are they have never used salt in art class before! It creates a raised effect.
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32. DIY Lava Lamp
Create an entrancing sensory experience. They will be transfixed every time they look at their cool DIY lava lamp creation. A lot of kids like lava lamps but very few of them realize that they can make their own at home or at school!
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33. Rainbow Spin Mixing
The trick to this craft is to use an old salad spinner. Using decent amounts of paint in the middle and then spinning the spinner is all that is needed to create this interesting-looking design. You can use beautiful watercolors or use an old box of paint.
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34. Rainbow Puzzle Art
This craft is another one of those types that looks complicated and intricate when it is completed but is simple to put together. Tissue paper and a little bit of water transform this craft by giving it a bleeding effect. It is important that you use very little water.
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35. Glue and Salt Rainbow
Many kids are fascinated with rainbows and love learning about the correct order of colors in a rainbow. This particular rainbow craft uses black glue and salt to achieve a raised effect. Students will then paint inside the lines with rainbow colors!
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36. Van Gough Inspired Sun Flowers
This 3D project will brighten up anyone’s day. It is a Van Gough-inspired piece that is a bright project for your students to make. Spring might be a great time to have them make these flower pieces. It is also an introduction to who Van Gough was.
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37. Stringing Beads
There is every kind of bead you can imagine available for purchase at craft stores and online. Their fine motor skills will be strengthened as well as carefully threading the string through the beads. They will be mini jewelry designers.
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38. Origami
An Asian-inspired art project that your students can participate in. Creating different animals, and even people, using this origami technique will increase your students’ confidence when it comes to creating their own artwork.
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39. Under The Sea Shapes Craft
If your students are still learning to identify and name basic shapes, this under-the-sea shapes craft would be an excellent start. You can ask them to find you specific shapes or ask them to show you an example of one you are looking for.
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40. Rainbow Mosaic
A craft like this is a mix of a mosaic and a collage. Finding pieces of other works that match these colors and then pasting them directly on top of that color in the rainbow creates a mixed media masterpiece.
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41. Playdough Dinosaur Fossils
If your students are absolutely fascinated with dinosaurs, then this craft is perfect for them. You can create these molds by pressing the figurines down into the clay and then letting the clay harden. You can create your own fossils!
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42. Paper Bag Mermaids
These paper bag mermaids are so simple to put together. If you are having an underwater or under-the-sea-themed day, then putting out materials to make this craft would be fitting. What color will your mermaid’s tail have?
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43. Body Tracing
Have students work in teams or pairs to trace their bodies on large pieces of paper. They can then fill in the body by decorating it with what they are wearing that day or recreate their favorite outfit.
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44. Nature Mandala
Natural and organic tasks like this one are always a hit. Your students can learn about symmetry as they work on constructing their mandalas. They can use found sticks, leaves, flowers, and more!
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45. Hand Print Peacock
This peacock is definitely bright and colorful. You can trace the students’ hands or they can trace their own and then cut them out to create the effect of the peacock feathers.
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46. Silhouette Art
Let your kiddos explore light and shade to create some eye-catching silhouette art. Set up a light to cast shadows of objects, cutouts, or even your kiddies themselves onto paper. Next, have them trace the shadows to capture the silhouettes, which can then be decorated or painted. This project is a brilliant way to introduce concepts of light, shadow, and perspective to your class in a fun and artistic way.
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47. Magazine Mosaics
Why not repurpose old magazines by creating stunning mosaics? Gather some old magazines and let your kids cut out colorful sections of the pages to arrange on a larger sheet. You could ask them to recreate an image or simply get them to come up with an abstract design. This activity is an exciting and creative way to enhance their color recognition and collage-making skills while promoting recycling.
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48. Fruit and Vegetable Prints
Show your learners fruit and veg in a new light by trying out this exciting idea! Cut various fruits and vegetables in half before letting your kiddos dip them in paint and stamp them onto paper. While they work you can encourage them to look at how the natural patterns from the food create unique prints! Who knew that fruit and veg could be this fun?
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49. Tie-Dye T-Shirt
Use your next art lesson to introduce your kids to the mesmerizing world of tie-dye and fabric design! Get them to use rubber bands to scrunch up their t-shirts and hold them in place before adding a mix of vibrant dye colors to create a cool effect! Their plain white t-shirts will be transformed into swirling patterns of color before their eyes!
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50. Homemade Bead Jewelry
Here’s an idea that invites your kiddos to create personalized bead jewelry. Not only will this craft allow them to enhance their fine motor skills but it’ll also give them a chance to explore their sense of style. Encourage them to use their imagination as they create designs for necklaces, bracelets, or even keychains that really showcase their creativity.
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51. Paper Mâché Planets
Build a whole solar system in your very own classroom with this simple paper mache craft. Show your students how to craft mini 3D planets by using a mixture of glue and water to stick strips of old newspaper to a balloon. This project combines art and science lessons and the resulting crafts are quite literally out of this world!
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52. Nature Rubbings
This one’s for the naturalists! Take your learners out to forage for some natural materials with lots of texture like leaves or pieces of tree bark. Then, show them how to take rubbings of these amazing textures by placing a sheet of paper over the object and rubbing a crayon over the top. They’ll be amazed at the patterns that emerge!
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53. Pasta Art Sculptures
Let your kiddos play with their food in the name of art with this next idea! By getting them to paint and assemble different shapes and types of pasta, you can challenge them to create abstract sculptures, jewelry, or even recreate famous artworks in a fun and tactile way
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54. Mask Making
Immerse your students in the art of mask-making! Provide them with lots of different materials like paper plates, feathers, beads, and any other extravagant decorative elements that you’d like to incorporate. Encourage them to take inspiration from different cultures from all around the world, or have them design a mask that represents them! Let them go all out with their mask and see how creative they can be!
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55. Yarn Painting
Trade the paint brushes for yarn with this totally unique art idea! Have your kiddos dip lengths of yarn into different colors of paint, and then drop them onto their page. Next, show them how to add a whole new element to their vibrant masterpieces, as they pull the yarn across the page to create interesting shapes and patterns. Who knew yarn was this versatile?
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56. Floating Chalk Prints
This next idea gets your students to use chalk and water to create cool and colorful prints. In a tray of water, let them sprinkle some different colored chalk dust so that it floats on the water and the colors can mix together to create unique patterns. Next, show them how to transfer their chalk designs onto paper by gently placing a paper sheet on top of the water. Their prints will capture the beautiful, marbled effect of the swirling chalk dust- resulting in some pretty mesmerizing prints!
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57. Puppet Theater
Put on a show with our next art idea! Have your kiddos craft their own puppets using socks, paper bags, or sticks, and get them to put on a show with the finished products. As well as developing their artistic creativity, this idea also helps your little ones to develop their storytelling abilities, understand character development, and lets them play with their imaginations.
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58. Nature Weaving
Create some au natural artwork with this amazing nature weaving project. Show your kiddies how to weave different natural materials like leaves, feathers, and flowers using a loom made from twigs! Each of your kids will create a textured tapestry that brings the beauty of the outdoors into your classroom in a cool and unique way!
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59. Footprint Stories
Dip your feet into the world of footprint stories! Set out some different colored paints and let your pupils take turns dipping their feed in and making their mark on a large sheet of paper. Once dry, show them how to transform these footprints into characters and elements of a story. What a fantastic way to let their imagination run wild!
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