Primary students are a creative group of children who often let their imagination take them to new and inventive places. One of the best outlets for these young, innovative minds is art projects. Students can let their ideas shine when teachers support them by planning and implementing fun art projects in their lessons.
1. Cool and Warm Color Trees
Incorporate these warm and cool color trees with your 1st-5th Grade students in your lesson about color theory. Students will make these trees come to life as they learn to tell the difference, sort, and identify cool from warm colors.
Learn more: messylittlemonster.com
2. Creative Coloring
Your young learners will enjoy using multiple crayons to achieve this special coloring effect. They can experiment with different types of lines with crayons. A teacher's tip is to tape the crayons together for easy handling for tiny hands. This effect is made with lots of lines.
Learn more: crayola.com
3. Abstract Art
Using just a few common items, your student can learn about abstract art by designing an abstract background inspired by Piet Mondrian. A discussion about different types of shapes would be beneficial prior to beginning this craft.
Learn more: easypeasyandfun.com
4. Watercolor Fish
A fun art lesson for students of many ages is to create an underwater scene. Using watercolors, children will paint a blue water background. They can also cut out and decorate their own fish to glue on their piece of art. A fish template can help struggling students. This is a fun painting lesson for students of all ages. They can also try drawing the fish with oil pastels.
Learn more: projectswithkids.com
5. Line Pictures
The possibilities are endless with these construction paper strips. Students can build and design different scenes using wavy, straight, and curved lines. The preparation on the teacher's side is minimal for the amount of time this activity would take to complete.
Learn more: firstpalette.com
6. Jelly Fish Paper Plate Craft
Using just paper plates, yarn, and tissue paper, children can make these adorable jellyfish works of art. They can also add googley eyes to them or make their own! They can make different colored tissue paper or make a pattern with yarn.
Learn more: nontoygifts.com
7. Sun and Moon
This Sun and Moon duality craft is the perfect way to showcase students' knowledge of cool and warm colors. Having the two different types of colors allows them to contrast against each other, which makes this assignment pop!
Learn more: easypeasyandfun.com
8. Alphabet Beading
Lacing alphabet beads onto yarn or string can strengthen the children's fine motor skills. You can let them spell their own names, the word of the day, or any other words they are working on. You can buy inexpensive beads to make this project happen on more than one occasion.
Learn more: funlearningforkids.com
9. Paper Caterpillar Craft
Your children can use this cute lesson idea to work on their fine motor skills of rolling paper into short tubes. The students can get creative with their animal habitat or home. They can use different colors of paper to make multiple caterpillars!
Learn more: iheartcraftythings.com
10. Color Wheel Umbrella
Enjoy your rainy day by having the students make color wheel umbrellas. This activity would be a great assessment to gather data about if students can recognize basic colors. They can get creative with their backgrounds as well!
Learn more: leahnewtonart.com
11. Crazy Circles
Students can go crazy for circles. They will draw circles with crayons repeatedly using a zigzag motion. Having them use contrasting colors or creating a theme can bring this project to the next level. Students will enjoy this color circle art.
Learn more: creatingreallyawesomefunthings.com
12. Nature Collage
Mix leaves with crayons in this fun project for your young second-grade learners. This collage is a great way to learn about the drying out process as students dry their leaves prior to putting this collage together.
Learn more: thego-tolist.com
13. Sunflower Craft
This craft utilizes bright colors in the best way. The perfect way to celebrate autumn is by getting the children to create these sunny sunflowers with oil pastels and construction paper. This is the perfect lesson for spring!
Learn more: projectswithkids.com
14. Emotion Painting
This craft is an excellent addition and support to any lesson about emotional regulation or self-regulation strategies. Students will use different paint colors to depict different feelings based on how they associate them. This could also be extended to be a portrait drawing lesson.
Learn more: mosswoodconnections.com
15. Lady Bug Addition
Mixing math and art have never been so fun! Students will enjoy learning simple second-grade math with these bug addition sentences. You can tailor the equations to be as simple or as complex as you like depending on your learner.
Learn more: mrsriccasskindergarten.blogspot.com
16. Tissue Paper Earth
Celebrate Earth Day or add to your Environmentalism unit by getting the students to work on this project using blue tissue paper and green construction. The teacher or educational assistant can pre-cut the tissue paper or you can have the students work on their scissor skills.
Learn more: darcyandbrian.com
17. Pumpkin Pie Craft
Your 1st graders or 2nd graders can celebrate Thanksgiving by making this pumpkin pie slice craft. Students can take this activity further by using different color paper for different pie flavors. You can challenge them to make their own flavors!
Learn more: anightowlblog.com
18. Moving Bear Cub
Kick-off winter or the first snowfall of the season by making this moveable polar bear cub craft with your students. Using the template on white cardstock, your students can cut out the individual pieces of the bear and assemble them to create this cuddly craft.
Learn more: kidscraftroom.com
19. PopArt
Andy Warhol is the awesome lesson inspiration for this craft. Students can use an image from popular culture or they can choose their own image to create a repeating sequence with. Don't forget to remind them about the bright colors!
Learn more: thecraftyclassroom.com
20. Paper Bunny
This adorable craft can be easily achieved by using a bunny template. Students can celebrate Easter or the start of the spring season by crafting with these bunnies. They can even glue on a picture of themselves for added fun. These springtime bunnies would look fantastic on a greeting card!
Learn more: messylittlemonster.com
21. Tissue Paper Snail
This colorful little creature will bring the students' imaginations to life. They will enjoy watching the snail's shell come together with one piece of tissue paper at a time. They could create patterns or do a random sequence of colors. This activity is a beautiful display of color.
Learn more: firefliesandmudpies.com
22. Pumpkin Person
Whether it's a unit about gourds or Halloween, this pumpkin person will fit right in. The students will enjoy creating the accordion-style arms and legs for this activity and they will get very creative with drawing the face of their character. Your 2nd-grade art students will have a blast! Hang up multiple creations to create a class pumpkin farm or multiple pumpkin patches.
Learn more: craftcornerdiy.com
23. Finger Painting with Monet
Claude Monet is the inspiration behind this simple finger painting work of art. Your young learner will finger paint with a variety of colors to create the watercolor look that Monet is famous for. The best part is - the project looks complex when it is completed! They could even try using this technique to create a landscape painting, which would teach them where to position the middle ground.
Learn more: thecraftyclassroom.com
24. Black Line Art
The bold, black lines that are featured in this project make the colors pop and stand out. Students will learn about different geometric shapes and can have fun filling in each section in their unique way. This is a fun lesson that can be incorporated into your next math unit.
Learn more: artcraftykids.com
25. Mosaic Fish
This low-prep and inexpensive activity let students create a simple underwater scene. The squares can be pre-cut to save time or if you have students who struggle with using scissors. This project is a great example of fish mosaics/art.
Learn more: doingthemumthing.com
26. Textured Fall Leaves
This activity is a fantastic 2nd-grade art project because it can be extended over two periods or over multiple days. Taking the kids on a nature walk prior to this activity is a great way to gather materials and get them to plan their projects with intent. These will create a leaf or colorful flower background.
Learn more: deepspacesparkle.com
27. Color Mixing Sheets
These worksheets allow for a visual representation of the relationship of the colors in the rainbow. Students can experiment with adding primary colors together to make secondary colors. This activity supports children to learn about color mixing in a hands-on way.
Learn more: artprep.weebly.com
Conclusion
Whether you are an Art Teacher looking for ideas to fill your rotational block or a classroom teacher who needs some ideas, this list has a variety of creative choices for your class. Art can be a fun and engaging way to enhance a lesson in a different subject or be just as exciting on its own.
Students can learn about many artists from history and many concepts of art through doing these activities. You can also customize these projects to suit the materials you have on hand and your students' skill levels. Your students will learn a lot and have so much fun doing it!
46 Creative 1st Grade Art Projects That Will Keep Kids Engaged