Art Sub Lesson/One-Day Quickie Project

As the last week of school is coming to a close, I have a few classes who are ahead of others due to snow days, convocations, field trips, etc. To get everyone on the same page, the classes that are ahead are doing quick one-day projects. This is a lesson plan initially intended as a sub lesson, that is best with 4th grade but works with other grades as well. It's pretty basic, and engages the students for most of the class period, and most of them really enjoy doing it, which is why it's a good sub lesson. It's also one of those projects that if a student does finish early, you can say, "make another one with different colors and/or shapes", and if a student doesn't get it done in time, you can say, "I'm sure you have markers in your classroom or at home that you can use to finish it later."

The only necessary materials for this lesson are markers and paper. Crayons work to, but the students rarely do as nice of a job in crayon. The idea is simple: draw the outline of a small shape 5 or 6 or 7 times randomly around your paper. Then, outline the shapes with another color. The students can use as many colors as they want, and they can do a pattern or make it random. Keep outlining the shapes until they get so big that the outlines touch each other. Then, next time you draw a line, make it go around all of the ones that are touching. Don't stop until all of your lines go to the edge of the page!

I always do a star for my example, and I have taught my students a trick to draw a perfect star. First, you use your pencil to draw a normal criss-cross star (the kind that has a pentagon in the middle). Then you trace over just the very outside edges with a marker, and erase the pencil marks.

Here are a few examples of students working:

Kindergarten Cactus Pictures

My kindergartners have been studying texture, and what has a more unique and interesting texture than a cactus! We talked about how they feel (spiky, sharp, prickly) and how we could draw spikes. The students did a great job making their cacti look prickly! We also discussed the grainy texture of sand, and how we could use little dots to make the sand in our art look the way real sand feels. For the sky, the students colored lightly with watercolor pencils, and then painted water on top to make it look like a sunset. 

4th Grade Lidded Ceramic Boxes

My 4th grade students recently made slab boxes for their ceramic project. I got the idea from a lesson I saw on Being Cr8iv, one of my favorite blogs for inspiration for clay projects.

This project took 3 40-minute class periods to build the box, and 2 class periods to glaze the box. On the first day, I had the students cut a shape they liked out of paper. If they wanted a symmetrical shape, I showed them how to fold their paper in half and cut only half to make it perfect. If they wanted a circle, I had them trace a round object.

After every student had a shape they liked, we rolled out clay slabs, and each students traced their paper shape with a needle tool, then moved it to a different part of their slab, and traced it again to make two identical shapes. We wrapped the two clay shapes in a plastic bag to keep them moist until the next class period, and we put a sheet of newspaper between the two shapes to keep them from sticking to each other.

The following week, the students rolled out new slabs, and traced both sides of a ruler to make a long, skinny slabs for the sides of their boxes. I showed them how to slip and score the bottom edge of their long slab, and the top edge of their bottom shape to attach the sides. 

The last class before glazing was used to smooth out bumpy edges with a moist sponge, attach handles, and carve designs.

After I bisque-fired the finished boxes, we glazed them. Leaving the underside of the lid and the top edge of the sides unglazed allows the lid to stay on well because of the rough texture.

Below are a few examples of student work. I am really proud of how creative many of them were!