Art is all about the process of exploration. The final results are less important than what a child imagines, experiences, and learns along the way. Packed with a year's worth of art projects kids can create out of everyday objects and recycled materials. From buttons to Bubble Wrap and rocks to socks, the author shows how to plan exciting art…

Student experimentation with contemporary art concepts. (CK)

This article presents sixty ideas for celebrating the arts. These ideas include concepts about sparking creativity among children. A list of benefits of arts education is also included.

Presents innovative arts and crafts ideas including weaving a sculpture, painting living plants, making clay hearts, and heart art for Valentine's Day. (JMB)

Describes the life of artist Vincent Van Gogh, focusing on his painting of his bedroom and noting how that painting can be used to introduce elementary students to perspective drawing and visual storytelling. The article explains how to understand the painting, highlighting Van Gogh's use of bright lighting, pairs and balance, straight lines,…

This mini-curriculum introduces the basic art concepts of line, shape and form, texture, color and light, space, and design and composition. (SB)

Should you have an artist in residence in your school? Yes! Here's how you go about it, what a visiting artist does, and why he is so valuable to you and your kids. (Editor)

With the Internet revolution in education, students are learning to think as designers and artists. The language of art must become the fourth "R," and students must become literate in this environment. The paper discusses art and the digital age and what teachers can do (rename art, hire more art teachers, and increase fourth-R literacy…

One fourth grade class studied Van Gogh by investigating his art and life on the computer, painting still lifes, then learning to draw in perspective, creating colorful images of their own bedrooms using Van Gogh's bedroom as a model. Students extended their learning by examining relevant literature and completing timelines, biographical reports,…

A teacher has to keep going to school just to keep his or her job, so it pays to know the most interesting and convenient programs available. This article presents 11 professional development options that "work" for teachers' real-life schedules: (1) Best for Children's Literature: Penn State University; (2) Best for Science & Technology: PBS…

Describes an art lab developed as an alternative form of education for inner-city children. (GB)

For three years Hollow Tree School, in Darien, Connecticut, has had a related arts program. The aim of the program was to acquaint children in grades four through six with a variety of crafts and skills. It also provided a two-way mind-stretching experience in which classroom knowledge could be used at home. (Author/RK)

Lists several art activities from which students should be able to recognize and use math concepts, recognize shapes, identify shapes, and practice perceptual skills. (Author/GB)

How a teacher achieves a balance between structure and freedom in his art lessons requires a critical awareness of the methods he chooses. Discusses the problems in teaching art lessons, the basic characteristics of creative art lessons, and provides a checklist for analyzing the effectiveness of an art lesson. (Author/RK)