Packing materials such as polystyrene take thousands of years to decompose, whereas packing peanuts made from cornstarch, which some companies are now using, can serve the same purpose, but dissolve in water. The author illustrates this point to her class one rainy day using the sculptures students made from polystyrene and with the cornstarch…

Marbling paper is a favorite in many elementary classrooms. The marbling project described in this article, using a sunset and silhouette concept, is foolproof, inexpensive, and engaging. After looking at images of incredible sunsets for inspiration, each student uses marbling paper, black construction paper, three colors of chalk, and a tub of…

In this article, the author describes a watercolor art lesson on Audubon birds. She also discusses how science, technology, writing skills, and the elements and principles of art can be incorporated into the lesson.

As the holidays approached this year, the author was looking for something new and different from poinsettias, Christmas trees and snowy landscapes for third-graders. This is a special class who is up for new ideas and art adventures. They had not yet used the changeable markers, which are great fun for pattern and design work. This article…

When the glass artist Dale Chihuly exhibited his work at the Missouri Botanical Garden, the author took a class of fourth-grade students to view the artist's extraordinary sculptures. Just as the author predicted, the students were in awe of Chihuly's organic three-dimensional sculptures. Before taking the field trip to the Missouri Botanical…

Challenging one's brain is the beginning of making great art. Tangrams are a great way to keep students thinking about their latest art project long after leaving the classroom. A tangram is a Chinese puzzle. The earliest known reference to tangrams appears in a Chinese book dated 1813, but the puzzles existed long before that date. The puzzle…

The author was originally inspired by "The Exquisite Snake" exhibit she saw at a local museum. Two hundred contemporary artists contributed to this exhibit, which was an adaptation of the old parlor game called "The Exquisite Corpse" that Surrealist artists used to play in the late 1920s and '30s. The author just loved this idea and decided to…

This article describes a classroom art project inspired by the work of Robert Frost, one of the most acclaimed and beloved American poets of all time. Using tints and shades in a composition, this project demonstrates how quality literature may be incorporated into elementary art lessons in a very useful way, making art an important complement to…

In this article, the author describes an art project for second-grade students based on American Regionalist Grant Wood's most famous painting, "American Gothic," which was modeled by his sister, Nan, and his dentist. This well-loved painting depicting a hard-working farmer and his daughter standing in front of their farmhouse is the project's…

It is no wonder that works of art by Henri Matisse appeal to children, as his work has been said to "invite participation." His use of shape, color, design, and composition make his creations stand apart from others. By sharing examples of his line drawings, paintings, sculptures, and paper cutouts, children gain the sense that making art can be a…

Like teachers in many countries with a national curriculum and standardized testing, South Korean teachers find it challenging to include in their curriculums knowledge students will need in the future that doesn't fall within the purview of tested areas. The arts education, character education, environmental education, geography, and education…

Public spaces that promote play and discovery are popping up everywhere from metropolitan cities to rural and suburban settings. Playgrounds such as David Rockwell's Imagination Playground in New York City and the Memorial Park Playground in Wilsonville, Oregon, present a stark contrast to the steel and plastic structures found at fast-food…

During the author's undergraduate experience at the University of Georgia, the author discovered a local artist named Beverly Buchanan. She creates beautiful pastel drawings of shacks. Her shacks are not sad houses, but rich, vibrant dwellings filled with memories of people who once lived there. Buchanan also creates sculptures of shacks made from…

Connecting students to the arts in a concrete way can be an effective teaching tool. In this article, the author describes how Dale Chihuly's "Hart Window," which features hand-blown glass disks affixed to the framework of the window, can be an inspiration for interdisciplinary connections in art, science and math. (Contains 4 online resources.)

This article describes an exhibit entitled "Critter Folk" for the Betty Foy Sanders department of art at Georgia Southern University. The theme of the exhibit is folk art "critters"--crocodiles, chickens, cows, snakes, elephants, cats--from the Smith Callaway Banks Southern Folk Art Collection. The organizers invited two…