Secondary Level/ Exquisite Corpse
Materials: 11” x 15” paper folded in thirds, colored pencil, markers, pen
Students play the game “real” Surrealists used to play in the 1920s to get a better idea about the art movement.
3 person per group, each person gets 5 minutes to draw each of the three body parts in rotation. They are encouraged to create a Surrealistic background as well. In the end, each group presents their best one with a newspaper headline as a title.
Secondary Level/ Dream Diary
Students physically make their own “diary” where they create their own entries (in this case, under the theme of dreams)
Students archive their thoughts in writing or drawing for a certain period of time. Analog way of archiving ideas and recording and researching is always a good practice for artists especially in such a technology driven world. Leaving something behind physically and building ideas and referencing from the diaries to create art gives students the opportunity to create art that is meaningful and memorable.
Materials: Colored paper, Book binding stapler (can be substituted with rubber band), material of choice
Secondary Level / Collage using Mixed Media
Materials: Magazine, art books, pen, marker, colored pencils, paint pen, ink, paint, scissors,
Glue is encouraged to use in the end when composition is complete.
Secondary Level/ Printmaking using Rubber Blocks
Students get choice of paper & ink color
Materials: Brayers, carving tools, printmaking ink, paper
Secondary Level/ Surrealism Unit Plan & Hand outs
Secondary Level/ Album Cover Collaboration
Students answer questions about self, trade papers with partner and design each other's album cover design as clients and designers.
Materials: Handout & Reference handout of album cover collaboration with fine artists, Drawing material of Choice
Elementary Level/ Monet’s Garden in Giverny
Students learn about Claude Monet and his love for his garden in Giverny. Using different approaches, students create their own garden with water lilies and bridge.
Materials: model magic, tissue paper, glue, brush
Content connections: Art history (Learning about Claude Monet) & Geography (Monet’s garden in Giverny)
Elementary Level/ Discovery Box
Students create by using materials from the “Discovery Box”
Elementary Level/ Georgia O’Keeffe Flower Observation
Students learned about the artist Georgia O’Keeffe and observed and drew flowers.
Materials: oil pastel, flowers, paper, pencil, eraser
Content Connection: Art History
Elementary Level/ Kandinsky Musical Drawing / Making
Students learn about Kandinsky and his paintings. Knowing Kandinsky listened to music while he created art, students listen to different emotional music. This lesson was done in 3 different ways in order to experiment with materials.
By collaborating in a large piece of paper (drawing)
Using burlap using pipe cleaners to express “sound” or “music” (sculptural)
Using plastic waffles and pipe cleaners and metal pieces. (sculptural)
Materials: pipe cleaners, drawing material, construction rolled paper
Elementary Level / String and Wire Exploration
Using wood and nail, students connect, weave, and form shapes using yarn or wire.
Materials: Wood, nail, wire, hammer
Pre K- K/ Shaving Cream Exploration
Development of Sensory Motor Skills through play with shaving cream
Materials: Shaving Cream
PK-K Level/ Puzzle Collage using a grid
Students strengthen and practice fine motor skills by using a grid boxes to draw and color and cutting them in a straight line using a scissor. Students then glue them on a separate construction paper to complete a puzzle piece.
Materials: Grid paper, Construction Paper, Scissors, Glue, Crayons
Secondary Level/ Charcoal Eye Drawing
After learning value, shading, contour, and shapes, students learn about the eye’s anatomy and uses charcoal to draw the eye.
Materials: Charcoal, white charcoal, eraser
Elementary level/ Pinch pot Turtles (clay + drawing)
Students make turtles after learning how to pinch pot clay. When done, turtles are displayed on the pond where students draw their own turtles they made and names them.
Materials: Clay, construction paper, sketchbook, colored pencil
Elementary to Secondary level / Cardboard Exploration
Students make their own dream house out of cardboard
Materials: cardboard, tape
Elementary to Secondary Level / Richard Serra Action Words
Students go around to each paper as a group and add to it listening to a list of action words made by the artist Richard Serra. The activity is timed per word.
Materials: Construction paper, material of choice (ink, pen, crayon, colored pencils), tape
Elementary Level / Collaborative “clay world”
Students choose a “world” to create together as a group and makes them together.
Materials: Clay, construction paper, post-its
