Art Explorers
Classroom Lessons
- Air Dry Clay Pumpkin Sculptures
- Zentangle Landscapes
- Cezanne Oil Pastel Apples
- Vietnamese Elephants
- Figure Drawing
- Printmaking
- Graphic Design Cereal Box Spring
Air Dry Clay Pumpkin Sculptures
Air Dry Clay Pumpkin Sculptures Fall, Project 1
Objectives:
• Lean about the history of sculpture.
• Study basic sculptural techniques and materials.
• Define and solve challenging sculpture problems.
• Show proper skills using a variety of sculpture tools.
• Create a three-dimensional, freestanding pumpkin sculpture.
• This is a teacher lead project with opportunities for free choice.
Supplies:
Air dry clay, carving tools
Vocabulary:
Sculpture, shape, form, sculpture in the round, modeling, assembling, freestanding,
three-dimensional, texture, carve, chisel.
National Standards:
Visual Arts Content Standard 1: Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes.
Visual Arts Content Standard 2: Using knowledge of structures and functions.
Visual Arts Content Standard 3: Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas.
Visual Arts Content Standard 4: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.
Visual Arts Content Standard 5: Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of
others.
Visual Arts Content Standard 6: Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines like history and geography
cross-curriculum.
Additional grade level standards available upon request.
Zentangle Landscapes
Zentangle Landscapes Fall, 2024 Project 2
Objectives:
- Learn about the different styles of landscapes.
- Learn that drawing involves skills that can be learned and are not “magical”.
- “Talent” is not the same as skill. Skill requires hours of practice.
- Learn about Zentangle.
- Students will create their own landscapes using principles of landscape composition.
- Use Zentangle to as a fun and lighthearted way to relax as an artist and intentionally facilitate a shift in focus and perspective while creating their landscapes.
- Discuss patterns and create patterns within the landscape.
- Proper use of a chisel tip marker.
- This is a teacher lead project with free choice options.
Supplies:
- Paper
- Chisel
- Tipped black markers
- Pattern handout.
Vocabulary:
- Landscape
- Seascape
- Cityscape
- Waterscape
- Portrait
- Zentangle
- Abstract drawing
- Patterns
- Space
- Depth
- Foreground
- Middleground
- Background
- Repetitive patterns
- Elements of art
National Standards:
Visual Arts Content Standard 1: Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes.
Visual Arts Content Standard 2: Using knowledge of structures and functions.
Visual Arts Content Standard 3: Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas.
Visual Arts Content Standard 4: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.
Visual Arts Content Standard 5: Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others.
Visual Arts Content Standard 6: Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines like history and geography cross-curriculum.
Additional grade level standards available upon request.
Cezanne Oil Pastel Apples
Cezanne Oil Pastel Apples Fall/Winter, 2024-2025 Project 3
Objectives:
- Learn about the life and art of Paul Cezanne.
- Study how Cezanne simplified what he saw, breaking down objects and scenes to their shapes
- Students will interpret a famous Cezanne still life using oil pastels.
- Understand the composition of a still life.
- Learn to to use oil pastels.
- Create highlights and shadows by blending oil pastels.
- This is a teacher lead project with opportunities for free choice.
Supplies:
- Paper
- Oil
- Pastels
National Standards:
Visual Arts Content Standard 1: Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes.
Visual Arts Content Standard 2: Using knowledge of structures and functions.
Visual Arts Content Standard 3: Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas.
Visual Arts Content Standard 4: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.
Visual Arts Content Standard 5: Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of
others.
Visual Arts Content Standard 6: Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines like history and geography
cross-curriculum.
Additional grade level standards available upon request.
Vietnamese Elephants
Vietnamese Elephants Winter, 2025 Project 4
Objectives:
- Lean about the conservation efforts in Vietnam to protect Asian elephants.
- Learn why it was important for Art Explorers to change their Asian elephant project to update and support conservation efforts for an endangered species.
- Students will learn to draw an Asian elephant.
- Understand how to create a watercolor resist painting.
- This is a teacher lead project with opportunities for free choice.
Supplies:
- Watercolor paper
- Crayons
- Watercolor pencils
- Watercolor paint brush
- Pencil
Vocabulary:
- Vietnam
- Asian elephant
- Conservation
- Endangered species
- Watercolor resist
- Watercolor pencil
- Oil pastel
- Crayons
- Watercolor paper
- Saturation
National Standards:
Visual Arts Content Standard 1: Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes.
Visual Arts Content Standard 2: Using knowledge of structures and functions.
Visual Arts Content Standard 3: Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas.
Visual Arts Content Standard 4: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.
Visual Arts Content Standard 5: Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of
others.
Visual Arts Content Standard 6: Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines like history and geography
cross-curriculum.
Additional grade level standards available upon request.
Figure Drawing
Figure Drawing Winter/Spring, 2025 Project 5
Objectives:
- Learn figure drawing.
- Use wood drawing mannequins to observe shapes.
- Draw the form using sketching techniques.
- Understand proportions of the figure and the shapes.
- Create quick, fast drawings while developing sketching skills.
- Hold and use pencil correctly.
- Understand how the basics of this skill leads to more advance artistic creations.
- This is a teacher lead project with opportunities for free choice.
Supplies:
- Paper
- Pencils
- Drawing mannequins
Vocabulary:
- Figure drawing
- Observational skills
- Human form
- Proportions
- Pose
- Drawing aid
- Stretch
- Manneguin
- Gesture drawing
National Standards:
Visual Arts Content Standard 1: Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes.
Visual Arts Content Standard 2: Using knowledge of structures and functions.
Visual Arts Content Standard 3: Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas.
Visual Arts Content Standard 4: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.
Visual Arts Content Standard 5: Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of
others.
Visual Arts Content Standard 6: Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines like history and geography
cross-curriculum.
Additional grade level standards available upon request.
Printmaking
Printmaking Winter/Spring, 2025 Project 6
Objectives:
- Learn about the history of printmaking.
- Understand different printmaking techniques.
- Learn the different tools used to create prints.
- Create a flower design (lower grades) or free choice design (upper grades).
- Etch their design onto a styrofoam printing plate.
- Use watercolor markers to “ink” the plate.
- Learn how to pull a print.
- This is a teacher lead project with opportunities for free choice.
Supplies:
- Paper
- Pencils
- Styrofoam printing plates
- Watercolor markers
- Water
- Sponges
Vocabulary:
- Printmaking
- Etching
- Ink
- Plate
- Pull a print
- Edition
- Styrofoam printing plates
- Wood block printing
- Brayer
- Carve
- Pattern
- Transfer
National Standards:
Visual Arts Content Standard 1: Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes.
Visual Arts Content Standard 2: Using knowledge of structures and functions.
Visual Arts Content Standard 3: Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas.
Visual Arts Content Standard 4: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.
Visual Arts Content Standard 5: Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of
others.
Visual Arts Content Standard 6: Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines like history and geography
cross-curriculum.
Additional grade level standards available upon request.
Graphic Design Cereal Box Spring
Graphic Design Cereal Box Spring, 2025 Project 7
Objectives:
- Learn about the history of graphic design.
- Understand the difference between commercial art and fine art.
- Discover what graphic design is used for and learn about the elements of design.
- Study examples of graphic design used on products today.
- Learn about what a graphic designer does as a career.
- Understand what styles of fonts there are as well as tag lines and layouts.
- Create their own brand of cereal based in reality or a fantasy.
- Students will learn how to create a free choice project with minor directions.
Supplies:
- Paper
- Pencils
- Crayons
- Markers
- Scissors
- Glue sticks
Vocabulary:
- Graphic design
- Layout
- Commercial art
- Fine art
- Digital art
- Typeface
- Tag line
- Color
- Logo
- San serif
- Serif
- Marketing
- Elements of design
National Standards:
Visual Arts Content Standard 1: Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes.
Visual Arts Content Standard 2: Using knowledge of structures and functions.
Visual Arts Content Standard 3: Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas.
Visual Arts Content Standard 4: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.
Visual Arts Content Standard 5: Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of
others.
Visual Arts Content Standard 6: Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines like history and geography
cross-curriculum.
Additional grade level standards available upon request.