Browse lesson plans

The Grouchy Ladybug

Students will learn the meaning of illustration, will be introduced to a famous illustrator and will create an illustration based on the style of this particular artist.

Format: lesson plan (grade K–1 Visual Arts Education)

By Jean Caldwell.

Calico watercolor cats

This two-class lesson focuses on students learning how to draw a cat using geometric shapes, learning and applying wet-on-wet technique of watercolor painting, and using crayon to create area surrounding cats. The final art product will be a mixed media painting of one cat and one kitten in an indoor or outdoor environment.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 Visual Arts Education and English Language Development)

By Barbara Zimmerman and Heidi Summers.

Changes in a democratic society (Lesson 2 of 3)

This lesson is the post-seminar activity to follow Changes in a Democratic Society, Lesson 1. Students will participate in tiered assignments reflecting on the Westall painting, "The Sword of Damocles," and the prior day's Paideia seminar on that painting.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8–12 Social Studies)

By Sharyn West.

Color mixing

Students are introduced to the basic steps in mixing secondary colors from primary colors of paint.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 Visual Arts Education)

By Gwen Auman.

Colorful fruit bowl

Students learn color theory by exploring color mixing. Students will use overlapping to show simple perspective in their picture.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 Visual Arts Education)

By Marilyn Carter.

Describing Japanese screens and scrolls through images

The second part of a larger unit on talking and writing about, as well as creating, Japanese screen and scroll paintings. The purpose of this unit plan is to introduce descriptive aspects of art criticism, while teaching the art and culture of Japan. Students create illustrations of classmates' descriptions of Japanese screens or scrolls.

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Visual Arts Education)

By Michelle Harrell.

Faces tell feelings - Part 3 - Drawing facial expressions

Students will learn how to draw facial expressions and paint a portrait which portrays a particular expression or emotion.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Visual Arts Education)

By Jan Kimosh.

Faces tell feelings - Part 6 - Emotions collage

Students will create a collage using magazine photos and words printed in computer lab to express a particular emotion.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Visual Arts Education)

By Jan Kimosh.

How do I express what I believe? - Part 2

This is the second in a three-part lesson series seeking to examine belief systems and how they impact culture in the United States. This lesson, "How do I express what I believe?" requires 3 sessions at 40 minutes each to complete. The lesson series also seeks to let students examine their own personal belief system. In this lesson, the student will learn about the American tradition of the Face Jug/Pot and how it is used to express belief. The student will also create a Face Jug/Pot to express his/her belief, and this pot will be used in the third lesson entitled. "How do I present what I believe?"

Format: lesson plan (grade 5 Visual Arts Education)

By Donna Pumphrey.

How do pumpkins grow?: Book project

This is an integrated science and language arts lesson plan. Students will create individual books that illustrate how pumpkins grow.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 Visual Arts Education, English Language Arts, and Science)

By Marty Britt.

In the spirit of... (museum post-visit)

This is an integrated unit that focuses on masks in cultures as reflections of individual spirits. In the post-visit lesson, students will create plaster masks and write a brief description.

Format: lesson plan (grade 5–6 Visual Arts Education)

By Tamela Davis.

Mixing colors with Little Blue and Little Yellow

This is an integrated lesson based on a French book entitled Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni. Within the lesson, students will experiment with various colors to create new colors and eventually write their own version of this story.

Format: lesson plan (grade K–1 Visual Arts Education, English Language Arts, and Science)

By Lisa Tartaglia.

Nightmares of Hieronymus Bosch

As part of a unit on Medieval Art, students will become familiar with some of the works of Hieronymus Bosch. They will identify symbols and imagery of fear and will be able to relate this to some of their own fears and nightmares.

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Visual Arts Education)

By Helen Nagan.

Painted cylindrical sculptures

Students will experiment painting a variety of lines as directed in addition to inventing their own on 12" x 18" paper. Students will also glue pre-cut paper strips onto their sculptures experimenting with a variety of paper sculpture techniques such as bending, folding and curling.

Format: lesson plan (grade K–1 Visual Arts Education and Mathematics)

By Rose Szabo.

Personal picture narratives: Jacob Lawrence

In this second grade lesson students will look closely at paintings by Lawrence depicting historical figures. Students will identify Lawrence’s unique style from work by other artists based on the elements of color and shape. They will create a painting using the same art elements to create a picture depicting an imagined scene from the life of Harriet Tubman.

Format: lesson plan (grade 2 Visual Arts Education)

By Eileen Palamountain.

Sea inventory

In this lesson students will create a beach mural with sand, shells, and blue and white finger paints. They will count objects added to the mural as they go along.

Format: lesson plan (grade K–1 Visual Arts Education and Mathematics)

By Dinah Jackson.

Seasonal farm landscapes

Students will have visited the farm landscape four times throughout the year, recording their observations during four seasons. The drawings will incorporate their knowledge of farms from our visits, their exposure to the seasonal landscapes of Grant Wood and Claude Monet, and their knowledge of landscape art and its elements of color and perspective developed at the Museum. The final project will be individual student books containing their landscape drawings and text.

Format: lesson plan (grade K–1 Visual Arts Education)

By Jamie Barnhill.

Resources on the web

Analyzing symbolism, plot, and theme in Death and the Miser

Students analyze Hieronymous Bosch's Death and the Miser in this activity that explores the literary elements in a painting. The goal of this lesson is to state an original interpretation of a painting and explain how individual... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Visual Arts Education and English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Creative communication frames: Discovering similarities between writing and art

In this lesson from ReadWritethink, students will build a comparative frame to explore the creative processes of writing and art as communication. Students will use graphic organizers to assist the development of comparative vocabulary and generate discussions... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 Visual Arts Education)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Geography and history in songs

Art works, particularly paintings, can reveal a good deal of information about places and what they looked like in the past. This lesson has students look at some historical paintings on the Internet and describe the things the paintings reveal about the... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Visual Arts Education)

Provided by: Xpeditions