Are these the cutest Father's Day cards, or what??! My friend, Kindergarten teacher Lori Dueck, shared this project with me years ago and I was amazed by how adorable every finished card turned out! A project this good never goes out of style! Most projects for Kindergarten include a bit of prep and this one is no exception, but it's pretty quick and totally worth it!! The … [Read more...]
22 Ways to Combine Writing & Art to Encourage Creativity
I recently had the privilege of helping my adult daughter edit the manuscript for her first book. Her first real, published book. A book with an agent, a publisher, a release date (April 2017), and it’s own pre-order page on Amazon. A proud parenting milestone for sure! But this book of hers has been a long time in the making. In fact, we can trace its origin all the way back … [Read more...]
Make a Leaf Collage
Now that summer’s here, how do you keep your kids learning, creating, and spending more time outdoors than in front of a screen? One way is with this inspiring little book, “Look What I Did with a Leaf!” by Morteza E. Sohi. This is not so much a read-aloud type of book that you would share with a roomful of students, but rather a book to enjoy at home with your kids, or for … [Read more...]
Easy DIY Envelopes to Fit Any Size Card
With Valentine's Day right around the corner, I wanted to share this super-easy DIY envelope you can make to fit any size card! How many times have you or your students created a wonderful hand-made card for Valentine's Day (or Christmas, Birthday, Mother's Day, etc.) and then delivered it in an envelope that didn't fit correctly, or worse yet, no envelope at all??! An … [Read more...]
Valentine Color Mixing – Paint 100 Hearts!
With Valentines Day (and the '100th Day of School') just around the corner, I thought I’d post this heart-themed version of my 'Mixing 100 Colors’ lesson! Mixing the colors and then painting hearts requires a little longer attention span, so I’ve found that 4th grade and up does best with this version. But younger students can also do this if they just work a little larger and … [Read more...]
Quilled Paper Designs
Quilling, also known as paper filigree, is an art form that involves rolling and gluing thin strips of paper into various shapes and arranging them to form designs. Quilled paper designs can be very simple or as complex as you have the dexterity and patience for! The art of quilling dates back to the Renaissance when French and Italian monks and nuns would use … [Read more...]
Valentine Op-Art
This lesson was inspired by an Artsonia project I LOVED on Pinterest. I knew that the boys in my 5th grade class were not going to go for the traditional valentine project this year, so adding a heart to an Op-Art hand drawing seemed like the perfect compromise! I've done this project a few times now, and some of my 5th, 6th and 7th graders have struggled with it a bit. … [Read more...]
Christmas Cards for Veterans
4th grade "JOY" by JacobFor our school-wide Thanksgiving project, we decided to show our thanks to some very special people... My K through 7th grade students have been busy making Christmas cards for Veterans, to spread some Christmas cheer and let these men and women know they are loved and appreciated! The hundreds of cards we made will first be displayed at our church, … [Read more...]
Easy Envelopes for Handmade Cards
It's easy to make custom envelopes for your handmade cards - perfect for those non-traditional sizes! You can get creative with unique papers and decorative liners, too. Kids will catch on quickly since they don't even need to measure their paper.... they just need to understand the concept of starting with a square that's a little bit larger than the … [Read more...]
Recycled Magazine Flowers
Here is another unique project that we used for Mother's Day cards, but would be fun to do anytime! I saw this featured on the One Pretty Thing site, from Family Fun. My 5th graders had a blast making these (even the boys, who usually resist anything to do with flowers!) and it gave me the opportunity to review the concept of radial symmetry. I even had parents ask me how we … [Read more...]