TIP #26: Gamify Your Art Lessons
When you gamify your art lessons, important art concepts can be easier to learn and retain.
As if teaching (and learning) ART wasn’t fun enough, right??! But really, there’s nothing like teaching something you love and watching your students be totally engaged and enjoying it.
So why not maximize the fun in your classroom by adding an element of play to your teaching strategy?
Kids enjoy being challenged and competitive when they feel like they can be successful and they know it’s all in fun. Important concepts can be mastered at many grade levels by simply making a game of them.
These games can be friendly competitions between table groups, rows, or sides of the room. You could issue a challenge to the whole class or to individuals.
Prizes, if any, can be small and spontaneous. Develop and adapt some games and challenges to gamify your art lessons and watch this work for your students.
Here are a few of my favorite ways to gamify your art lessons…
“Hide the Paper”
Reminding students to use all the available space on their paper seems to be a recurring theme. It’s not uncommon to see kids make a tiny drawing in the middle of their paper, leaving lots of empty space all around it.
To help them remember to “fill the space”, I invented a game I call “Hide the Paper”. This is a challenge you can issue to individual kids as needed, or as a reminder to the whole class at the end of a demo.
Just say something like, “Now let’s play ‘Hide the Paper’!” Then suggest ways they could “make the white paper go away”, depending on the medium they’re working in.
The solution could be as simple as using the side of a peeled crayon to quickly fill in a large area. Or when painting, they could wet the paper’s empty space with a sponge and fill it in with a loose wash.
Maybe a repeating pattern or texture rubbing could help to fill in an area that needs a little something more. Or they could extend their original drawing or painting to make it bigger.
“How quiet can you be when rinsing your paintbrush?”
This is one of my favorites! You can teach proper brush rinsing with this game and help kids unlearn bad habits. This is also a fun way to get your class to work together toward a common goal.
It helps to use a “whisper voice” when introducing any game involving the word “quiet”. Even mouthing some of the words at the end of your instructions will help reinforce the idea of doing it silently.
It’s been especially rewarding to watch students gently reminding each other, in their quietest voices, to “rinse without swishing” – even years after I taught this to them!
“The Circle Challenge”
This is super helpful as a warm-up before drawing to get kids focused on pressing lightly with their pencils.
When kids become good at this game, it can be hard to identify a “winner”. I think this challenge is most valuable for helping students achieve their own “personal best”.
“Sorting Game with Art PostCards”
Students enjoy working together in small groups of 3 to 5 for this one. This game gets them looking closely at art and using art vocabulary to talk about it with their peers.
The vocabulary you work with up to you, so you can reinforce whatever art concepts you choose.
“Elements of Art Memory Game”
Modeled after a game you may have played at bridal showers, this game is quirky, fun, and memorable! Kids will learn and remember the Elements of Art with these clever new associations you create for them.
“Beachball Scavenger Hunt”
Games can be helpful when students need to memorize specific art concepts, like the Elements of Art. This game helps them recognize real-life examples in the room around them.
As Mary Poppins famously sang in “A Spoonful of Sugar”…
“In every job that must be done,
There is an element of fun,
You find the fun and snap,
The job’s a game!”
It’s easy to make a game out of almost anything you need to teach. The more you gamify your art lessons, the more kids will associate Art class with having fun. They’ll learn quicker and enjoy themselves in the process.
A game just for teachers…
While you’re making games of things, why not make a game for yourself? Try these helpful strategies and see how fast you can learn your students’ names with your next group of new students.
an inspiring quote
“Having fun is the best way to learn.” ~ Albert Einstein
Kids are learning all the time… it’s just the nature of being a kid! But when they’re busy having fun, they can forget they’re even learning.
With all of their senses engaged, learning happens organically and with less effort. Anytime we can add some fun to their learning, let’s do it!