As a teacher, one of the best things you can do for your students is to incorporate art into the curriculum. Art allows children to see the beauty in the world and teaches them to be more creative. If you’re struggling to think of a classroom art project, consider the following ideas.
Create a Collage
One of the best ways to get kids interested in art is to help them create a collage. Have each of the children bring any old magazines or newspapers that they may have lying around your home. Make sure you bring several too, for the children who forget. Then, the children can spend time flipping through and finding text or pictures that they enjoy. You can make this collage serve many different purposes: you could talk about goals and have the children create collages of the things they want to be; you could also use this project as a getting-to-know-you activity. Children can create a collage of things they like and enjoy, then present them to introduce themselves to other classmates.
Paint a Mural
If you want something a bit more intensive than a collage, consider helping your students paint a mural. If the school allows, you could do this as a permanent fixture in one of the school hallways. This would be a great way to promote community within the school and reinforce the school’s values. Wall murals can make art more accessible to everyone. However, if you want something with lower stakes, you could also paint a mural on a roll of paper spread out across the classroom. Have children paint themselves, their friends, and community landmarks. This is a great way to help them appreciate the community in which they live.
Story Art
There are also many ways in which you can incorporate art into other lesson plans. For example, many English lessons can be improved with art. If you’ve been reading a book together as a class, have the children draw a character from the story, or how they’d look if they existed in the book. Another option for English-related art is to allow children to write and illustrate their own stories. This is a great way to help them practice spelling and grammar, and get them invested in reading. At the end of the project, they could bind their books and present them to their parents.
Art is a tool that can advance the learning experience for students of all kinds. Art gets children moving and thinking creatively, and can help them better retain what they’re learning. Consider incorporating more art projects in the classroom to help your students be more creative and relieve any excess energy.
Check out this article for 8 tips to creating a distraction-free classroom!
