Many of these lessons are only a 2 day Art project (40 min. each)! These lessons are versatile and can be taught to multiple grade levels (for example for K/1, 1/2, 2/3 or 4/5
- Chris Uphues inspired Hearts – 1st Grade
Artwork inspired by artist Chris Uphues. The above images are my teacher examples. This is a new lesson this year that I’m doing, (lesson inspo from art teacher Cassie Stephens). Students are currently working on this and I’ll be adding this lesson with directions and photos of students finished artwork on the page “1st grade art lessons” once complete
Super simple 2 day lesson, using markers to outline the inside of each heart after sharpie, then applying water with a paintbrush to turn the marker into “paint” to fill in the hearts! Then add confetti all around with watercolors!
2. Hand Holding Flowers – Special Ed. (This lesson would be great for Kindergarten, 1st or 2nd Grade too!)
To learn more on how we made these, click on “Special Education” under the drop down menu and scroll down!
3. Mixed-Media Hearts – Special Ed. (This lesson would be great for Kindergarten, 1st or 2nd Grade too!)
I love how these come out! So colorful and I love the mix of materials. It’s also an easy 2 day lesson you can squeeze in before Valentine’s Day!
To learn more on how we created these Mixed-Media Hearts, click on Special Education from my drop down menu and scroll down
4. Rainbow Heart Cards – Special Education
This lesson uses model magic and a little white paint. Kids dip one finger in the paint to print little hearts on the background. Easy lesson that would be great for Kindergarten as well! To learn more, click on Special Education under the drop down menu and scroll down!
5. Love is in the Air – 1st Grade (I’m teaching this to my Kindergarten students this year. This could easily be for K, 1, or 2!)
To learn how we created these go to 1st Grade Art Lessons under the drop down menu and scroll down. I also have the (PDF) plane template in my TpT store to print out! Link available under that lesson
6. Love Monsters– 2nd Grade
This could be a great lesson for K-3! To learn how we created them, click on 2nd Grade Art Lessons under the drop down menu, and scroll down
7. 3D Hearts – 3rd Grade
This is a Fun 2 day art lesson that you can do before V Day as well! To learn how we made these 3D hearts click on 3rd Grade Art Lessons and scroll down
8. Box of Chocolates– 4th Grade (This can be for grades 3-5)
Kids love scratch art- and with this lesson students make their own scratch art with oil pastels and crayon! Painting the background would be fun too! To learn more about this lesson, click on 4th Grade Art Lessons and scroll down!
9. A Love Yourself Lesson – 5th Grade
Valentine’s Day is all about love- so why not show some love for yourself!
This 5th grade lesson could easily work with 4th grade as well. Below is a double sided sheet of “I Am” statements I made to use with this lesson. You can find this in my TpT store to print out for your class too! Link under the lesson in 5th grade art lessons
To learn more about this lesson and see more student artwork, click on 5th Grade Art Lessons under the drop down menu and scroll down
10. Mixed–Media Bouquet of Flowers – 5th Grade
Because why not include this as a V-day project? Flowers and Valentine’s Day go hand-in -hand! ***suggestion*** maybe students can design their vase with hearts / reds and pinks! Or maybe the clay flower heads are heart shaped with petals coming out from the hearts! ❤️🩷❤️ It would also be a great lesson for Mother’s Day!!
To learn more on how we made these Mixed-Media Bouquet of Flowers, click on 5th Grade Art Lessons and scroll down
11. Enlarged Flower Drawings – 4th Grade
Mayyyyyybee not the most “Valentine’s Day-ish” ——but again….flowers! Plus students love this one, (and it’s one of my favorites too)!
Students created these beautiful close up flower drawings using oil pastels. This lesson is inspired by artist Georgia O’Keefe
To learn more and see additional artwork by my 4th graders, click on 4th Grade Art Lessons and scroll down.
I’m currently toying around with the idea of doing lessons 10 + 11 for my schools upcoming 4th grade “Spring Student Celebration ” this May.
4th grade gets the spotlight for this and specialists put together a night of : art on display, music performances, fun physical ed. games and activities, and library/media for parents and students.
So I’m thinking one school will do the “mixed-media bouquet of flowers” and one school will do the “enlarged flower drawings”.
I’m thinking of using my “well loved” 12 year old messy mats (that are 18”x24”) as an option for cut paper for the textured table or vase instead of just splatter painting or bubble wrap printing. Wouldn’t that look SO amazing!? I guess you’d have to see my messy mats first — but I think they are pretty spectacular all on their own. So many layers of colors, mark making, and texture!!
I’d do this lesson with only ONE of my two schools I teach at though.
At one school I’m on a cart teaching art, and at my second school I have an actual art room.
So being on a cart, and having (4!) 4th grade classes, low storage space for all the clay flowers, and not having enough messy mats really makes it problematic to make happen.
So limiting that lesson to just one 4th grade class (26 students) at my other school, where I have an art room, makes much more sense (ease of paint distribution, storing clay flowers, and enough messy mats for each student to collage into their artwork).
Plus it’ll be awesome to showcase 2 different flower lessons on display, instead of just one!
Still trying to figure this out though…..what are your thoughts? Do you think it’s a good idea? Or would my other 4th graders be jealous they didn’t do the lesson with the clay flowers? ALL 4th grade artwork would be on display together at just one school, so families and students will see them both on display in the same space. Drop me a line and let me know what you think in the comments. I’d love to hear from you!
Alsoooooo…..Be sure to check out my winter art lessons post for some ideas if you haven’t seen it yet (type in “Winter Art Lessons” in my search page ) because sadly ….it IS still winter. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for spring! Or at LEAST some warmer temps!! It’s been in the single digits here lately! (My favorite is 80 or higher!)
Please also check out my new “Winter Northern Lights” lesson under 5th grade art lessons! (It’s the first lesson you’ll see on that page at the top). I have a YouTube video for that lesson posted there too. It’s one of my favorite videos I’ve ever made, and actually definitely one of my top favorite art lessons I’ve ever taught!
Check out my page “Teaching art from a Cart ” (under my drop down menu on the main page) if any of you art teachers out there reading this are curious to see what the heck I wrote… or someone who hasn’t read it yet just cuz’…. OR are losing their art room next year??!!? …. OR are going into the profession soon! Lots of OR’s there haha, but lots of info on that page that could be helpful!
And to cap off this post—( well not quite) — I’d like to share a few super cute NEWLY finished “catching snowflakes portraits” by my 2nd grade students! You can view more and learn more about this oil pastel drawing lesson under “2nd grade art lessons” under the main menu. I am actually doing this lesson currently with my 2nd AND 3rd graders this year. As you can see below, adding braces was very popular with these kiddos! I’ll be posting more of these once all finished in the next week or so
Since it’s almost Valentines Day and I love a good rom-com here are 4 rom com’s I highly recommend (if you’re someone like me who’s into a good rom-com).
How many times can I say rom-com?
- The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021) on Prime
- Timer (2009) (Tribeca Festival Premiere) on Prime
- Love Across Time (2024) on Prime
- Love at First Sight (2023) on Netflix
Thank you for visiting my website today! ❤️ I’m also @mammalovespeaches on Instagram in case you wanted to check that out and follow along there too ❤️