This crayon wax-resist painting lesson is inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night”. It’s a 22 minute video and is suitable for grades K-3. I discuss his work briefly and also talk about various types of line, overlapping, texture, and crayon wax resist in the video.
I am currently teaching this lesson to my Kindergarten and 1st grade classes, and will be posting their artwork soon!
I’d love to hear your feedback on the video and hope that you can use it in your classroom soon!
Please check out my previous post below on another YouTube tutorial on Victorian architecture!
ALSO- I just added a NEW page titled “ART ROOM RULES AND ROUTINES” to my drop down menu on the main page.
UPDATE: Here are some of my K and 1 students artwork in progress! 2 of my classes got to paint on Thursday 10/23/25, and I LOOOOooove how they are coming out so far! It was Kindergartens FIRST time painting with me in art too! They still need to add another layer of crayon details over their painting next week to complete them, but I couldn’t wait to share!
This lesson can still be created after Halloween (just don’t have your students draw a face!)
Look at these adorable pumpkins! My students really paid attention and erased the pumpkin bottoms where the grass is in order to show overlapping. I’m so proud of my Kindergarten and 1st grade students!
I will be posting their final artwork this Thursday evening 10/30/25! I can’t wait to share their beautiful artwork- they’ve been putting in a lot of hard work and effort into their Pumpkin’s Starry Night paintings!
My first graders had so much fun creating these! It only took 2 (40 minute) art classes to make them too.
Day 1
First, I created these pumpkin, moon, and ghost template tracers made from heavyweight Manila tagboard. I created about 25 tracers each.
Students chose their tracer and taped it with a masking tape loop (I helped with that step) on 3 areas of the back of the tracer onto a sheet of white 80# drawing paper.
Then students splatter painted whatever colors they wanted on top of their paper using watercolors. I told them to cover their paper with a lot of splatterpaint, and to splatterpaint close to the edges of their tracer especially. This makes sure the image comes out clear once the tracer is removed.
Once finished, the paintings were put into the drying rack.
Day 2
I carefully took off the tracers on each paper (it’s a good idea to actually press the tape loops on a bit of cotton beforehand so the tape won’t be AS sticky and tear the paper) I learned that the hard way, as some of the tape loops tore their papers a tiny bit in some areas.
We talked about positive / negative space. If a student chose a moon tracer, they cut out a bat from black paper (that they traced a bat on using my tracer) and glued it on their painting.
Students then drew faces if they had a pumpkin or a ghost with a black sharpie marker to add final details!
Such a fun and quick lesson that my students LOVED! Lesson idea from @artsyblevs
LEARNING GOALS:
students can define and identify positive and negative space within their artwork
students can create artwork using various painting techniques
This was a lesson I did last October (2024) but I never added it to my website until now. The first 3 images from the top are my teacher examples, and the rest are by my students.
My students in grades K and 1st created these beautifully vibrant leaves for the fall trees I made on my schools bulletin board recently! It took just 1 art class (40 minutes) to create.
I did this a couple years back and I’m always SO impressed at how bright and vivid the colors come out! And how rarely any leaves end up being brown or muddy!
We used Roylco brand diffusing leaves (you can purchase these on Amazon in packs of 80 leaves -3 different leaf varieties). I’ll also share a pic of how I did the bulletin board one year with the leaves as a wreath for the holiday season below.
Kids colored on their leaf (1 per student) with any colors of the rainbow they wanted (plus teal and pink) with bingo daubers until the entire leaf was colored in. Before they colored, we talked about colors and discussed what two primary colors make secondary colors. I was VERY impressed with my kindergarten students knowledge on this!!
Once they finished coloring, I sprayed their leaf (while on top of a messy mat) with a water spray bottle (about 4-5 sprays) about 12” away from their leaf. Students loved seeing the water spread the ink and watching their colors blend!
After letting the leaves dry in the drying rack black veins were added using oil pastel, then I stapled them on the 3 trees I created earlier. I made them out of crinkling brown construction paper strips and stapling them together.
I love how the trees came out and how it brightens up the hallway for fall!
I’m planning on using the remaining leaves that didn’t fit on the trees, to decorate the edges of my second bulletin board for other “fall” artwork soon!
Here’s a photo of how I used the leaves a couple years ago for the winter holiday!
Thank you SOO very much for following my blog and visiting my website! I know I haven’t been posting on the regular lately but I definitely plan on it this year!!
I have lots of new art lessons that my students are currently working on and I’m EXCITED to share them with you very soon, so be sure to check back and check your email for updates!
Also please be sure to visit my YouTube channel, and subscribe (I was just checking my videos this morning and was surprised and happy to see that my OpArt drawing tutorial video has over 185k views!!!) for more art video tutorials and read-a-loud stories! And you can follow me on Instagram @mammalovespeaches for additional art lessons and ideas!
Thank you so much
This is my 13th year teaching art! 12th year at my current district and 13th year overall!
This lesson idea is from art teacher Lauralee Chambers @2art.chambers on Instagram
This was such a fun lesson to teach my 5th graders! It took about (3) 40 minute art classes to complete.
DAY 1
We discussed how we would be utilizing the elements of Art; Line, Shape, Color, Texture, and Value to create these paintings.
I gave students a double-sided sheet of various paintbrush drawings to use as a reference while drawing their paintbrushes.
Students drew at least 6 large paintbrushes on 12×18” 80# paper with pencil. In their drawings I asked that the following be included ; at least 2 of the brushes had to overlap one another, at least 2 be drawn diagonally, and at least 1 drawn so the bristles pointed downward. Students could add also their own brush details within the handles.
Once all drawn in pencil, students traced over their pencil lines with an ultra fine point black sharpie. I showed students how to use the straight edge of a scrap piece of paper to keep their sharpie lines for the bristles from going into their paintbrush handles.
DAY 2
Students finished drawing if needed, then used a black oil pastel to draw a thick line along only one side of each brush. Only on all the brushes left sides or only on all the brushes right sides. Then using one finger gently smudge the oil pastel going in the same direction to create a shadow.
DAY 3
On the final day students used watercolors to create the splatter effect. I showed them how to use a watercolor brush to apply the paint only halfway up each brush towards the tips, and then add only water on the ends a little to dilute the color and help spread the paint where it meets the paper. Then using a medium sized tempera brush, they dipped into the same paint color and then flicked the bristles close to their papers to splatter. They also used the watercolor brush to splatter paint as well by shaking it or tapping their brush handle against another one.
I absolutely LOVE how they all came out and students had a lot of fun creating them!
This lesson took about (4) 40 minute art classes to complete.
On day 1 I discussed with students the many different art careers out there available, then showed them a great video on all the different art related careers out there someone could do for inspiration for this lesson. I wish I could just post the video i showed my students for you here, but for some reason it wont let me embed the video from YouTube. If you search ”MHRD – Careers in Art” you can watch it there.
After the video students were shown a huge variety of various contemporary artists in my Google slides. Then, using their laptops, students logged into my art classroom in Google, and were able to review the slides of artists. Each slide showed 1-3 photos of their artwork, and a small description of the kind of artwork they created. I hyperlinked the photo of the artist to either their blog, their website, an article, or to Wikipedia about the artist.
From there, students took some time researching artists that intrigued them, then selected one artist to focus on.
Days 2-4 were spent thinking about that artists style, and/or what materials they used to create their art with and draw a picture related to and inspired by that artists work. Students looked at ceramicists, photographers, painters, illustrators, fashion designers, interior designers, architects, graphic designers, animators, installation artists, jewelers, video game designers, weavers etc. I also wanted to make sure I included just as many female artists as male artists and to include artists from a variety of cultural backgrounds.
Students then drew using pencil, colored pencils, markers and/or crayons.
On the final day, students filled out a sheet with questions on why they chose that artist and what facts they learned about their chosen artist. Students did such an amazing job on researching independently, and coming up with their own creations and drawing artwork inspired by their chosen artist! Students really enjoyed this lesson and I’m hoping doing this lesson will inspire them to research and learn about additional artists on their own time. I wish I took more photos of their artwork, but check out some of their work below!
This first grade lesson took about (2) 40 minute art classes to create.
Students first learned about the artist Sanford Biggers and we discussed his AMAZING artwork. We also discussed how we’d be utilizing the elements of art; Line, Shape, Color, and Texture to create these fun paper quilts.
DAY 1
After reviewing his artwork, students each received a sheet of 8.5” x 11” copy paper with a grid as seen in the photo below.
Then students colored in each corner with marker, and drew a pattern with black sharpie on the edges.
After that students colored in 8 sections with whatever color they wanted using marker.
Then they drew patterns in the remaining 8 sections with sharpie.
Then students drew ”stitches” with black sharpie all around each rectangle and corners.
DAY 2
On day 2 students cut all around the edges of their paper, creating fringe.
Then students crinkled up their papers into a tight ball and then carefully pulled it apart and repeated crinkling it into a ball and uncrinkling it about 12 times to create texture! Students were surprised they were told to crinkle up their artwork and were amazed that their papers had also shrunk!
This lesson took ( 2 ) 40 minute art classes to create.
Students learned about the artist Charles McGee and we discussed his artwork. We discussed how we’d be utilizing the elements of art, line, shape, and form to create our sculptures. Then students received a sheet of copy paper with 4 lines pre-drawn and photocopied for the class.
Then using a black sharpie marker, students drew a different pattern in each section, creating 5 sections.
DAY 2
Then on day 2, students cut out each section with scissors.
Students then flipped over each strip, and folded back the ends. They then glued the flaps with a glue stick and positioned the flaps on a piece of 8×8” white cardstock paper and pressed for 5 seconds. Students could place each strip wherever they wanted creating height by placing the flaps closer together, and then gluing on other sections on top of previous ones. They had a lot of fun creating these fun and interesting sculptures!
This fun flower lesson was created for my special education class. It’s a 2 day lesson and the materials needed were 3 coffee filters, watercolors, cupcake liners, pipe cleaners, glue sticks, tape and a paper straw.
First students wet the coffee filters down with water using a big paint brush. This allowed the coffee filter to lay flat and also helps absorb and spread drops of paint.
Students then used watercolor paint to paint on various colors of their choice over the entire coffee filter. These 3 filters were then set aside to dry.
On the second day, the filters were folded in half and students drew “bumps” all around the edge to create the petals. Each filter was cut a little smaller than the previous one. Then students glued each opened filter together in the center with a glue stick. A cupcake liner was then glued into the center of their flower. Then using a pipe cleaner, students created a spiral by bending and shaping with their hands. This spiral was then glued into the cupcake liner with a glue stick.
For the final piece, students chose their colored straw and taped it to the back of the coffee filters for the stem.
Here is the latest batch of artwork from my students, who shared their beautiful creations from home and the art lesson activities!
Grades K-2 Elementary Visual Art Activities
I can draw a pot of flowers: Using a pencil, trace 3-4 circle shapes to begin your drawing. Be sure to include the parts of a flower: stems, petals and leaves. Add a pot design at the bottom if desired, then add color!
Included in that Google slide were 4 pictures from start to finish showing steps on how to draw flowers using various sized circular objects for the center to the finished drawing with a pot. Also included were links to 2 short videos students could watch. One was about flowers; their importance and taking a closer look at the flowers parts, as well as a video on how to draw a flower and a flower pot. Here are some lovely flowers drawn by my K-2 students!
ARTWORK BY ABIGAIL M.ARTWORK BY ANTHONY B.ARTWORK BY OWEN R. ARTWORK BY PRANEETH J.
Grades 3-5 Elementary Visual Art Activities
I can create an OP art drawing: OP Art is drawing an optical illusion. The way the lines are drawn, makes them appear to “pop out” or move.
Included in this google slide were 3 drawings, one just as a pencil drawing so you can see the lines easier, and the other two colored in. In addition, students could watch a short 6 minute YouTube video showing kids how to create an Op art drawing as well!
My students did an awesome job creating their op art! Check them out below!
ARTWORK BY SHAURYA T.OP ART DRAWING BY EVELYN E. (AS WELL AS HANDMADE WORRY DOLLS AND SOME COOL PAINTED EGGS BY EVEYLN AND HER BROTHER HARRY E.) ARTWORK BY AIDEN J.ARTWORK BY AJ M. ARTWORK BY MAYA M.ARTWORK BY KELSEY S.ARTWORK BY ELLIE L.ARTWORK BY DYLAN P.ARTWORK BY BRIELLE R.ARTWORK BY SAM D. ARTWORK BY CONNOR F.
Grades K-2 Elementary Visual Art Activities
I can create: A portrait or self-portrait using a round (circle) shaped plate.
Included in this Google slide were a variety of portraits using plates to create the head, descriptions on the difference between a portrait and a self-portrait, as well as a 3 min. video on found object art plate faces. Check out the artwork below!
ARTWORK BY PRANEETH J.ARTWORK BY OWEN R. ARTWORK BY NICK D.ARTWORK BY SOFIA D.
Bryce R. (below) created some super cool vehicles using plates and other materials! Very creative!
Grades 3-5 Elementary Visual Art Activities
I Can: Observe and record shadows. Draw the contour lines!
Included in this slide were photos of plants leaves casting shadows on paper with a close up pic of all the contour lines drawn of that leaf, pictures of various toys lined up with their fun shadows cast onto paper, and 2 short videos; one showing how to create a shadow drawing, and the other short video was the science behind lights and shadows.
My students had a lot of fun creating these!
Artwork by Shaurya
Below is a series of pics of AJ ‘s awesome shadow artwork!
SHADOW ART BY SAM D. SHADOW ART BY KELSEY S. SHADOW ART BY KATIE L.SHADOW ART BY ELLIE L. SHADOW ART BY CONNOR F.SHADOW ART BY BRIELLE R.SHADOW ART BY DYLAN P.SHADOW ART BY NOLAN L.
Additional artwork below!
A BEAUTIFUL ABSTRACT ACRYLIC POUR BY KELSEY S. AN AWESOME PAPER SHAPE ROBOT BY KATIE L.SUPER CUTE BOB FROGGY BY KATIE L. AWESOME ABSTRACT PAINTING BY KAI M. WONDERFULLY DRAWN ROOSEVELT LOGO BY RILEY R. AWESOME ROBOT DRAWING BY LUCAS P.BEAUTIFUL AND COLORFUL LIZARD PAINTING BY OLIVIA P.FUN ART ROCKS BY LUCAS AND OLIVIA P. AWESOME ELEPHANT DRAWING BY JORDAN R.
BELOW IS A COLLECTION OF AWESOME ARTWORK BY SOFIA D. !
I hope you all enjoyed checking out all the amazing artwork my students are creating!
I’ll be updating this blog post with any additional artwork I receive this week, and will be posting “Art Shout Outs #4” very soon! I can’t wait to see what they create next!
Scroll down to catch up on “Art Shout Outs #2 and #1” in case you missed it! Additionally, if you’re new to my blog, you can scroll up to my main menu and click on art lessons for grades 1-5 with photos of student artwork, lesson descriptions and learning goals, as well ascheck out my YouTube channel, play free online art games, and more.…
I’d love to hear from you too, so feel free to email me any questions or comments anytime under “contact”.
I just finished uploading my new drawing tutorial on “How to draw 2 dogs on a hill” to my YouTube channel! I hope you like it! STUDENTS: IF THERE IS ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE ME TO DEMONSTRATE HOW TO DRAW, PLEASE LET ME KNOW AND I WILL DO MY BEST TO CREATE THAT VIDEO!! Email me or reply to this blog post. Also- To all my students; If you watch my video and draw a picture of 2 dogs on a hill, please share it by emailing me a photo of it! I’d love to see your artwork (or ANYTHING that you create at home!)
Send your photos of your art to me at mfilmore@naschools.net
I miss you all so much, and I can’t wait to be back in my art room with you! Please keep creating and share what you make!
Stay safe and be well everybody ❤️ We are all in this together 💕 Mrs. Filmore
