Fall art projects – Art with Mrs Filmore

Mixed-Media Leaf Impressions -5th Grade

October 26, 2025 No Comments

I’m excited to try this new lesson out with my 5th graders soon (once they finish their “1 Point Perspective Cityscapes”)

These are my teacher examples. I knew I wanted to do a leaf lesson and was playing around with some different ideas recently

I was out on a nice walk today and collected some leaves to bring back home to test out some ideas.

I had a lot of fun creating and testing out a few options and really like this one! I did a bunch of black crayon rubbings of various leaves on 80# paper (I actually didn’t have anything else at home, but I think that 60# might be better to get more details within the leaves veins for this)

Then used watercolors to paint over them (I’m thinking kids will choose either a warm color palette or a cool color palette

Then on a sheet of 80# white drawing paper cut to 9×9” I did multiple leaf rubbings of the same leaf going in different directions and overlapping each time. I think this will allow for any minor movement and be a bit more forgiving since they’ll overlap anyhow.

Then once the painted leaves are dry, kids will carefully cut them out and then glue down on top of their 9×9” layered leaf rubbing. thinking about what they want their composition to be.

I’m thinking they can choose from 3-5 leaves to cut out and glue. I’d better get on it and start leaf collecting! I will have 4 classes of 5th graders- and will need to flatten them in a few books so they won’t be crinkly or curled!!

Im thinking (3) 40 minute classes for this. Day 1- leaf rubbing with black crayon. Day 2- paint the 3-5 leaves they rubbed. Day 3- cut out and glue. But possibly 2 days?? I don’t want to rush this process though. And I think collecting the leaves ahead of time and pressing them will help with the time frame of completing this. ( Plus the possibility of a bad weather day if I have kids go leaf hunting/ plus the possibility of chaos near the playground / on top of wet leaves being an issue! Haha!)

Please check out my previous posts if interested!

”Owls at Night”
”Art on a Cart” (that’s me haha!)
”Pumpkin’s Starry Night” (I added new photos to this one with an update on the progress!)
I added a new page recently “Art Rules and Routines” as well as “Art on a Cart” in the drop down menu
I’ll be posting more artwork on 4th grade this week!
I’ll be posting finished artwork from 5th grade on “1 Point Perspective cityscapes” on Thursday evening 10/30/25 (I can’t wait to share finally!!!)
And finally -Please visit my TpT store for 50% off on my NEW Victorian architecture PDF resource packet among other updates! (Link to my TpT store is in the drop down menu on the home page)

Also you can just type in any of the above blog post titles in my search bar and find them that way!
Thanks so much for visiting my site today and reading this! I hope you have a great night!

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”Pumpkin’s Starry Night” YouTube tutorial

October 17, 2025 No Comments

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!

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SPLATTER PAINTED GHOSTS/ BATS / PUMPKINS!

September 29, 2025 No Comments

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.

NEW artwork and lessons to come VERY soon!

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K and 1 FALL LEAVES

September 28, 2025 2 Comments

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!