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Spring is the perfect time to draw some flowers!

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How to Create Easy Watercolor Resist Flowers

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Here is the MAES Art Choice Board for the next two weeks! Enjoy!

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"It's sort of like a creative, artistic fidget spinner!"

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Whether you are looking for a simple art project, a fine motor skills activity, or just a St. Patrick's Day craft - this lucky penny spinner is for you! It's sort of like a creative artistic fidget spinner - although I don't recommend keeping it in your pocket! It makes it a great STEM activity too!

What's really awesome about this is the design ideas are limitless! Every spinner is unique and will creative a different pattern!

Lucky Penny Spinner Materials:

2-3 Sheets card stock paper -white and/or colored
Pennies (1 per spinner)
Colored Markers
Scissors
Tape

Lucky Penny Spinner Directions:

1. Trace 3-inch circles on the card stock paper . I just used a kitchen bowl to do this. You could also use a circle cookie cutter or mason jar lid as well.

2. Cut out the circles and color the white circles with your markers in different patterns that will look cool while spinning. Mr. Sketch markers make for some fun scented spinners. I love a good Sharpie but you can of course use any type of markers!

3. Cut a small slit in the center of the circles, a little shorter than a penny.
4. Push a penny into each slit, about halfway through.
5. Put tape around the edges of the slit where the penny comes through. It really helps hold the pennies in place better.

Now you're ready to spin away! This makes a great art project as well as a great "sitting in one spot" project! That means it's perfect for classroom activities. If you wanted you could even create a math game around it to guide which colors or patterns are being used on the spinners. Use it as a fun activity or integrate several subjects at once!

Or maybe you just want to let their creativity fly!

Either way these colorful lucky penny spinners are AWESOME and perfect for any time of the year!

To see what other fun activities we do doing the day make sure to follow us on Instagram or get inspired on Pinterest!

Other Cool Art Ideas:

Cool Art Kits to Buy:

Other Activities for Kids:

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Make Your Own Lucky Penny Spinner: Fine Motor Skills Art Activity

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Whether you are looking for a simple art project, a fine motor skills activity, or just a St. Patrick's Day craft - this lucky penny spinner is for you! It's sort of like a creative artistic fidget spinner - although I don't recommend keeping it in your pocket!

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Read the book 'Tops and Bottoms' available on Youtube, and create a drawing or painting of the tops and bottoms of garden plants!

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Paint a beautiful rainbow, and add a sun and cloud for balance! Such a cute Spring Project!

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For the past couple of weeks, kindergarten has been working on this precious little piece of art! I got this adorable idea, yet again, from the fabulous art teacher, Cassie Stephens. Click on her name to get a little sample of her amazing art teacherin' talent!

Earlier in the year, we made a cute little cloud with rainbow paper, so this lesson is a review on rainbow order, and works on all kinds of other skills!!

Day 1: Paint the rainbow. This sounds easy right? Haha! Y'all try getting 20 something tiny humans to paint for the first time, and get back with me! 😂 It's super fun!! 😄We talk about how to hold a paintbrush, we talk about how to use our paint cup and tempera cakes "we dip,wipe, and swirl", and then we paint one color at a time. Dip, wipe, swirl is repeated A LOT while we paint. What that is referring to is, I tell the kids to DIP their paintbrush in the water, WIPE it on the rim of the cup, and gently SWIRL it on the tempera cake.

Now on to painting! It's like doing a directed drawing. When I paint red, you paint red, and so on. Between each color, I'm walking about the room making sure everyone is following directions, and not painting something they're not supposed to! 😆

Notice I have no pictures for this process! No time!! lol

Day 2: We add blue chalk for the sky, a sun with rays, and a little happy cloud. It's fun to see the little expressions the kinders put on their suns and clouds!

Here's an example of what I passed out for them to use.

Here's Mrs. Garcia's class, hard at work on day 2! Bravo!!

We still have a few that need to glue things on and curl or crinkle our sun's rays,paint our cloud gray, and then they'll be finished!
🌈🌈 Stay tuned for some awesome art! 🌈🌈

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For the past couple of weeks, kindergarten has been working on this precious little piece of art! I got this adorable idea, yet again, from the fabulous art teacher, Cassie Stephens. Click on her name to get a little sample of her amazing art teacherin' talent!

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Can you find objects in and around your home to make your name? Try even using other objects such as legos, foods, or other supplies!

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Sometimes a new focus is all that is required to return the vibrancy to something that is beginning to pale. This is what this activity is about - making a familiar walk special by having a spontaneous nature hunt. But we weren't just hunting for pretty leaves and flowers - we were looking for materials to make our names with...

As a family, we like going hiking in the woods. There is one provincial park in our area we particularly enjoy. It meets all the criteria on our checklist - creek and waterfall, a few meadows with berries and a variety of animals that you can spot if you're lucky enough. Our son is always very optimistic about our chances. "Let's go find a deer!" he says as he heads into the park.

We have been going to this park since Budster turned three months, so we have all had time to explore it well. And as we all probably know, there are times when familiar things are pleasant and comforting like an old blanky, but there are times when one is pining for something new that promises exitement. When we fount the latter to be the case, we tried exploring a few new places, but there was always something missing: they were too short, or too expensive, or too far, or all of the above.

Last weekend, we found ourselves in our favourite park again. We were simply going for a walk, but my thoughts were occupied with creating a slide of photos for my friend's wedding. I wanted to put together a series of photos featuring our messages to the newlyweds, and I decided to start with their names.

There was an old bridge across the creek that Budster likes to play in and can occupy himself for a long time. Daisies and thistles grew on its banks, and we spotted a cluster of late berries and early yellow leaves. An inspiration struck me, so I sat down on the bridge and started making letters with them. It was working very well, and suddenly I felt happy. I love making projects with natural materials because they provide such unique textures and colours, and this was coming together so fast which was a pleasant treat - my projects tend to take too long, and half of them don't even start.

My men were nice enough to supply me with materials, and in no time I had the names of my friends done. Just in time Budster was ready to hit the trail again. As soon as we walked up the hill, I spotted a cluster of red berries and exclaimed, "O-oh! They would have looked nice!" Then I saw a clover. There had been no clovers by the bridge. So I said, "Let's see what other interesting things we can find, and we will make our names on the way back!" That's how a walk turned into a letter nature hunt - or, to be more precise, a hunt for materials that can be turned into letters. Among our greatest finds were a pretty blue jay feather, acorns and a bunch of hickory nuts.

A couple of hours later, we were back on the bridge going home. There Budster played in the creek again, while my husband and I were making a nature collage of our names. It may not seem very grown-up... But there and then, it felt like the most romantic thing we have done in a while!

Budster doesn't know any letters yet, but he took his chance to learn some. When we pointed out his name, made of leaves and flowers, he inquired curiously about every letter. That was not exactly how I imagined introducing him to letters, but isn't it the best when learning just happens? There on the bridge, he could touch letters and even smell them!

And even though he couldn't write, he was excited to make little pictures.

At the end of our outing, I thought that it was one of the best hikes I had. I felt alert, and I noticed more of my surroundings than usually. Every hill was not just an exercise for my legs, but a wonder, "What will I find when I get up there?" All in all, adding a little extra sense of purpose to our hike did the trick, and the old place seemed exciting again.

Maybe our letter nature hunt could be inspiring to you? It doesn't have to be a big hike. I bet you would have a lot of inspiring finds in the backyard or on a walk down the street. If you have kids who are reluctant to go out or if you need an extra purpose for organizing a little family outing! Or maybe in the evening, you and your spouse would feel artistic enough to make a nature collage of your names. I'd like to print ours and frame it.

Have some nature fun with our nature STEAM bundle ! Children will learn about nature while playing games, completing engineering challenges, going on scavenger hunts, and making art with natural materials.

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Make the time outdoors special and craft your names with natural materials!

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Choice Board - Painting and Patterning on Paper Towels!

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Choice Board - Painting and Patterning on Paper Towels!

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Use the pattern of the paper towel to help guide you!

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I adore art projects that use household materials in new ways. This paper towel painting lesson does just that. A little marker and a few watercolors and you won't even recognize that paper towel!

What do you need...

Paper towels, any variety will work. It's fun to use the patterns on the paper towels as inspiration for new designs. So a variety of paper towels with different designs would be awesome. Black permanent markers and watercolors are also needed. We used dry cake watercolors from Crayola. If you have liquid watercolors those would work too. The colors that liquid watercolors produce are fantastically bright and hard to beat!

Getting started...

The fun of working on paper towels is the absorption factor. This also means that you need a protected surface to work on. Everything you do will bleed through to the table underneath!

Grab your paper towel or two or three and your black Sharpie. Encourage kids to use the patterning on the paper towel as a jumping off point for their own unique design. Even if every kids has a similar paper towel you can bet their designs will all be different. Think lines, dots, dashes, and adding in their own patterns.

Now for the color...

Because the painting is being done on a absorptive surface the paint will react a little different than normal! The paint will move and spread. Add more water and the color will be less vibrant but it will spread even farther.

Some kids love this and will "ohhh and ahhh" watching the paint spread from one area to the next. The inability to exactly control the medium may drive some kids bonkers. That's okay too. It's a good exercise in letting go and seeing where the art process goes.

Finding beauty in the ordinary....

After a little marker and paint these paper towel painting examples bear little to no resemblance to a cleaning rag. How cool right? Art can be made of anything. Use what you have around you, use the time you have and make something every day!

If you enjoyed this paper towel painting project I hope you will share it on your favorite social media channel.

Every single share helps me to bring you more fun projects and free printables!

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Paper Towel Painting and Patterning - The Kitchen Table Classroom

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I adore art projects that use household materials in new ways. This paper towel painting lesson does just that. A little marker and a few watercolors and you won't even recognize that paper towel! Paper towels, any variety will work. It's fun to use the patterns on the paper towels as inspiration for new designs.

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Choice Board - Draw a Knight! #maesstrong

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Choice Board - Draw a Knight! #maesstrong

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Use MAES school colors! <3

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Write your name in bubble letters! More information on Google Classroom!

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Choice Board - Draw More! (Printable Sheets!)

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Choice Board - Draw More! (Printable Sheets!)

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Use your imagination with these fun drawing sheets!

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Choice Board - Mother's Day Explosion Box

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Choice Board - Mother's Day Explosion Box

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A unique, thoughtful gift for Mom and Mother's Day (May 10th!) See Google Classroom for more instructions!

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Check out Crayola's Website for free coloring pages and art projects! Just click ok 'coloring and crafts'!

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INSTA - Optical illusion drawing (value)

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INSTA - Optical illusion drawing (value)

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Follow along to create an optical illusion drawing!!!

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Share your pictures with me! These would also make a wonderful Mother’s Day card! 😉

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Learning how to draw beautiful spring tulips! Follow along with us on YouTube or our website #stayhome and draw #withme ✏️❤️ Check the description on YouTube or the lesson page on our website for a list of supplies used in this lesson.

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Art For Kids Hub shared a photo on Instagram: "Learning how to draw beautiful spring tulips! Follow along with us on YouTube or our website..." * See 1,360 photos and videos on their profile.

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How cute are these mixed media piggies!!!!

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Day 562 #2. Plus day 11 of #aprillustration (Pig) AND 6/100 #the100dayproject. Cut Paper Pigs! Pigs is our Daily Creating Group prompt. Join us! Link in gio Teaming up with @estemacleod @augustwren @monika_forsberg for the #aprillustration project!\. . . . #dailycreating #pig #cutepig #cutpaper #collage #cutpaperart #collageart #artoftheday #illustustration #pigillustration #watercolor #cuteillustration #illustration #100daysofcreating #artsanity #visualartist #discoveringyourartstyle #terryrunyan

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Terry Runyan Art & Creativity posted on Instagram: "Day 562 #2. Plus day 11 of #aprillustration (Pig) AND 6/100 #the100dayproject. Cut Paper Pigs!..." * See 2,205 photos and videos on their profile.

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Make an interesting mark with paintbrushes made from everyday items!

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The Art of Education on Instagram: "Do your students not have paintbrushes at home? Here are different household and homemade items that can be turned into paintbrushes...."

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84 Likes, 0 Comments - The Art of Education (@theartofed) on Instagram: "Do your students not have paintbrushes at home? Here are different household and homemade items..."

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PIC - Hmmm... 🤔

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How gorgeous are these beautiful Easter Eggs! 

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Did you know, you can watch EVERY episode of 'The Joy of Painting' for free!?

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"bob ross" "the joy of painting" paint art free "bob ross the joy of painting" "bob ross painter" "bob ross paintor" painting "bob ross full episodes" "happy...

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The official YouTube channel of "The Joy of Painting" and Bob Ross. Watch and paint along with every episode of The Joy of Painting! Happy painting! You've seen Bob Ross before. He is the soft-spoken guy painting happy clouds, mountains, and trees in about 26 television minutes, using big house painting-type brushes and encouraging audiences with his gentle reminder, "you can do it."

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#Repost @theartofed with @make_repost ・・・ #AOEUresources. ⁣⠀ ⁣

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Teaching from home long-term is no picnic. You don't have access to your classroom, supplies, and most importantly, your students! With the advances in technology, solving these problems is doable. However, there's one thing about working from home that technology can't easily solve. How do you teach from home while also caring for your family?⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ Today on the #AOEUmagazine we are discussing this topic and providing you with tips to help balance working from home and your family. You can also find all of these resources there! #AOEUresources. ⁣⠀ ⁣

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The Art of Education shared a photo on Instagram: "Teaching from home long-term is no picnic. You don't have access to your classroom, supplies, and..." * See 1,431 photos and videos on their profile.

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Here is the Choice Board for dates April 9th - April 23rd! All of the additional resources can be found on this Padlet website!

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Create some unique and awesome art by reusing toilet paper roll tubes!

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It's no question that the COVID-19 pandemic has created a great deal of uncertainty. Whether we're trying to find the new normal of working remotely and managing our personal lives, there's been a change. However, one thing we can be sure of is having the use of toilet paper tubes as a creating medium!

In light of all the recent toilet paper hoarding, we're giving you some ideas to use those toilet paper cardboard tubes. As you continue to plan activities for your students virtually, this might be an excellent option to use as a medium to create with. If not, ask your students, colleagues, and neighbors to save those tubes for future use when you can go back to your classroom!

1. Textured Rolling Pins

Repurpose those seemingly boring cardboard tubes by turning them into texture tools. To do this, add a pattern or design around the roll with hot glue or puff paint. The textured tubes can now be turned into texture rolling pins for creating paint patterns or subtractive texture in clay.

2. Stamping

Toilet paper tubes make excellent stamping tools. Because the cardboard is thin, it is easy to cut into a variety of shapes. Since they are large and easy to hold, they also serve as a great tool for your adaptive art students or younger students still working on their fine motor skills.

3. Squished Faces

Artist Junior Fritz Jacquet uses toilet paper tubes to create expressive, squished faces. Jacquet uses the cardboard tube as a molding medium. Encourage your students to create an expressive face inspired by the artist's work. Take a look at this video to understand the process further.
Practice your own unique creativity and take a graduate course.
4. Gift Pouches

If you're currently stuck inside and need some activities for your own children or students to do, show them how to make gift pouches. This is an excellent way to upcycle toilet paper tubes by giving them a second purpose. Think about using these pouches for fun gifts for your neighbors. They also make excellent gift card holders!

5. Collagraph Texture Rubbings

Collagraph prints are an excellent way to use recyclable resources. Try creating collagraphs using glue and toilet paper tubes. The collagraph design can be attached to a sturdy piece of paper or even a piece of cardboard, depending on what is available. Traditionally, collagraphs are printed with ink or paint, but if your students have limited access to materials, have them put another paper over the top to create a crayon texture rubbing.

6. Make Decorations

Since toilet paper tubes are flexible, they can be cut and formed into almost anything! If you're looking to create some decorations for the season or to celebrate a birthday, get those creative juices flowing and make your own. Whether it's an activity for your family or students, this no-cost process can lead to endless possibilities!

7. Recycled Sculptures

Most likely, your students don't have plaster or paper mache materials at home. However, the use of cardboard tubes works as an excellent medium for building a sculpture armature. If you aren't able to use them now, save up those tubes to use in your classroom in the future.

8. Cut Cardboard Scenes

If you're looking for a more advanced process to try with your older students, check out these cardboard tube cityscapes by artist Anastassia Ellias. Take a look at this video to see the creation process of the tiny cityscapes.

Art teachers are always looking for ways to repurpose and upcycle materials for the art room. Toilet paper tubes just happen to be a material that everyone has access to. So whether you need an activity for right now or future use, keep these ideas in mind.

What's your favorite toilet paper tube craft or activity?
What's your favorite recyclable material to use in the art room?

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8 Unique Ways to Use Toilet Paper Tubes - The Art of Education University

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Art Education and the Coronavirus (COVID-19) It's no question that the COVID-19 pandemic has created a great deal of uncertainty. Whether we're trying to find the new normal of working remotely and managing our personal lives, there's been a change. However, one thing we can be sure of is having the use of toilet paper ...

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Get your supplies ready to draw along with Patty Palmer from Deep Space Sparkle!

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Bright Bunny | Draw & Paint Along with Patty

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Create an interactive chalk drawing! Take a photo!

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Make your on mandala designs! Change your line type, color, and style!

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Here are 25 unique and fun ways to dye Easter Eggs at home!

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Creative Easter Egg Coloring Tips! 25 Ways to Dye Easter Eggs!

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Make a color wheel out of things you find around your house!

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Make a laundry landscape, here is one for inspiration!

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Try this at home! A unique, and accessible way to paint anywhere!

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Lots of lessons, ideas, and resources for kids and parents!

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An art education blog full of lessons, classroom management ideas, and classroom decor resources.

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Mrs. E is awesome! Her instagram is full of fun and inspiration.

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There are lots of 'how to draw' worksheets on this website. Many are purchasable. This is a good site if you like handouts!

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Lesson to inspire young artists to express themselves through art.

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A great website with TONS of art project inspiration!

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An artist and art educator willing to share my ideas with everyone who enjoys creating.

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Here you can watch and draw along! These drawings all have an element of 'cute' to them!

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Here you can watch and draw along! There are drawing videos for all ages and skill levels!

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Hey, art friends! Welcome to Art For Kids Hub! 🎨✏️ Here, you’ll discover all sorts of awesome art lessons, from drawing to painting, and even some super cool origami. Whether you’re a beginner or a budding artist, there’s something fun for everyone! I’m Rob, and along with my amazing wife, Teryn, and our four creative kids, Jack, Hadley, Austin, and Olivia, we make art together as a family and love sharing it with you. ❤️ Ready to jump in and start creating? Most of our art lessons are self-contained, so grab your favorite black marker, some paper, and your coloring supplies, and let’s get drawing! 🖍️📒 Join us on this colorful adventure, and let’s make art that brings smiles and joy. Happy creating! 🌟

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Check here for updates, ideas, and new assignments! Post photos of your student's artwork as well! Missing all of you!