Fun Summer Follow Directions Activity

Looking for a fun, low-prep activity to keep your students engaged at the end of the school year? This Summer Follow Directions Activity is the perfect solution! Students practice listening, focus, and following directions through a fast-paced, interactive game using a summer-themed worksheet.

The best part? This activity works in any classroom setting—not just art. Whether you teach general education, specials, small groups, or even homeschool, this lesson is easy to implement and highly engaging for students in grades 1–6.

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Pop Art DOG project

This Pop Art Dog Drawing lesson is a fun and engaging way to introduce students to Pop Art! Using simple shapes, bold outlines, and bright colors, students create a patterned dog artwork while learning about color, design, and composition.

The step-by-step format makes it easy for all learners to follow along, while still allowing for creativity and individuality in each finished piece.

You can find the full lesson, including slides and step-by-step instructions, in my TpT store.

Cherry Blossom Vase Art

Looking for a meaningful and engaging spring art project? This Cherry Blossom Vase Art Lesson combines art history, design, and mixed media in a way students love.

In this 2-day lesson, students learn about Chinese Ming Dynasty blue and white porcelain while creating their own symmetrical vase design using patterns and line. They then transform their artwork into a finished piece by adding cherry blossom branches with textured tissue paper, bringing a beautiful seasonal element into the project.

This lesson is perfect for upper elementary students and includes step-by-step instruction, making it easy to implement while still producing high-quality, display-worthy artwork.

Click Here for the TpT Step-by-Step Guided ART Lesson

Pop Art Bear Drawing Project

If you're looking for a fun Pop Art lesson for elementary students, this Pop Art Bear Drawing Project is a great way to introduce students to bold colors, patterns, and creative design.

Students begin by learning about Pop Art artists such as Romero Britto, Keith Haring, and Takashi Murakami. They then follow a guided step-by-step drawing lesson to create their own patterned bear using bright colors, bold outlines, and repeating designs.

The lesson includes:

• an animated Google Slides presentation
• step-by-step drawing instructions
• a pattern ideas reference page
• teacher directions and slide notes
• a student rubric

Because the instructions are clearly structured, the lesson is easy to follow and works well for grades 1–5, even for substitute teachers. Most classes can complete the project in 1–2 class periods, and the finished artwork is always colorful and unique.

You can view the full lesson here:
👉 Pop ART Bear Lesson on TpT

3D Winter Art

This fun 1 day, low-prep ART lesson teaches radial balance and 6-sided symmetry through a hands-on building snowflake craft activity that includes visual guided Google Slides, along with a printable exit quiz.

 

The example showed is AI generated. Real process and finished project examples are included within the slides.

This Radial Balance Snowflake STEAM - ART lesson teaches students the principles of radial balance symmetry and 3D sculpture while integrating a fascinating science video about how crystals form in nature.

Using only Q-tips, glue, and a dash of glitter, your students will create stunning, winter art ornaments that look like real ice when hung in a window!

Lesson Components:

• Google Slides Presentation: 16 slides with speaker notes
• Pre-Lesson Material Prep: Tips for materials and set up
• Direction Sheet: 3-page guide listing all slides and associated speaker notes.
• Comprehensive Question Sheet: To be printed for assessment purposes.
• Comprehensive Question Answer Sheet
• Project Rubric: To be printed for grading purposes

Implementation:

Guide the class through the Google Slides presentation in Slideshow mode, utilizing the speaker notes.

Art Supplies Needed for this Lesson:

• Wax or Parchment Paper
• Q-Tips (whole and some you need to pre-cut in ½ )
• Pencils
• Small (1-inch) paper "anchor" circles
• Glue bottle
• Blue or Silver Glitter
• Yarn, String or Ribbon for hanging later
• Small containers for glue and glitter

Cat Drawings

2nd graders followed along with me to draw a cat using simple shapes.  Then students colored both their cat and the background with crayons.

ROBOTS

2nd grade designed ROBOTS using different lines and shapes. Students outlined their robots with black crayons and then created a colorful background.

 

Positive Words

EDIT:  Check out my TPT store for the complete lesson with Google Slides, Directions, and Rubric.

2nd grade students created a black & white background paper writing nice and positive words all over it in different directions, styles, and thickness.  Then students choose the paper color to trace and cut out for their hand and wrist, as well as for the heart to hold.

For more directions on this project visit a post from a few years back: Hand holding Heart.  This is also a great PBIS lesson to talk about positive, happy, and kind words.  

Hawaiian Shirts

2nd graders have been practicing for their Winter Music Concert and will be singing a Hawaiian song about the holidays.  To help collaborate, students created Hawaiian Shirts with Flower Leis during art.  First students choose their shirt color and then stamped white paint using a flower stencil design.  Once dry, they cut out the shirt shapes and assembled adding trim and collar pieces.  To complete the look, students thread paper flowers onto yarn to hang as leis over their shirts. 

 

 

Owls... secondary colors

2nd grade reviewed the secondary colors (orange, purple, and green) by sponge painting a background and then cutting and assembling paper to create an owl sitting on a tree branch.

 

Pumpkins in a field.

2nd grade students follows step-by-step directions to draw a pumpkin sitting in a field.  Students then had the choice of turning it into a Jack-O'Lantern and adding more objects to their background.

 

 

 

Art Book

2nd grade students will be working throughout the school year to create an Art Book based off every letter of the alphabet.

 

  

 

Star Mural

On their first day of art class, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students all participated in a star mural by tracing a star shape on an index card and then added color using crayons and/or markers.

 

Click on the picture to enlarge the image.

   

 

 

Summer Shades

2nd grade drew self portraits wearing giant sunglasses reflecting their summer plans.

Cats

2nd grade drew, colored, and included backgrounds for their cool cats.

Rabbit Designs

2nd grade drew a rabbit then created a pattern inside it's ears and belly.

 

Frogs

2nd grade completed a frog drawing and then used different values of green to color.

Robots

2nd grade used different lines and shapes to draw robots with a colorful background.

Hand with Heart

EDIT:  Check out my TPT store for the complete lesson with Google Slides, Directions, and Rubric.

2nd grade created a background using black marker and writing "nice" words on white paper, filling up the entire area.  Then they chose a color paper to trace their hand and a heart shape to cut and glue onto their background.