Tips and Lesson Ideas for Art Subs

Tips and Lesson Ideas for Art Sub Planning

This is important information for us all about subs.  Being a substitute teaching in art class isn’t as cut and dry and you might think.  I did it, mostly for my friends, after I retired. Once in a while I would sub for someone outside my trusted circle and let me tell you, depending a lot on what a teacher left me, I had either a pretty good experience or a “never again” one.

 Phyl, at There's a Dragon in my Art Room, tells about her recent experience in art subbing.  She gives some tips and lesson ideas as well as things we should have ready at all times.

Paul Klee's Senecio by FunArt4Kids

Elementary Art Sub Lesson on Senecio

I am hoping to take a couple of days off before Christmas and may use this for my sub.  Hopefully, I will come back and write detailed plans for this to share with you.

I think that this lesson at FunArt4Kids could be broken down enough for any sub to be successful.

Paul Klee's Senecio at the blog Fun Art 4 Kids  

If you are lucky enough to get a sub who can use your computer, projector, and PowerPoint, they can use this great presentation here:  Paul Klee.  If you can also always print it out for your sub.  (This blogger has a nice collection of another artist PowerPoints too.)

Art Sub Plans - Purple People Eater

Elementary Art Sub Plan for Purple People Eater

You would think that since I gather sub plans for this blog, preparing for a sub would be a breeze for me.  Not so.  Though I have so many ideas right at my fingertips, I still spend unspoken numbers of hours writing the plans and making the visuals.  So I will post the written plans I made this week and maybe it will save you a little time.

I originally posted a link to the blog, Clown and Poodle, but I am having trouble linking to that site now. So, I got my original idea from them, and this the lesson I chose to leave for my sub yesterday.

Here is how I prepped.  Since all my classes were going to do the same lesson, I taped the visuals in the front of the room.  Some of these are ideas I copied directly from her original post.

In this lesson, the students glue a googly eye on the paper.  I did this the day before my sub came as to save her the hassle of dealing with the thick craft glue.  When the students received their work paper, it had a googly eye glued on it already.


Here are a couple of the finished pieces done by second graders:

Here are the lesson plans as written for my sub:

Tell the students that today they will be inventing a new silly monster all on their own.  It will look like no one else’s!  

Read these lyrics with a lot of fun in your voice:

This is called the One Eyed, One Horned, Flying Purple People Eater.

Well, I saw the thing
A comin' out of the sky
It had a one long horn
And a one big eye
I commenced to shakin'
And I said "oohwee
It looks like a Purple
People Eater to me"

It was a one-eyed, one-horned
Flyin' Purple People Eater
One-eyed, one-horned
Flyin' Purple People Eater
Sure looked strange to me


Well, he came down to earth
And he lit in a tree
I said, "Mister Purple People Eater,
Don't eat me"
I heard him say
In a voice so gruff,
I wouldn't eat you
Cause you're so tough

It was a one-eyed, one-horned
Flyin' Purple People Eater
One-eyed, one-horned
Flyin' Purple People Eater
One-eyed, one-horned
Flyin' purple people Eater
Sure looked strange to me
One horn

I said, "Mister Purple People Eater,
What's your line?"
He said,
Eatin' purple people,
And it sure is fine.
What is the reason
That you came to land
I wanna get a job
In a rock 'n roll band



Well, he went on his way
And then what-a you know
I saw him last night
On a TV show
He was blowin' it out,
Really knockin' 'em dead
Playin' rock 'n roll music
Through the horn on his head

Show the students a paper that has one eye glued to it.  Tell them that they will invent their own one-eyed monster using this paper.

Show them the sample monsters that I have drawn.

Ask them how many eyes their monster should have. <There is one eye glued on the paper, but they can draw more if they want.>

Ask them what else their silly monster should have.  (Wings?  Legs?  Toes?  Teeth?  What else?)

Show them the charts on the SmartBoard and tell them that they may use some of the ideas there, but they don’t have to.  They can invent whatever they want.

Show them the paper that has one eye glued on it.  (They’re in the cardboard box under the SmartBoard.) Tell them that they will use that as their monster’s eye.  They use the Sharpie to draw around it.  They add the rest of the head, the body and what ever else they want.

Show the drawings of the two monsters.  Point out that they have things in their hands.  What will they put in their monster’s hands?

Will their monster be scaly?  Will it be hairy?  Bumpy?  Rough? 

Have the students go to the tables you assign them.  (Send four to red…four to yellow…four to blue….four to green…..etc.)

                                                  

After they are seated, tell them to look at their seat number.  Tell them that person #1 should stand up.  If there is no #1, choose #2 for that team…or #3 of need be.  That person will be the team helper.

Hold all the papers.  Have the helpers line up in front of you and tell you how many sheets they need for their team.

The helper should come back and get Sharpies for their team.

The helper should come get a box of crayons for their team.

Everyone should draw their monsters.  Remind them that they can draw them however they like, however if they need help, they can get ideas from the charts on the SmartBoard.

If lots of children finish before the end of class time, call them all up front with their drawings.  You can collect the drawings and show each one.  The children can clap for each other.  Remind them that it should be clapping only and that we clap for every child.

If there is still time at the end of class you can read the book “Glad Monster Sad Monster.”  I will put that up front with the other supplies.

Helpers should return Sharpies and crayons to the front of the room.

The children should take their art work with them.

Please give me feedback about how the lesson went.  

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If you like that lesson, you might also like this one from my shop on TeachersPayTeachers.

Design a Giftcard - Art Sub Plan

Design a Giftcard for Sixth-Grade Art Lesson

This lesson was intended for fifth and sixth-grade students.  The sub even left a comment about how great a lesson it is!  Find it at Art Class with LMJ.

Name Parade - Elementary Art Sub Plan

I found this at Artsonia at this link: Name Parade

It was posted by Old Post Road Elementary School
E. Walpole, Massachusetts

  There is a description of the lesson on the Artsonia page.

The one below is one I made as a sample.

If you would like this idea written out as a fully formed art sub plan, you can visit my TPT Shop here:  Name People

Name Aliens - Art Sub Plan

I found this on Pinterest. It is a fully formed lesson plan, though not initially intended as a sub plan. I think that my fourth and fifth graders would have no problem with this and a sub could easily teach it.  It's from the blog "We Heart Art."

Game Time! Art Sub Plan

Game Time! Art Workseet 

Thanks so much to Elizabeth at the blog, Dream Painters,   for suggesting this link.

Here's a game your kids might enjoy with your sub.  "Roll A Picasso"  and other artist games.  Check it out over at Mrs. Humpal's Room.

And here are some worksheets you or your sub might like to have on hand for those early finishers. You can find them at my TeachersPayTeachers shop. Click on each picture to check them out.

Here's a new worksheet in my TeachersPayTeachers shop.

Amusement Park - K - Middle School Art Sub Idea

Art Sub Plan Idea - Amusement Park

I saw this homework assignment from Art With Mrs. Custer and thought it would be something a sub could handle.  This is a lesson idea that could cover kindergarten through middle school.  Take some images of amusement parks, rides, food, etc. and add some directions.....this one practically inspires itself!

If you like this lesson, you might also like this lesson in my TeachersPayTeachers shop.

Maze Making as an Art Sub Lesson

Thanks so much to Elizabeth for sending this one my way.  Check out her blog and this sub appropriate lesson at Dream Painters:  A-Mazing Dinosaurs. 

This lesson is based on a idea from a puzzle web site that included mazes. Elizabeth had her student create their own mazes. 

 

There are lots of maze resources on the web that could help you and a sub.  Here is a video I like:  How to Draw a Maze (EASY!). If you have a sub who can work your technology, this would be a food lesson to demonstrate the idea. If you don’t have that luxury of a tech savvy sub or you just don’t have the resources available to show a video, this will help you write up the instructions for yourself.

 

Op Art Tutorial Sub Lesson

Op Art Tutorial for an Easy Art Lesson

This was sent to me by  Danish blogger/art teacher, Tina Kejlberg.  She has lots of tutorials on her site, many of which you can adapt for a sub.  Google has a translation option that pops up to translate the site for you.  Go take a look!  Mrs. Fine - glimpses from my art education.

Draw the Other Half Worksheet

Draw the Other Half Art Worksheet - Middle School Art Sub Plan

Thanks so much, Jessica, for sending along this sub lesson.  She uses it as a time fill if she needs to, but says that you could also leave it as a sub plan.  Jessica says "if anyone wants me to send them the original in an email, to comment on my post :) "  Check out her sub lesson on her blog, "Miss Young's Art Room."

Ugly Bug Ball - Art Sub Lesson

Ugly Bug Ball Elementary Art Lesson for Subs

I came up with this elementary art sub lesson during my sick leave after knee surgery.  Unfortunately, my first few days at work were too taxing to teach my regular curriculum, and I had to teach this sub lesson to a few classes.  All levels seemed happy to do it though.

Many grades in the spring are studying insects, so this is a natural tie-in to their curriculum.

If you go to my blog for art room videos, and search for "ant" or "insect" you will find lots of videos that you can tie into this lesson.

The main idea for the lesson is from this video, "Ugly Bug Ball."  Since it is a Disney video, I suppose they could take it down at any time.  You can do a web search for it if it isn't on YouTube anymore.  The video has Burl Ives singing this sweet song about the ugly bug ball and then ends up showing animation of said ball.  The kids loved it!

After watching the video, we talked about the things that you might find at an ugly bug party.  What kinds of bugs?  What would they be doing?  How would they be dressed for the party?

Materials:
black pens
markers or crayons
12 x 18 white paper

The kids drew the bugs, trying to include the body parts they had learned about.  They dressed them all in party attire and with the proper surroundings.

When they were done, I collected the papers and showed them to the class.  (We always clap after each work is shown.)

If there is time left at the end of that, the sub may show the other videos on insects.

If you would like a fully written version of this lesson, ready for a sub to pick up and teach, you may purchase my plan at this link:  TeachersPayTeachers.    The materials are the simplest:  pen or pencil, marker or crayon, paper.  It would be perfect for an emergency art lesson or just a regular art lesson.

Dr. Seuss's New Hats - Art Activity for Kids

Art Activity for Kids - Dr. Seuss’s New Hats

I found this lesson on Artsonia.  I think a sub could do this one with small adaptations.  Maybe it would be good for kinders through second.

Here are the Artsonia credits:
From exhibit ""Cat in a Hat, Has a Hat!”
by Waylon88 (Art ID #18057787)
from Perry County School District #32 grade 1 (Perryville, MO)
United States 
Submitted March 26, 2012

Lesson Plan Starter: “Cat in a Hat, Has a Hat!”

for grade level » Early Childhood (Pk-2)

One-Day Art Lesson -

One Day Art Sub Lesson

Jessica Young used this plan initially as an art sub lesson for fourth grade. When she needed a quick art lesson for herself, she pulled this one out and used it for other grades as well.
You can check out Jessica's blog here: Miss Young's Art Room.


She says that her students stayed engaged for the whole class time with this. She also gave ideas for those few early finishers and those who took it a little too slow to finish in art.




The materials she used were markers and paper. With subs, I am careful about leaving markers. If I know the sub and trust them to emphasize using the markers with care, I would leave markers. Otherwise, crayons would work just fine.


Miss Young demonstrated how to draw a "criss cross" star with her kids and then showed them how to repeat the lines in and around that star. I think you could also provide students with templates of other shapes for this. Basic shapes? Animal shapes?


If you would like to use masterpieces from art history to introduce the lesson, here are is an idea that might work well.




in public domain
This is Kandinsky's Color Study, Squares with Concentric Circles from 1913.


Here's another lesson plan that you could use to create a lead in for this lesson: "Kandinsky Squares with Concentric Circles,"at the blog, Art Prep has a good, meaty description of Kandinsky and his work.


They talk about Kandinsky choosing to switch to from using subjects in his paintings to focusing on line and color. This is great information for your lesson.




If you would like to use an art sub plan that is fully formed and ready to hand to a sub, check out this one in my TPT shop: Art Sub Lessons. It is no prep and fully scripted. It can be taught by anyone.

This elementary and middle school art sub lesson includes slides about the artist and two projects for the students to draw. It is great for teaching elementary students about abstract art and the artist, Bruce Gray.

Written for a sub, it may also be taught by classroom teachers, art teachers, and homeschool teachers.

Supplies needed for the art lesson are pencils, paper, markers or crayons, rulers and circles of various sizes.

Emergency Art Sub Lessons

I wrote this original post in 2012 and it led to lessons on a school system's blog that they had provided for their own teachers. Unfortunately, they have since removed that post all these years later.  Since you have taken the time to click over here looking for free art sub lessons, here are some you can use from this blog.

What Can You Make Out of a Circle - a free worksheet you can download from my TPT shop

Circle Drawing Worksheets - a free worksheet you can download from my TPT shop

Free Art Sub Lesson - Lines, Lines, and More Lines - a  free, fully formed primary art lesson written for subs, at my TPT shop

Directed Drawing - How to Draw a Penguin - a blog post that will lead you to fully formed lesson ideas

Art Sub Plan - Wayne Thiebaud - a free video that I created specifically for art subs and it is over on YouTube

___________

If you are looking for fully formed, high quality art sub lessons, click here to check them out at my TPT shop:  Art Sub Lessons

Here is an example of one of those lessons: 

"Native American Shields" is a lesson that I designed for use by an art sub. This PowerPoint can be projected to a class or printed out and shown up close.  This lesson is fully ready to be taught by a sub. The visuals and prompts are all right there to help a sub feel comfortable teaching a quality art lesson. You can find it for sale here: Art Sub Lessons.

This is perfect for those emergency absences when you do not have the time to write detailed plans but want to leave quality plans for your subs.

Art Sub Lesson Plan “Picasso Meets Grant Wood"

Free Art Sub Plan “Picasso Meets Grant Wood”

I recently went through all of my old sub plans and took photos of them to share with you.  I found this lesson plan on Artsonia years ago.  It was posted by Jennifer Barretto, Rhodes Elementary, San Antonio, Texas.

Here are the visuals that I left for my sub and some of the kids' work.

Since not all of our subs are comfortable with working the computer and projector, I mounted these images and words on large paper so that the sub would know exactly what to say as she was showing the visuals.