Silly Sandwich Art Lesson Plan

 Art Sub Plan for Elementary

Writing lesson plans for a sub when you are sick or stressed, is just the worst!!!! I'd venture to say that it is one of the most frustrating parts of teaching art. You want  your students to be engaged while you are absent but you know that unless a substitute teacher is an artist, they may be uncomfortable teaching an art lesson. This lesson, Silly Sandwich, alleviates that problem.

This art lesson is beloved. My students and subs loved it so much, I offered it up in my TeachersPayTeachers shop. It is fully scripted, uses simple materials, and is full of visuals. Just email the file to the school office and you are done.

Reviews of the "Silly Sandwich" Art Sub Plan

Here are some comments from teachers who have used this lesson: 

"The students really enjoyed this activity. I used it as a 'get to know you' activity and had them put all of their favorite things inside of the sandwich."

"Excellent art piece to leave for subs or even for those days you want to do a silly type of art lesson. Students were engaged and had fun with it." 

"I used this for a day I had a sick child at home and had to come up with a last-minute sub art lesson. This was a lifesaver! Thank you!"

"Great activity that kept students engaged for guest teacher! Very detailed instructions, minimal prep/materials/clean-up."

"This was perfect for a sub, really made my life and the subs life so much easier and the kids all had such creative ideas."

Where to Buy This

As of this writing, this complete lesson costs only $4. All you need to do is hand this to a sub and your planning is done. You can buy this lesson in my TPT Shop, Art Sub Lessons. 

Art Lesson Plan - Beyond the Gingerbread Man

Art Sub Plan - Beyond the Gingerbread Man 

No doubt about it. Kids love drawing gingerbread men, gingerbread houses, and all lessons related to candy and treats. After so many years though, that whole house and cookie person idea has run its course with them. 

I came up with an idea for the whole gingerbread and candy idea, but with a twist. "Beyond the Gingerbread Man" lets kids use all those fun yummy ideas they have, but let them apply them to an open ended art experience.

This was written as an art sub plan, but can be taught by anyone. It uses the most simple supplies: crayon and paper. You may, of course, use markers, Sharpies, and the like.  

Here are some of the art work kids have done with this lesson.

I have provided lots of examples of the gingerbread houses they are familiar with and a script for you to follow. 

It is such a fun lesson to do and easy to teach. Whether you teach it yourself or hand it to a sub, you will be happy to have given this lesson to your students.

Click here to find out more about this lesson: Beyond the Gingerbread Man - Art Sub Lesson Plan

Related Blogposts You Might Enjoy

If you are looking for some other Christmas/winter art lesson ideas, here are some other blog posts you might like:

This one is about the ever popular "ugly Christmas sweater." It includes both free and paid options from the web and TPT.

Art Worksheet - Ugly Christmas Sweater

The next blog post is about a free idea from NeoWhimsey that is an ornament or a card idea.  

The last one is a good idea for your special needs classes. You can find this blog post here:  Yarn Wrap Ornament for Special Needs Students

Teaching Art to Students Who Have Autism

After I retired from teaching art, I subbed for my old art teacher friends. It was always helpful to have instructions for how to deal with students with special needs. Here is a website that has lots of help for teaching art to students who have autism. You might include some of this information in your sub plans as needed.  Tips for Teaching Art to Students Who Have Autism

Here's another blog post I wrote on the topic:  

Balloon Play

Art Lesson for Special Needs and Autism Classes

Art Class for Special Needs

Art Class for Special Needs - Cardboard Sculpture

Last month, I took a long-term sub job for a friend of mine.  Twice a week, kindergarten and first grade age students who have autism, came to art for a half-hour each time.  When they arrived, we watched the video from YouTube to "Shake the Sillies Out."  After that, we went over to the demonstration table and I showed them how to glue a tower of cardboard shapes.

Early in my art teaching career, a special ed teacher requested that I do a lot of 3D lessons with her students.  She told me that this was something the kids rarely got to experience.  So, I've kept this in mind over my career and tried to incorporate more sculptural experiences in their art classes.

       


Before they arrived at the art room, I had chopped up a large corrugated box into a variety of shapes.  I had styrofoam trays full of glue.  I also had cut cardboard squares for sculpture bases.

The students dipped the surface of the cardboard shapes into the glue and stacked them upon each other.  They stacked them any way they liked.  Overnight the sculptures dried and the next day the students painted them.

Valentine Art Lesson - Special Needs

Valentine Art Sub Lesson for Autism and Special Needs

Today I taught a self contained class of first grade and kindergarten students who have autism.

When they first come into the classroom, we do a movement activity.  Today we danced to "Get Your Wiggles Out" that I downloaded from YouTube.

After that we went over to the work table.  Here are the supplies that I had ready.

I had prefolded and cut hearts out of 12 x 18 inch red paper.  There was a tray of torn colored tissue paper. I had folded acetate transparencies, but a cut open sandwich bag or wax paper would have worked.  We had glue sticks.

To prepare for the sub lesson, I prefolded  transparencies in half.  Then, to cut the heat shaped frames quickly, I folded each one in half then folded it in half again. That is when I cut the half heart shape that went through all four layers of the folded paper and ended up with two symmetrical heart shapes. 

The students rubbed the glue sticks one entire side of the transparency sheet.

They laid one piece of tissue paper at a time inside the folded transparency until they filled the entire sheet.

The transparency then got refolded and stapled inside the heart shaped construction paper.

After they were done, we took the "stained glass" valentines over to the window and enjoyed looking at their beauty.

Their art time is 30 minutes long and the activity took around 15.  With the remaining time we watched storybook videos and Disney song videos.

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Autism/Special Needs Art Sub Plan

Art Sub Plan for Special Needs Class

This is an idea I am going to try with the autism art class I will sub in tomorrow. I don't have the exact supplies but I think I can make it work.  When I retired, I just couldn't leave that pack of transparencies I have been hoarding for years.  So, I'll try using those with a glue stick and cut tissue paper.  If it works out decently, I'll post the results.

Now to go and look for videos to inspire the kids for the lesson.

Special Needs Art Sub Lesson with Balloons

Art Lesson for Students with Autism and Special Needs

Hi......As a retired art teacher, who subs for my art teacher friends, I come into the classroom with all my own plans.  I know my way around an art room and have no fear of paint.  When I was full time in the classroom, I rarely, if ever, left tempera for my own subs. However, I think there may be instances where it would be okay.

I have subbed for a friend's half hour elementary autism art class and this is the first lesson that I did.

Balloon Play and Print

I downloaded some short YouTube videos about balloons.  All told, the videos probably lasted 6 minutes.  I passed out a blown up balloon to each student and we all played with them for a while.  All of us, kids and teachers, had fun.  We tossed.  We caught. Someone happened to hold their balloon over the blowing heater and the balloon levitated.  Then, we all had to try it.  The kids would have continued playing for a long time, I think.

At some point I brought the kids over to the demonstration table and showed them how to bounce the balloon in the plate of tempera paint.  From there I bounced the balloon on the paper.  After a few bounces I rotated the paint color and bounced the same color in the new color.  In this way, they get a wee bit of color mixing.  They also get to observe the shape of the balloon printed on the paper.

After we finished balloon printing, the assistant lead the students, one by one, to the sink to wash hands.  Another teacher manned the balloon print table as I went back to the projector.  After the students dried their hands, they came back to the carpet and I showed the same balloon videos.

We hadn't even watched all of the videos again when it was time to go.  Having the time for videos during the handwashing though was a nice way to occupy students when the teachers needed to do other tasks.

It would be nice to leave your sub a clean paint shirt or apron for this lesson.


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It didn't occur to me to take my own photos.
***** photo credits*****
licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/
photo by Marco
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mcx83/6482430163/in/photolist-aSQ9Di-gCRWtj-duGimr-a2yRMC-xascmT-4cdrns-22Hbrs-oGQCJh-tWfMe4-aatXqL-yMMLFu-aat4Qe-qEfFN-nn6Mwp-eivXWm-gCRpt2-9uGexz-eP5gzp-pwLPwk-583kwS-fzDc4k-anKjEx-fhCDqv-anKmjX-anKjti-anKkCi-anN9eC-ezpZi3-cFfBKA-fAim7j-xjXDNE-fAimgL-5ehEC2-fjrR8E-bQmRTF-kpBo3-pwbbuv-fjrP7A-3byGAD-oUrt6D-Arjnp-3y1bDA-2ZjWuY-pyPDMF-h1B9k4-6N1eJd-x9iikT-fhSUmu-dmFmVm-8mmqCu