Upper Elementary & Middle School Christmas Art Lesson-Doodle Monsters

Emergency Art Sub Lesson Plan: Doodle Monsters with a Winter/Christmas Theme

This art sub plan is a lifesaver for those unexpected days when you need to take emergency leave or sick days from school. Keep it in your emergency sub binder and have peace of mind knowing you’re prepared.

Check out the in-depth preview here: Middle School Christmas Art Lesson: Doodle Monsters and add it to your WISH LIST.  TPT Cyber Sale is Dec. 2 and 3!!!

The lesson is fully scripted and comes with plenty of visuals to guide students through each step. It's perfect for keeping students engaged and learning, even when you can’t be there in person.

It can be taught as a projected lesson or printed out and shown up close.

Students will learn about overlapping and shading while drawing something fun.

This Lesson Contains:

• 15 Pages of Scripted Lesson Content: Full of engaging visuals. The teacher just reads the script and shows the pictures.
• Instructions for the Teacher: How to begin and end the lesson.
• 3 Student Examples: Print and hang these up for inspiration if you like. 
• 2 Black and White Line Drawings: Print as coloring pages for students who need extra help or differentiation if you like. Pages 23 and 24.
• 1 Page of Details to Add: Includes a variety of eyes, mouths, hats, candies, and doodle monsters. Print them out and display or place a copy on each table if you like

Jen Stark Inspired Pumpkin Drawing - Lesson Plan - Halloween

Jen Stark Inspired Pumpkins

 Alright, let's blend some autumnal vibes with a bit of psychedelic flair! Here's a step-by-step lesson plan for creating a Jen Stark-inspired pumpkin drawing:

Lesson Plan: Drawing a Pumpkin with a Jen Stark Influence

**Objective**: Students will create a pumpkin drawing inspired by the vibrant, intricate style of contemporary artist Jen Stark.

**Materials**:

- Drawing paper (9x12 inches or larger)

- Pencils and erasers

- Fine-tip black markers or pens

- Colored pencils, markers, or gel pens

- Rulers and compasses (optional for precise geometric patterns)

**Introduction (10 minutes)**:

1. Briefly introduce students to Jen Stark, showing examples of her work. Emphasize her use of bright colors, layered patterns, and organic shapes.

2. Discuss how Stark's style can be applied to create a unique and eye-catching pumpkin drawing.

**Step-by-Step Instructions (45 minutes)**:

1. **Sketch the Pumpkin** (10 minutes):

   - Lightly draw the basic outline of a pumpkin. Start with a large oval shape and add curved lines to create the sections of the pumpkin.

   - Add a stem on top and any other basic features you want, like vines or leaves.

2. **Add Patterns and Designs** (15 minutes):

   - Using fine-tip black markers or pens, divide the pumpkin sections into smaller shapes and patterns. Think about Jen Stark's use of concentric lines, wavy patterns, and geometric shapes.

   - Experiment with different patterns in each section to create a varied and dynamic design.

3. **Add Color** (20 minutes):

   - Using colored pencils, markers, or gel pens, fill in the patterns with vibrant colors. Encourage students to use a wide range of colors and to blend them creatively.

   - Remind students to think about Stark's use of contrast and color harmony.

**Reflection and Sharing (10 minutes)**:

1. Allow students to share their finished drawings with the class.

2. Discuss how they incorporated Jen Stark's style into their pumpkin drawings.

3. Reflect on what they enjoyed about the process and what they found challenging.

Assessment:

- Evaluate students based on their creativity, effort, and how well they incorporated elements of Jen Stark's style into their pumpkin drawings.

Extensions:

- Create a series of drawings inspired by other seasonal items (like leaves or acorns) using the same techniques.

- Experiment with different media, such as watercolor or digital art programs, to create similar designs.

Remember, the key is to have fun and embrace the vibrant, psychedelic spirit of Jen Stark's art! 🍂🎃

🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃 🎃

If you need an art sub lesson that is ready to print and hand to a sub, these might be just what you need:

Draw a Haunted House or Doodle Monsters at Halloween

5 Back to School Art Sub Plans - Name Designs

Five Art Sub Plans for Back to School - Name Designs

Preparing for the first week of school can feel like the pits. I will admit to being someone who often waited until rather late to start doing those back to school lesson plans. And if you have to write art sub lessons for that first week back, that's just the worst!

I've looked around for some lessons online to help you with that. And I looked for ones where the planning has mostly been done for you.

Name designs are some of the first lessons I like to do because they can be used on the cover of student portfolios or hung as bulletin boards.

1.  Fully Prepared Art Sub Plan in my TpT Shop  

I'll start with an art sub plan that I have just finished creating for my TpT shop. 

It has all the instructions, visuals, dialog, and examples that you need to print out and hand right to a sub. It'd also be a good one to put right in your emergency sub plan folder.

There are options for how the students may complete it. They can do it in black and white with patterns.

They can do it in color with patterns.

For differentiation or for primary grades, you might choose to do it just with color and no patterns.

Here's where you find this lesson:  TpT Shop: Art Sub Lessons - Name Designs

2.  YouTube Lesson for 6th Grade 

Now, if you prefer to have your older kids, maybe 6th graders, watch a video lesson, check out this one from Mrs. Thiele.  Here's the address for that one:  6th Grade Portfolio Cover Name Design

She has them use Zentangle type patterns in their name design.

3.  Easy Lessons that Need a Few More Instructions

The Incredible Art Dept. has multiple ideas for name design lessons. They are a little thin on the written instructions, but you could probably write them up without too much trouble.

Here are some other blog posts that I have written about name design lessons that you could use with a sub. 

Name People is a lesson that I found on Artsonia, for third graders.

4.  Middle School Abstract Name Design

This one is an abstract name design for middle school students.  Abstract Name Designs as Middle School Art Sub Plans

5.  Radial Name Design 

This blog post shows you a little about a radial design for names. 

This one, at the Seoul Mates blog, also shows the idea of a name written in a radial design, but a little differently.

Again, if you want to just buy one that is already prepared and ready to hand to a sub, check this one out at my TpT shop.  Back to School Name Design. 

Magical and Imaginary Characters Art Sub Lesson

Imaginary and Magical Creatures - St. Patrick's Day Art Plan

The month of March is a fun opportunity to teach lessons about imaginary and magical creatures. Subs will love you for leaving them a lesson like this that will keep the kids engaged.

When you can be picky about who subs for you, I would request one that could use a DVD player or computer if I wanted to show a video. If you know you couldn't get that picky, find a picture book with leprechauns or about St. Patrick's Day.

When I teach this lesson or leave it for a sub, I love to show one of the old Reading Rainbow videos about St. Patrick's Day to go with it. You might be lucky enough to have it; find it to buy, or find it on YouTube. There are other resources you can use too, though. As of today, here's a YouTube video for the reading of "How to Catch a Leprechaun" on the Happy Cultivated channel. If you have access to the book itself, it is a good one to go with this lesson. (If you go with a video, always preview it first.)

Supplies Needed
-black pens, if they know how to use them properly OR pencils
-crayons
-paper
-a book or video about leprechauns or magical creatures



Dear Sub, Thank you so much for coming in today. You will be teaching kindergarten through fifth grade and my classes are all 55 minutes long.

I expect the children to work with a minimum of noise. Whispering might be okay but loud play isn't okay. Use your own judgment on what you will accept. If the whole class does not respect the noise level, you can have them put their heads down for a couple of minutes. This usually takes care of the problem when it does happen.

The lessons for today show the theme of St. Patrick's Day. Ask the students if they know anything about the holiday. Show them the DVD about St. Patrick's Day. It is already in the DVD player under the projector. (Press the red button on the projector once. Press the play button on the DVD player. To turn off the projector, press the red button slowly two times.)

Ask them to tell you about the magical creatures they saw in the video. What did they look like? What did they do? Have them talk about their magic. What was at the end of the rainbow?



Since magical creatures are imaginary, we could invent our own lucky creatures. It could be an animal. It could look like a person. It could have wings. It could be a magic genie. What color would it be? What magic could they do? Would they have treasure? Where would their treasure be? Would they be like a dragon? Would they be a magic horse or some other animal?

Think up a lucky creature that you would like to find. Draw your magical lucky creatures and show what magic they could do. You might have a lot of lucky creatures that live together.

Send three at a time to the taller tables and two to the shorter ones. Pick one student from each table to get supplies. They should get the following:
black pens
crayons (in the blue boxes)
paper (they should line up in front of you and tell you how many sheets they need for their table)

They should begin by writing their name and class codes on their papers. They will draw and color what they would like to happen on their lucky day. Remind them to work hard and use their imaginations.

As students start to finish, you can start playing the videos on the disk related to St. Patrick's Day. Students who are finished can watch the videos. Ones who want to continue to work on their artwork may do that as well.

They may watch that until the end of class or you can have the children bring their artwork to you....and you show the art, one at a time, to the class. Students should clap for each other when you show each picture. (Remind them to clap for everyone!)

At the time for the end of class, line the children up to wait for their teacher.





If you would like to leave a worksheet activity that your sub could use with this lesson, check out this activity in my TPT shop: Create a Leprechaun in Disguise It is great for early finishers.

Art Sub Plan Idea - Drone's Eye View

Drone's Eye View - Middle School Art Plan

This is a great art sub idea for elementary, middle and high school art from Blick. It can be adapted in so many ways.

Is your sub someone that you know and would watch a short video to introduce them to the lesson? Perfect! If not, you can write out some simple plans by watching the video yourself. Here’s a pdf on Buick’s site for the lesson: Drone’s Eye View

You will need to print out satellite views from Google for the students to choose from. Subs would probably need to have students draw the simple shapes they see on the map, but then can color in with crayons. Painting with a sub is generally a bad idea unless they are experienced in such things.

Anyway, check out this lesson from Blick,  It might be a lesson you want to teach yourself!

A-Mazing Dinosaurs - Idea for Art Sub Plans

Maze Making Art Sub Lesson

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

There are other lessons on how to draw a maze, if you would like to try this with some basic directions. Plus, there are YouTube videos on Maze Making. I think kids would love trying this one!  Here’s one where the teacher shows how to make a maze in a shape:  Ms. Cooper’s Art Class