Elementary Art Sub Plan - Desert Cactus Directed Drawing

 2 in 1 Art Sub Lesson

In my quest to try and make a teacher's life a little easier, I created a lesson that can be taught in kindergarten through 4th grade. It is a directed drawing but with plenty of room for personal expression.

The lesson starts out with step-by-step instructions for how to draw a patterned pot with a prickly pear cactus inside. That is for the kindergarten and first grade students. 

After they are led through how to draw that and color in neatly, the lesson for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade begins. Those grade will add a desert landscape to their drawing. 

By combining them all in one, your substitute teacher only has to attend to one lesson plan all day. (I subbed for a while after I retired, so I know how important it is to make the sub's life as uncomplicated as possible!!!)

The drawing uses the most simple materials: paper, pencil, and crayon.

It is no prep. All you have to do is print out the lesson or set it up to be projected. It can be taught either way. 

Check it out here at my TPT shop:  Desert Cactus Creations: Patterned Pots and Scenic Backgrounds for K-4

Art Sub Plan for National Dress Up Your Pet Day

National Dress Up Your Pet Day

Ooooooh, another holiday is coming up! January 14 is "Dress Your Pet Day."

Here's a blog post about it from National Today: Dress Up Your Pet Day

This would be an easy idea to turn into a lesson for substitute teachers. Use a few good photos of dressed up animals and show some books with illustrations of dressed up animals. The school library is full of them!!!!

Here's a little drawing I did of dressed up pets that you may use for your lesson, if you like, but the internet is full of photos of dressed up animals.

drawing by ArtSubLessons.blogspot.com

There are so many photos of dressed up animals on Flickr. If you search on Flickr, you can add to your search that you want photos using Creative Commons, which gives you permission to use the photo. You can break down that search to your more specific needs. Artists who post their photos will set them for the level of sharing they wish to give.

Photo by Richard Masoner. https://tinyurl.com/2tjz74sy. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Crayons and paper would be all you need for this one. Encourage adding details and a background.

From My Shop

If you are interested in some art worksheets that you could use for "Dress Up Your Pet Day," here are some that I have in my TPT shop:

Create a Dragon in Disguise

Create a Silly Monkey in Disguise

Create a Turtle in Disguise

Create a Frog in Disguise

Create a Penguin in Disguise

Create a Bunny in Disguise

Create a Groundhog in Disguise

Create a Panda in Disguise

Create a Yeti in Disguise

Create a Reindeer in Disguise

Kindergarten Art Sub Plan on Figure Drawing

Art Sub Lesson - People in the Style of Romero Britto

Early in the school year I like to teach kindergarten and first grade, "how to draw a person." They learn the basic shapes you need to use, and then turn it into a self portrait.

I have learned, though, that many times students in all grades will fall back into drawing stick people. ....Sigh..... So a review of at least giving their humans a full body shape, is never a bad thing.

Statue by Romero Britto. Photo by Phillip Pessar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Art Sub Lesson for Drawing a Human Figure

 When I contemplated what I would do for a new art sub lesson, I stumbled across some Romero Britto paintings of people. He used those basic shapes that primary kids learn how to draw, and that, coupled with the bright colors and simple patterns, would make a perfect lesson for an art sub to teach. As with all of my art sub plans, teachers will often use them in their regular classes.

So, this new art sub lesson that I created teaches a basic definition of Pop Art. It shows Romero Britto's bright and happy paintings; connects the work of Picasso to Britto; and leads students on how to draw a person using simple shapes.

It can be printed out and handed to a substitute teacher; emailed to your school office for them to hand to the sub; projected in your classroom; or shown to your students for distance learning in a Zoom type meeting online. (Not Outschool, please.)

Where You can Check out all the Details

Check out the lesson preview over in my TpT shop.  Art Sub Lesson - People in the Style of Romero Britto

Art Sub Lessons for Elementary - Ugly Bug Ball

Ugly Bug Ball - Art Sub Plans

One easy path to take with an art sub lesson is to read a book or show a video and then have students draw their own interpretation from that.

Here is a vintage clip that I love.  "Ugly Bug Ball." It is fun to watch and uplifting.  Kids can watch and then proceed to draw their own ugly bug ball.

Pencils, paper, crayons and you are good to go.

TPT Art Sub Plan of Ugly Bug Ball - No Prep 

Don't just "wing it" with a sub. Give them a real art activity with substance. I have a no prep lesson in my TPT shop that goes along with that.  It gives your sub more of a structure with a fully prepared script and lots of examples.  There are even art history references! 

Check out the lesson plan here:  Ugly Bug Ball Lesson Plan

Elementary Art Sub Plans | Romero Britto

Romero Britto Inspired Elementary Art Activity

This lesson is from the Elements of the Artroom blog. Mrs. Stacey provides many examples from this second-grade art lesson. I believe an art sub could teach a lesson based on this. 

Here is another 2nd or 3rd-grade art lesson about Romero Britto.  This one is at The Talking Walls blog.  There are plenty of instructions so you could easily translate this to an art sub lesson.  

I could see this used for second through fifth grades.  

If you would like to see a fully formed, lesson you can just email to your school office when you are out, check out this blog post:  Romero Britto Figure Lesson for K and 1

How to Draw a Turkey for Thanksgiving - Kindergarten

Turkey Directed Drawing for Thanksgiving

If you have an art sub who can lead a simple directed drawing, here's a super cute one for fall. Proud to be Primary has a lesson on her blog with complete directions.  Kindergarten kids will love it!  Of course, you might not want to leave paint with a sub.  (By the way, YOU DON"T WANT TO LEAVE  PAINT WITH A SUB!!!)  But, kids can draw this and color it with crayons and still end up with a lovely work to take away with them.

 Art Lesson Plan for Kindergarten

If you would like an early finisher activity about turkeys, I have this worksheet at my TPT shop: Art Sub Lessons.  "Create a Turkey in Disguise." Great for elementary kids.

If you are interested in a lesson on how to draw a simple turkey, check out this blog post: 

Art Sub Lesson: Thanksgiving Drawing.

How to Draw a Turkey in Disguise - Elementary Art Lesson

This is a complete lesson plan on drawing a turkey.  There are simple directions on the basic turkey shape and then examples for how it might be in disguise. This is a fun lesson for elementary kids and can be taught by anyone. 

You can find this lesson here in my TPT Shop:  Art Sub Lesson - Create a Turkey in Disguise

Dog Party - Preschool and Kindergarten Art

Preschool and Kindergarten Art Sub Plans

Here is a sweet idea for preschool and kindergarten that I had not seen before.  The lesson she created is for preschool. Here's a look at what they did.

She bases the lesson on Go, Dog, Go to have students create a dog party.  The idea came from Collage Mama's Itty Bitty Blog: A Big Dog Party.  

Take a look at the illustration from the book.

The original lesson has students using paint. Paint wouldn't be a medium you should leave for a sub unless you know the capabilities of the sub, but crayons will work nicely.  Students will love hearing the storybook read to them.  Likely, it will be a favorite.  So, let your sub read that book to your students and then have the students draw their own dog party.

Read "Collage Mama's" blog post for more ideas on this lesson.  

STEAM Art Sub Lesson with Insects

This lesson was created with an art sub in mind. All of the directions have been included for their ease of use. There are multiple ways to use it. It may be printed out so that the sub may present it up close on paper or shown as a PowerPoint presentation.
It integrates science with art in an “ugly bug ball.” Including art history rounds this out even more!

]

The lesson begins with a discussion about masterpieces featuring insects by the artists Balthasar van der Ast, Nicolaes de Bruyn and then William Heath-Robinson. The lesson then leads the students to creating an imaginary scene of insects at a party. Each slide includes questions and statements for the students to think about including in their drawing.

I have taught this lesson to all levels, K through Fifth. My subs who have used this lesson have left feedback that they and the students thoroughly enjoyed the lesson.

I hope that this will be a well loved lesson for you and your students and that it helps you when you are in need of a sub lesson. 

The materials needed for this lesson are the most simple: paper, pencils and crayons or markers. Here's what another buyer had so say about that: "Great lesson to leave for a sub as everything needed was included and the prep was minimal and used things commonly found in the art room. "

Here's a comment from a buyer:  "The kids produced wonderful drawings and images. The sub used the plans for my intermediate groups grades 3-5 and she loved working with the kids as the plans were so meticulously laid out!"

You may find this lesson here:  TPT Shop: Art Sub Lessons

Bugs and Insects - STEAM Art Sub Plans

Bugs and Insects - STEAM Art Sub Lessons

Now that spring is here, people are interested in nature art lessons. Here are some related to bugs and insects.

Here is one on TPT that was written easy enough to be taught by anyone; art teacher, sub, classroom teacher, or random person off the street.  Ugly Bug Ball

This one is also on TPT.  It could also be taught by anyone. A multipurpose lesson, it could be used as a center activity, an early finishers activity, or an art sub lesson.  Create Insect Designs with Radial Symmetry - STEM/STEAM

This is a coloring/doodle/patterned Monarch Butterfly activity on TPT.

The images in this blog post are great.  As an upper elementart art sub lesson, you could do some step by steps of how to draw a simple insect and add a pattern chart.  Kids could do some beautiful drawings with crayons or markers. This is over at Laura Kelly's blog, Me and My Inklings.

Here's another good one with lots of visuals and instructions.  Still, for a sub, you might want to add a few more step by step visuals unless you have a person who is comfortable doing simple shape drawings.  I would also keep the lesson to just crayons or markers.  It is a nice lesson.  Visit the Laugh Paint Create blog.

KinderArt, always a good place to check out lessons, has a lesson called Bug In A Jar. It was written for middle school art, but could be adapted,  I'm sure.

Crayola is always a good place to get ideas. Often there are plans on their site  you could use as well. This one would need more detailed directions for a sub, but you could write up some step by step ones that would work with this. Crayola

Birds and Birdhouses | Kindergarten Art

Birds and Birdhouses Kindergarten Art Sub Plans

People are always seeking art sub plan ideas for kindergarten and first grade. Here is a project that you could easily turn into a sub lesson for both.  She has complete instructions too.  These are drawn from the most basic shapes. Kindergarteners could easily follow along. And any sub should be able to lead them. 

Check out this lesson from Ms. L's Art Room.

If you are interested in other kindergarten art sub lessons with directed drawings of birds, check out this blog post:  Kindergarten Bird Lessons

Kindergarten Art Sub Lessons | Imaginary Travel

Kindergarten and First Grade Art Sub Lesson

One good place to check when you need art sub lessons is KinderArt.

Here's an elementary art lesson that they recommend for ages 5 - 8.  They include a short write up of a lesson with a sample art work. Your sub would probably appreciate some supplemental material such as picture books that go with the theme. It is a sweet little lesson you can leave for your sub if you have time to add a few more visuals and maybe a book to go along with it.

Here's one of mine that has a similar theme, but there 17 pages with visuals; a script for the sub to follow; and instructions. 

Here are a couple of comments from teachers who have used this lesson:

"As a regular classroom teacher tasked with teaching art I love your lessons - makes me more confident that I am sharing some art insight."

" Great lesson for subs - easy, engaging, and very relevant in the art room! My sub loved it, and the kids did too. They all wanted to finish their images the next week."

Find my lesson is at TeachersPayTeachers shop: Art Sub Lessons.

Art Sub Lesson Plan - Silly Monsters

Halloween Art Lesson - Creating Silly Monsters

“Creating Silly Monsters” is a fun lesson about monsters that you could use in an art center; as a regular art lesson; or for an art sub. It is super easy to teach and kids will love it. Check it out at TPT Shop: Centers and Early Finishers  It would be timely around Halloween but could be taught any time.

Art Sub Lesson Plans About Monsters

Elementary Art Sub Plans about Monsters

Look no further for easy elementary art lessons about monsters. Here are lesson plans that would be fun to teach in October or at Halloween. They would all be perfect for art sub plans.


If you like leaving YouTube videos for subs, here is a sea monster lesson from Steve Harpster.  He shows kids how to draw creatures using letters of the alphabet. In this video, he uses the letter "A."

This "Name Alien" lesson is by We Heart Art.  This lesson ends up far from where it begins!

"There Be Monsters" is a lesson about sea monsters as they were drawn on  ancient maps.  

Students observe the old maps and monsters and create their own.

Here's a worksheet for early finishers at TPT.

"Create a Silly Monster"  This would be great for subs, art teachers, and classroom teachers.

This "Name Alien" lesson is by We Heart Art.  This lesson ends up far from where it begins!

"Clown and Poodle" originally wrote about this lesson. It is based on the old song, "The Purple People Eater." Originally, I linked to that blog, but it no longer seems to exist.  Here is my blog post about that lesson.

This sweet kindergarten lesson is by Artisan des Arts. 

"Her Dabbles" came up with this lesson called Silly Monsters. 

Ms. Pearce's Art Room has this lesson called "Circle Monsters." Kids lovetracing shapes. Here they can create original monsters just by starting with tracing circles.

This Scribble Monster lesson came from "Art  with Ms. B"

Back to School - Easy Art Sub Lessons

Easy Art Sub Lesson Plans for Back to School

Back to School time. What an awkward time to be absent from your classroom.  Here are some posts that would make great art sub plans. They are easy enough for a sub to teach and interesting enough to engage your kids. Click on the links to find out more about these fun and easy lessons.

Kindergarten and Preschool Art Lesson Plan
by ME!  Jan @ Art Sub Lessons blog

Free Art Sub Lesson - Lines, Lines and More Lines
by ME!  Jan @ Art Sub Lessons blog

Minions
by Miriam at Arte a Scuola

Collaborative Creatures
by Katie Weymouth at Briargrove Elementary Art Page

Dot Day
by Ms. O'Hanley at  Tales from the Traveling Art Teacher

Here's a post with multiple ideas for drawing things using circles: Back to School Art Activity: What Can You Make Out of a Circle Shape?

Leave a comment below if you know of more great ideas for kids for back to school art.