Spring Directed Drawing - How To Draw A Bird With Your Pencil

Directed Drawings for Kindergarten and First Grade

Art sub plans for primary students can be tricky. You really need to keep them engaged.

I noticed that there are not a lot of kindergarten art sub lessons out in the world, ready to use, so I created a few. 

Directed drawings are loved by elementary students. I like for them to have room for individuality and creativity too. Here are ones that work great for spring and summer.

This lesson was written for kindergarten and first grade, but I added a second lesson in the package for the rest of elementary. 

"Kooky Birds on a Branch" is a directed drawing that can be drawn as three birds on top of a branch or two birds on top of a branch and one hanging under. Kids follow, step by step, for the drawing part and then add their own details.

It also teaches how to color neatly and includes a rubric.

"Springtime Bird with Pattern and Flowers" was written for kindergarten but older elementary students would enjoy drawing it as well. It includes a template for making this a greeting card.

It is also no prep and fully scripted.

The last one, "Bird in a Tree with Flowers," is a directed drawing for elementary students that can also be used as a greeting card. It is also no prep and fully scripted.

Kindergarten Art Sub Plan - Klee’s “Cat and Bird”

Kindergarten Art Sub Plan - “Cat and Bird"

When creating a sub plan that needs only simple instructions and materials, Klee's painting, "Cat and Bird," might be just the foundation upon which to build.  

Paul Klee Idea Emphasizing  Shape, Pattern, and Warm and Cool Colors 

The teachers at Jamestown Elementary, Ms. Worden and Ms. Teitsma have written a blog post that suggests rich resources from which to teach this lesson. 

Since my older students would often ask if they could do a lesson that the little kids did, I know that sometimes they like the simple lessons too. The perfect time to let them do one of those simple lessons is when they have a substitute teacher in art.

Check out this lesson at Jamestown Elementary Art Blog.

Paul Klee Idea Emphazing Color and Shape

Another take on this lesson can be found at the blog, Art at Miquon.  Ms. Batchelor, at The Miquon School, taught a unit on Klee for multiple grades and this blog post shares the inspirations for that in this blog post. Again, this is a lesson that could be easy enough for anyone to teach with the right resources. This is no cookie-cutter lesson and each drawing is unique.