Art Sub Lesson for National Hat Day - January 15

 January 15 - National Hat Day

Did you know there is an actual “National Hat Day”?  I had no idea! Evidently, it is January 15. 

There are lots of fun sculpture lesson plans for "Crazy Hat Day". A quick search will give you tons of ideas for a lesson you can teach. However, I wouldn't leave a lesson with cutting and gluing for substitute teachers. 

A drawing lesson about funny hats can be an engaging, open ended activity, and kids love those creative sorts of lessons.

 "Wacky Hats" is a lesson that I created with a sub in mind, but it can be taught by anyone. It has always been a favorite of my own students over the years.

I included lots of photos of real wacky hats, even some from art history! This lesson is fully scripted with all the directions you need. There are also drawing samples of wacky hats.

It uses the most simple materials: crayons and paper.

So, if you need a sub plan, or want to enjoy teaching this lesson yourself, check it out at my TPT Shop:  Art Sub Lessons.

Handprint Tracing as Art Sub Plans

Hand Tracing Art Projects

Kids seem to love tracing their hands. It’s easy to do and mostly a no fail way to start a drawing. 

I looked online for different art lessons using hand tracing, that would be successful as an art sub lesson. There are plenty of them out there. Here are a few.

This is a drawing, a doodle really, that I did after looking at the blog post from Hingham Art Dept. The teacher had multiple ideas for hand traced drawings. They were all easy to do and attractive to look at. The lesson was geared towards second and third grades.

Click here to see the lesson, “Lend Me Your Hand.”

Miss Heather’s channel on YouTube has a video lesson on tracing your hand and filling it with designs relative to the students’ lives and interests. I like it when students really personalize their work. 

I suspect that Miss Heather made this video for her students during the pandemic.

Click here to see: Miss Heather’s YouTube Lesson

The next blog post includes another video. “The Craft Train” blog shows you how to design a patterned and colored hand design. Likely, if I left this for a sub, I would skip the cutting and pasting part, but do all the rest.  

Click here to see: Handprint Doodle Art by The Craft Train

JoAnne Gonzales has a blog post showing three different hand tracing ideas. There are plenty of directions there for you. Click here to visit:  3 Fun Hand Tracing Drawings

So, there are some fun ideas for your kids, but they are fun doodles to do yourself.

If you would like to see another of my blog posts about hand tracing, check out this blog post: Hand Creatures 

If you are interested in a fully formed lesson for a sub, that uses doodles, check out: People in the Style of Romero Britto. It’s in my TpT shop; easy to hand to a sub; and is easy to teach.