11 Easy Art Plans Based on Children's Books

When I sub in art, I enjoy teaching lessons that are tied into children's literature. The instant tie into quality books helps capture the students' attention, which is crucial to teaching in a short term assignment.  

Here are some lessons that use children's literature. You may click on the image to go to the lesson.

The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

Lesson by Miss Young's Art Room

The Gingerbread Man

Lesson by Art Sub Lessons

Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature, 

by Joyce Sidman and Beth Krommes

Lesson by Sharpy Woman

The Pesky Rat, by Lauren Child

Lesson by Fairy Dust Teaching

Ish, by Peter A. Reynolds

Lesson by Art Project Girl

The BFG, by Roald Dahl

Lesson by Art Sub Lessons

Magic Trash - A Story of Tyree Guyton and His Art

Lesson by The Old Paintbrush

A World of Your Own, by Laura Carlin

Lesson by Art Is Basic

Tar Beach, by Faith Ringgold

Lesson by Art Sub Lessons

The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat

Lesson by Art Sub Lessons

The Night I Followed the Dog, by Nina Laden

Lesson by Art Sub Lessons

Black History Month Artist Tyree Guyton

Elementary Art Sub Lesson on Tyree Guyton

Black History Month Drawing Idea

There is a nice art sub lesson plan over at "The Old Paintbrush." It is used with the book, Magic Trash; The Story of Tyree Guyton, and His Art, written by J.H. Shapiro. Nicole has included the full plan of what she gives her subs.  Enjoy!

7 Easy Art Lessons About Monsters

7 Easy Art Sub Lessons About Monsters

Here are easy elementary art lessons about monsters (plus a bonus one!)
These would be great around Halloween time or to use with those units on monsters.


"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. You can find the lesson at my TPT Shop:  There Be Monsters!



Originally, this lesson was posted on a blog called, “Clown and Poodle.” It appears that it no longer exists. However, I had written a blog post inspired by the original, and that still exists. You can see that complete lesson in my blog post here: Purple People Eater




Here’s a lesson at Ms. Pearce's Art Room called "Circle Monsters." Kids love
tracing shapes. Here they can create original monsters just by starting with tracing circles.



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



This sweet kindergarten lesson is by Artisan des Arts.




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




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

Though that blog no longer seems to exist, I left the picture here because the idea is a good idea. Since that blog post isn’t around anymore though, I found another scribble monster lesson for you.

This is a YouTube video by Emily Brosius. This is a video lesson, so it is complete with all the instruction you need.

Lastly, here is an art worksheet that I have in my TPT Shop. “Create A Silly Monster”

This drawing worksheet includes directions and sample details for drawing a monster. All you need to do is print and distribute. Great for centers, subs and early finishers too.

Teaching European Explorers in Elementary Art

Teaching European Explorers in Elementary Art Class 

"There Be Monsters!" is a fun and open-ended elementary art sub lesson that integrates the study of early explorers with mapmaking and sea monsters.  

There are 21 slides that include many from maps from the age of Columbus.  There are lots of strange sea creatures on these maps!  The students will talk about what they see in the slides and then create a map of an imaginary place with their own unique sea monsters.

It was written with an art sub in mind, but can be taught by classroom teachers and art teachers as well. 

You can find this lesson in my Teachers Pay Teachers store:  Art Sub Lessons.

This particular lesson was written for 3rd through 5th grade, but if you are interested in an early explorers art lesson for middle school, check out this lesson:  Explorers and Sea Monsters

Back to School - Kindergarten Art Lesson Plan

Back to School - Kindergarten and Preschool Art Lesson Plan

This is easy to teach the lesson that I have taught to kindergarteners and preschoolers as a back-to-school lesson. I usually cut 12" x 18" into simple school bus shapes. After showing the students photos of many familiar and crazy-looking buses, I let them design their own. We also watched lots of videos about buses and sang "The Wheels on the Bus."

If you would like to buy a PowerPoint of this lesson all ready to be used, you can buy it here, at my Teachers Pay Teachers shop. Here's a comment left by someone who purchased the lesson: Everything included that is needed to do this lesson which makes it so nice. I've added this to my sub-tub on a flash drive due to the completeness of the product. I really appreciate the attention to details for this product.

Silly Sandwich Art Lesson

Silly Sandwich Art Sub Lesson

This lesson idea has been around for a while and it is still as good as ever. Kids love "silly" and fun anything and this is no exception.  You can load anything you want on a silly sandwich. Food, toys, the kitchen sink. It's all good. 

If you have time, cutting 12” x 18” paper into 6” x 9” makes for a fun size.  This size really exaggerates how silly and big this sandwich is.

If you want to save yourself some time, I have this lesson fully formed in a PowerPoint in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  There are photos of real silly sandwiches and student samples.

It works great as a lesson to leave with your substitute teachers. All your sub needs to do is read the script and follow the directions. Classroom teachers and art teachers can teach it too, but subs love this one. The kids stay engaged doing it.

Oh! And I added a word find puzzle about sandwiches for those early finishers.  You can check it out here:  Art Sub Lesson - Silly Sandwich

5 Back to School Art Sub Lessons

Art Sub Lessons that Anyone Can Teach

Back to school time must be the hardest time to think up art Sub lessons. Here Are 5 Art lessons that are easy enough for art subs and classroom teachers but can be used by art teachers as well.

Lines, Lines, and More Lines by Jan Johnson at Art Sub Lessons

Minions by Miriam at Arte a Scuola

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

Collaborative Creatures by Katie Weymouth at Briargrove Elementary Art Page

Art Sub Plans - Collaborative Creatures

Collaborative Creatures - Back to School Art Sub Plans

This open-ended, creative lesson can double as an art sub-plan and a back-to-school lesson. Katie Weymouth has posted it over on her blog, Briargrove Elementary Art Page. 

Katie has given detailed instructions on how to teach this lesson and has provided tons of student created artwork. That’s one of the reasons this is such a nice sub plan. It is so ready for you to print out and hand to a sub.

Back to School Art Sub Plans - Dot Day

Dot Day for Back to School Art 

Teachers love to integrate Dot Day into their Back to School lessons since, for many, they happen around the same time. (September)

 

Here are Dot Day lessons from Ms. O’Hanley, Tales from the Traveling Art Teacher  She’s got a video link and multiple lesson ideas that a sub could do.  

 

One of my favorites is this radial symmetry design done on a paper plate.  Check it out! 

Art Sub Plan for Back to School - Emoji

Back to School Art Idea

***Note: The original post that I linked to here no longer exists. Actually, so far as I can tell, the whole blog is gone.  But here is my original post.***

Kids would love to do this if they had a sub in art.  You could print out samples of emoji and have the students create new ones.  This plan could easily be adapted to crayon.  Check this idea out over at:  Room (: Art!

Create a Block Character - Art Worksheets Printables

Create a Character - Art Sub Plan and Early Finishers 

 This drawing worksheet includes directions; sample details; and a lightly drawn in character. All you need to do is print and distribute. Great for centers, early finishers, and art sub plans worksheets too!

Here is feedback from a middle school teacher: "My Middle School Art students enjoyed this assignment. It allows for a range of art supplies at home- so they all felt successful !"

Worksheets for Early Finishers are the perfect tools to engage students with time on their hands. Your art subs will adore you for leaving worksheets for those empty minutes, but you will appreciate them just as much.This is a quick art project for early finishers. There are three worksheets included. One worksheet has a figure lightly drawn in and students create their own characteristics over it. Another is the same worksheet but the character is drawn darkly. The last worksheet is a full page character with nothing else. Students may create characters from stories, movies, sports, hobbies or their own imaginations. There are sample body features that they may use or they may invent those too. There are teacher samples included so that you don't have to spend the time to do it yourself! 

This may also be an inspiration for a writing assignment.

Disguise a Turkey - Art Worksheets Printables

Draw a Turkey in Disguise - Art Worksheets Printables

Art Worksheet - Disguise a Turkey

Need a Thanksgiving art sub plan, art lesson or early finishers worksheet? This is a fun and creative worksheet for kindergarten, elementary, and middle school. This drawing lesson is based on a classic lesson in which students alter the appearance of a turkey to help him escape Thanksgiving dinner. This could be a great lead in for a Writers' Workshop lesson. The supplies needed for this worksheet are pencils and crayons or markers. CLICK HERE TO SEE A VIDEO PREVIEW OF THE WORKSHEET

Here’s where you can find that worksheet:  TPT Shop: Art Sub Lessons

Silly Monkey - Art Worksheets Printables

Art Worksheet - Silly Monkey

 

  Mini Art Project - Early Finishers Worksheet Whew! This time of year you definitely have to keep those kiddies on their toes. You need to occupy their every minute. Here is a fun worksheet you can give them that is engaging and creative. It is a great way to have them fill in those moments when they need activity. There is a lightly drawn outline of a monkey and boxes of possible details. The student will choose their own details and add whatever they like. They then may draw a background and color in. Your kids will love this! You will too.

Easy Art Plans for Subs

Easy Art Sub Plans

Here is a free art sub PowerPoint plan for you at my  Teachers Pay Teachers shop: Art Sub Lessons.  This lesson is one I use with kindergarten.  We do lots of moving around making the shapes of lines as we look at the slides. TeachersPayTeachers requests that you make your free PowerPoints smaller than your "for pay" ones, but this is still full of good images and information for your students and subs.

Here are a couple of "easy sub lessons" from Dali's Moustache.  One is a third grade lesson about Jackson Pollack's action paintings.  The other is a fourth grade lesson called "crayon fireworks."

Another easy way to prepare for an art sub is to go to my shop, Art Sub Plans. I have created complete lessons in which all your sub has to do is read the slides and follow the directions.  They are full of visuals and are created to be used with the most simple supplies.  Pencils, paper and crayons are all your students will need to create imaginative works of art.

These are perfect for those emergency absences when you do not have the time to write detailed plans but want to leave quality plans for your subs.

Art Sub Plan Idea - Easy Shape Tracing

This lesson would be great for an art sub with just a small bit of tweaking. I can't imagine leaving a lesson that includes black tempera paint, but there are work arounds.

From experience, I know that kids love tracing. Cans. Coffee lids. Flat tools. The more diverse, the better. Crayons are a perfect medium here and great to leave with subs.

Get inspiration from this gorgeous lesson from The Moffatt Girls.

Art Sub Plan Doodle Pages

Ms. Kristen-Crayon Can posted this sub idea a while back. Check out her blog to find out from where her idea came.

If your students like doodling, perhaps they will enjoy this worksheet for early finishers in my TeachersPayTeachers shop.

 Art Sub Plan - Op Lines

The blog, Kids Art Market, has written up directions for a lesson that could be used by an art sub. Don't you love it when someone else has already done the work and shared it???

Mollie Morrisey based her lesson on the art of Victor Vasarely, the father of op art. She gives basic info about that artist in her blog post. 

It reminds me of another blog post here. It is a one day art lesson with shapes done, not that much unlike, these concentric circles.  I also linked to an art history lesson on Kandinsky that could serve as an intro to the lesson.  You can see that blog post here:  One Day Art Lesson

If you’d like a video to introduce a lesson on concentric circles by Kandinsky, you can check out this video by Alyssa Abel: Concentric Circles with Kandinsky

Easy Elementary Art Sub Plan

"The worst part of my job is preparing for a sub." That is a statement we can probably all agree with. You need to spend tons of time to describe even the tiniest of directions. That quote is from "Art Project Girl." She made it a little bit easier for you though, by posting this art sub plan. 

It has written instructions, visuals, and uses simple materials. 

It works well as a lesson to use in February as it uses warm and cool hearts as the subject.

Easy Art Sub Plan - Doodling

Here is an easy elementary art lesson that a sub could work with. It would be nice to pair it with a book on patterns. You can find more about this lesson at the blog, Dali's Moustache.

Dali’s Moustache used this with first and second graders. They also link to a video for inspiration.

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If you are here looking for an art sub plan that you can print out and use ASAP, check out my TPT Shop:  Art Sub Lessons.  Sometimes you just don’t have time to write up art sub plans.  If you want something easier, visit my TPT shop that I created just for that purpose:  Art Sub Lessons.  I’ve got fully formed, no prep, scripted art lessons as well as art worksheets.

If you’d like to start with some free art sub plans, you can find those too.