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.

Kindergarten Ideas for Art Sub Plans

Kindergarten Art Sub Plans Ideas

As an art teacher, I always found kindergarten to be a tough grade to write art sub plans for. Thinking up lessons that would be simple enough for any random sub to teach took a lot of planning. Sometimes it took a lot of prep too.

After I retired, and art subbed for a while, it reinforced my thinking that I better have a lot planned to keep a class of kinder kids, engaged. I don't mind singing and dancing and doing a lot of movement activities. Little kids are usually up for as much of that as you can provide. After as much of this as I could do and keep them interested, I would do a super simple art lesson.  No cutting.  No gluing. No paint.  And I would try to find lessons that were "no fail."

I would also have videos on hand for when kids would start finishing up their work. The early finishers would clean up, put their work away, and do whatever they needed to do at the end of a lesson.  Then, they would come to the floor and watch videos that I had previewed and thought were fun. I tried finding art videos that the students would like, but mostly the videos needed to be fun.

I do, by the way, have a blog with videos I have previewed.  Art Room Videos  I don't tend to it much anymore, but there are a lot of good videos in there. Some are great artsy ones and some are just pure entertainment for crowd control.

I would suggest that you have sub ideas on hand for kinder lessons.  Those were always the hardest to plan for me.  You might look around at this blog and save some ideas.  I will go back and tag the ones "kindergarten" that seem appropriate.  Print some things out. Go check out some ideas on TpT. I have a shop but there are plenty of others too.

Good luck and take care!

Art Sub Lesson Idea - Doodles

Art Sub Plan Idea - Doodles

Here is an easy lesson project from Andrea and Jantje at KinderArt.  They have given you examples and instructions, so if you know your sub has a skill for just teaching, they could totally follow this!

Check out the blog post here:  Doodles: Drawing Lessons for Elementary School Children

Here's a blog post about the work of a famous artist, that looks like doodles, but is actually more thought out than that.  Visit this blog post about the artist, Reggie Laurent. 

Reggie is renowned for his use of color.  

Check out the webpage for his original artworks here:  Laurent Originals

You can buy an art sub plan about Reggie and his art at my TPT shop: The Colorful and Fun Paintings of Reggie Laurent 

Through this art activity, students learn about geometric and organic shapes and how Laurent uses them in his abstract paintings. They then create a drawing of their own, based on Laurent’s work.

The lesson contains full directions for teachers and students. There are many photos of paintings by Reggie Laurent and visuals of student samples. There is a link to a YouTube video about the artist, but it is not necessary for teaching the lesson. (All photos of Reggie Laurent's work have been used with the permission of the artist.)

Funky Fish Idea for an Art Sub Plan

Funky Fish    Art Sub Plan Idea

I adore this blog post by  2 Soul Sisters. Their students created this fun piece for an art auction. I would totally buy it!

They used paint and 3D treasures, but I think the image idea could be sub lesson friendly for elementary students. I wouldn't leave glue and paint for a sub, but the basic design is marker and crayon-friendly.

Ideas for a Sub Lesson

You could leave a chart of basic fish shapes or imaginary fish shapes for students to copy.
You could draw simple fish shapes and make copies of them for students to fill in with designs.
Provide charts or handouts of patterns or textures for students to use to fill in their funky fish shapes.
Display more designs of funky fish to inspire kids.

And since this guy reminds me of Rainbow Fish,  a picture book might be a nice addition to the lesson!

Head over to their blog to get the details on this awesome piece.

No Prep, Fully Scripted Art Sub Plan

If you are looking for another funky and fun art lesson, but are less interested in putting it all together yourself, head over to my TPT shop and look at: Silly Sandwich. That is my most beloved art sub plan at my shop.  

This fun, no-prep art lesson was created for substitutes but may also be used by art and classroom teachers. Students learn art history and use their imaginations to create a silly sandwich.

Kids love this lesson. Subs love this lesson. And teachers love this lesson when they are putting together emergency art lessons.

STEAM Art Worksheet for Valentine's Day

Radial Symmetry Art Worksheet - Integrating Art and Math

This Valentine STEAM lesson can be used in elementary, middle, or high school. It is a perfect art sub-plan. Older students will have fun adding much more detail, but kids of all ages will enjoy this.  Click here to see more about this at TPT Shop: Cool Classroom Stuff.

Fun Extra

Here is a fun video by OK Go using radial symmetry. If you can show a video in your class, your students might like seeing this.

 

Here is a mandala lesson with templates and examples that you can use. This is from the TPT Shop: Cool Classroom Stuff.

Teaching Art to Students Who Have Autism

After I retired from teaching art, I subbed for my old art teacher friends. It was always helpful to have instructions for how to deal with students with special needs. Here is a website that has lots of help for teaching art to students who have autism. You might include some of this information in your sub plans as needed.  Tips for Teaching Art to Students Who Have Autism

Here's another blog post I wrote on the topic:  

Balloon Play

Art Lesson for Special Needs and Autism Classes

Winter Art Sub Lessons for Elementary

Here are some elementary art lessons that would make great sub lessons for winter and the new year. Some have directions and visuals included and some you will need to tweak a little.

"Winter landscapes by 1st grade - one day project" by Mrs. Knight's Smartest Artists. One day lessons can make great sub lessons.  This one makes such a gorgeous work of art. Paint isn't a great medium for subs, but can be substituted with crayons or markers.  If you will let your sub use markers, make sure you  leave lots of instruction about how the students should use them.

"Snowman Directed Drawing Art Activity," by Proud to Be Primary. This blog post includes both written directions and plenty of visuals.  Crayons or markers can easily replace the paint used in the blog post.

"A Cup of Fantasy," at Arteascuola.  These painted cups are so colorful.  I am sure they can be recreated in crayon or marker.  You could make step-by-step visuals pretty easily for this one.

"How to Draw Penguins," by Cassie Stephens.  In this blog post, Cassie gives visuals, including a step-by-step one for how to draw the simple penguin shapes.  Students add whatever details they think up, so these can all be individualized.

Oh, boy. Teachers are wondering what to do with their antsy art classes this last week before winter break. Don’t give up and give them over to videos. Fun art lessons for that last week before Christmas vacation can be had at this TPT shop: Centers and Early Finishers.

This is a complete lesson at TPT. 

This is a doodle activity at TPT. 

This is another doodle activity at TPT.

This one is a freeby at TPT.

This is a fun activity over at TPT.

"Patterns for the New Year," by Strong Rock Elementary Art Gallery blog.  This teacher gives an overview of this lesson about goals for the new year.  You could provide your sub with simple visuals and directions to go along with this lesson.

Here is another complete lesson about Chinese New Year.

Here is an updated blog post with more ideas for the week before winter break.More ideas for the week before winter break.

Ugly Christmas Sweater - Art Sub Lesson

You could totally turn this into an art sub lesson! Read about this lesson idea at the Little Yeti blog. https://artisandesarts.blogspot.com/2013/01/ugly-holiday-sweaters-grade-45.html

If you would like a fully formed, 25-page lesson about ugly Christmas sweaters that can be taught by anyone, check out the lesson by Cool Classroom Stuff on TPT.  It is a no-prep, fully scripted lesson with tons of examples. There are four templates from which the students can choose.

Christmas Ornament Card with Pattern

Art Sub Lesson - Christmas Ornament and Card

This lesson could be fun and easy for elementary, middle, and high school. It is written as a multiday lesson, but I am sure you can adapt it for one.  

Check out this lesson plan at NeoWhimseys blog, which has very detailed lesson plans. 

It uses simple supplies: paper and pen. You could also use other media, such as markers or crayons.

Art Sub Plans Worksheets - Day of the Dead

Sugar Skulls, Piñatas, and Sombreros - Art Worksheets

Here is a fun elementary art project for Cinco de Mayo, Halloween, or Day of the Dead. It can be set up as an art center; used as an early finishers project; or taught as an art sub lesson. There are templates, sample patterns and examples of three different designs. See more about this set of worksheets at TPT Shop: Centers and Early Finishers

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"