Popular Art Sub Lessons

Art Sub Lessons Ready Right Now

Art teachers and parents are looking for lessons they can use right now; ones that are full lessons to teach. Here are the fully formed lessons most often purchased from my shop this week.

These are scripted, no prep lessons that can use paper and pencil.  Pens, markers, crayons, or colored pencils would certainly enhance the artwork, but if someone only has pencil and paper, they can still do these lessons. These are full of images with examples of art student artwork.

These are PowerPoint presentations that can be printed out, projected, and viewed on your device screen.

They are fully scripted and can be taught by anyone. Parents would have no problem going through them with their children. They are meant to inspire students to create their own inventions and not just copy what they see.

Click on the images to go to the lesson on my TPT shop.

Early Finishers Worksheets and Art Subs Lessons

Art Worksheets Elementary and Middle School

“Teacher, I'm done. What do I do next?" A dreaded question, especially for a substitute teacher.  Answer: Art Worksheets 

I have been creating fun classroom activities for years. Kids love them!  These drawing worksheets will also work great at home for distance learning. As a bonus, you can use these as art sub plans worksheets too!

Each worksheet has a lightly drawn outline of a character surrounded by images of possible cartoon features. Students choose the details they want and add them to the character. 

Typically, I sell these on TPT for $.99 apiece, but recently I have added them as a bundle option.  In a bundle of 21, you save over $5.

The worksheets include these characters: block people, dragon, Jack O'Lanterns, bunny, reindeer, turkey, panda, trolls, elves, penguins, monster, gingerbread house, monkey, yeti, turtle, frog, claw machine, groundhog, nutcracker, leprechaun, and Little Red Riding Hood.
Click here to go see the items in my TPT store:  Learning Packet for Art

Here are the individual items that are included in this bundle.

Explorers and Sea Monsters - Middle School Art

Art Sub Lessons: Sea Monsters 

Who wouldn't love learning about sea monsters! If your students are learning about the "age of exploration" or "European explorers," they will enjoy this art lesson plan. Students will learn about maps created by ancient navigators and the sea monsters that often appear on those maps. Then they will create a drawing of their own imaginary sea monsters. 

It was written with substitute teachers in mind, so it is written with a full script and tons of visuals.  It can be taught successfully by anyone. It is no prep and uses the most simple materials.  Paper and pencil. Crayons, pens, and markers could be added. It is presented as a PowerPoint but can be converted to Google slides if you want to use it in that manner.  Make your life a little bit easier with this already prepared activity.

Here’s Where You Can Find This Lesson

This is where you can find the middle school lesson:  Sea Monsters.

If you are interested in an elementary lesson about early explorers, click here:  Art Sub Lesson - There Be Monsters! It is another fully ready; easy to teach; no prep art lesson that will be fun for your kids.

 

Art Activities That Students Can Do At Home

Elementary Art Sub Activities to do at Home

If you are looking for easy options for teaching art at a distance, here are some suggestions.

I found this drawing prompt generator. artprompts.org  You select a category and then a prompt appears for that. There are ads at the top but look down at the bottom to see your prompt. Get a new prompt by clicking on "refresh." You can make your own template and then insert drawing prompts for each week.





Crayola has art worksheets that you can download.


If your students have access to the web and YouTube, there are some sites that they can access easily.  

Here are some you might check out.

The Kennedy Center
Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems

Mr. Pstudios is an art teacher. His YouTube channel includes drawing activities for kids.

The blog, Art Room Videos, has links to lots of individual art videos that have been previewed for kids.

The Dad Lab has lots of videos. Your students may have access to lots of materials, so check out his entire channel. For those whose students may have limited supplies, here are some videos that might work for you.
Crayon Rubbing with Legos 
Shadow Drawing
Draw with Your Feet
Tree Bark Rubbing

Young Rembrandts They have some directed drawings. They also have an online course that you can pay for that is off of YouTube

Art for Kids Hub  They do a lot of directed, step-by-step drawing.  

Mark Kistler is a long-time favorite for kids wanting to draw better. I would suggest these for upper elementary and middle school.  Many of his videos are hour-long, which I suspect will not work for most kids.  Finding the shorter videos, I sorted by "most popular." I saw a lot that was around ten minutes long.

The Art Project has lots of videos you might like for older kids. His drawing prompt videos are the perfect length for kids drawing at home.

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In case you need some art lesson ideas to print and send home with your students for a few days, these would work great. Written as early finishers activities, they are worksheets with directions and lots of details that kids can draw from on their own.

"Create a Leprechaun in Disguise"

"Create a Silly Monster" Worksheet

"Create a New Character" Worksheet

"Create a Silly Troll" Worksheet

"Create a Turkey in Disguise" Worksheet

"Fill a Claw Machine" 

"Create a Penguin in Disguise"

"Doodle Birds"

"Create a Monkey in Disguise"

"Create a Bunny in Disguise"

"Coloring Sheet - Monarch Butterfly"

"Create a Panda in Disguise" Worksheet

"Create a Yeti in Disguise"

"Create a Turtle in Disguise" 

"Create a Frog in Disguise"

"Create a Little Red Riding Hood in Disguise"

Art Sub Plans Worksheet - How to Draw a Penguin

Art Sub Plan Worksheet | How to Draw a Penguin

Free Directed Drawing Worksheet - Penguins

Do your kids like to do directed drawings?  The blog, Tinkerlab, has a free downloadable sheet showing how to draw a penguin, step by step. Add some details and you have a fun art sub lesson. Write up a few directions for your sub and doodle some finished penguins and you are ready to go. 

Find this directed drawing by Rochelle Doorley here:  https://tinkerlab.com/how-to-draw-a-cute-penguin/

If you would like another penguin activity, I have a doodle worksheet where kids design their own penguin disguised as something else. You will find it over at my TPT Shop.  You can check it out here:  Create A Penguin In Disguise

Art Sub Plans - Leprechaun Trap

St. Patrick’s Day Art Sub Plans for Elementary

Here is an elementary art activity for St. Patrick's Day and March. The blog "Coffee Cups and Crayons" has written up a fun and engaging activity called "Making a Leprechaun Trap." 

Megan gives information about how she did the activity with her kids, but you could write up the directions in lesson plan form pretty easily.  There is discussion, interaction and drawing.  With her kids she had them draw on an old cereal box for a 3D effect. The drawing should work just as well on a sheet of paper.  Her post is a good jumping off place for you to create a St. Patrick's themed sub plan.

St. Patrick’s Day STEAM Lesson

If you are looking for a St. Patrick's Day lesson for upper elementary and middle school, you might try this STEAM activity.

Students create a design using radial symmetry. Templates and samples are provided to give the students a boost to start.  You can find that at the TPT shop: Cool Classroom Stuff. 

Here's one more idea for St. Patrick's Day that works great as a sub lesson or early finishers activity.

The TPT Shop: Centers and Early Finishers has a doodle/pattern filling shamrock design that kids will enjoy.

Here's one for the early finishers.  "Create a Leprechaun in Disguise."

Are there any other great ideas out there for St. Patty's Day?  Let me know in the comments.

Simple Shape Bird | Kindergarten Art Sub Plans

Simple Shape Bird Lesson

Art Teacher in LA posts an easy kindergarten lesson that a sub could teach. Check it out here:  Simple Shape Birds.

It reminds me a little of this post:  Kindergarten Shape Drawing where a pear shape is used to draw different animals.

TPT Directed Drawings for Kindergarten

If you need a lesson that is fully formed and ready to teach, here’s one I have in my TPT shop: Art Sub Lessons.  Springtime Bird with Flowers

It is a directed drawing of a bird with flowers that would be perfect for kindergarten and first grade. 

Here is another one that uses simple shapes to help little ones draw birds in a tree and flowers. Bird in a Tree with Flowers 

Robot Roundup | Art Sub Lessons

Robot Roundup - Art Sub Lesson Plans

Robots! Here is a fun elementary art lesson about robots that can be taught by anyone. This PowerPoint shows real robots and has scripted questions to ask the students. It shows how to draw a robot, step-by-step, and then leaves the details up to the students. Kids will love it and so will subs and teachers.

 You may find it here:  TeachersPayTeachers shop: Art Sub Lessons

Here is a preview:

 Feedback from this lesson:

"This was the perfect lesson to leave with a guest teacher! My students loved the lesson. It kept them on-task and engaged!! Thank you!"

"My subs have told me how well they along with the students loved this activity. They also said that it challenges each grade level. "

"My 3rd graders loved creating their robots. Easy to Understand and great got a student that is apprehensive about their drawing skills."