Art Sub Lessons for Elementary - Ugly Bug Ball

Ugly Bug Ball - Art Sub Plans

One easy path to take with an art sub lesson is to read a book or show a video and then have students draw their own interpretation from that.

Here is a vintage clip that I love.  "Ugly Bug Ball." It is fun to watch and uplifting.  Kids can watch and then proceed to draw their own ugly bug ball.

Pencils, paper, crayons and you are good to go.

TPT Art Sub Plan of Ugly Bug Ball - No Prep 

Don't just "wing it" with a sub. Give them a real art activity with substance. I have a no prep lesson in my TPT shop that goes along with that.  It gives your sub more of a structure with a fully prepared script and lots of examples.  There are even art history references! 

Check out the lesson plan here:  Ugly Bug Ball Lesson Plan

Videos for Distance Art Learning

Videos for Art Sub Lessons and Distance Learning

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 were 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.

Art Sub Lessons - Sugar Skulls

Sugar Skulls - Art Sub Plans Elementary

Cinco de Mayo is in a few days. Drawing sugar skulls would be a fun elementary activity for distance learning or classroom learning and they could be tied into the holiday.

Here is a YouTube tutorial that you could send your students to that is easy to follow.

















If you need something in paper form, check out this set of worksheets from the TPT Shop: Centers and Early Finishers. It can also 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.   TPT Shop: Centers and Early Finishers