Back to School Art Sub Plans

Easy Substitute Lesson Plans for Art

Don't be caught off guard without sub plans when school starts up again. Whether you are putting together your art sub folder, sub tub, emergency sub lesson folder or planning for a long term substitute teacher, prepare early!!!  You will be so glad that you did.

Simple Lesson Plans

I have collected some links to complete lesson plans that are simple enough to be used as sub plans for the beginning of the school year.

Patterned Hand

This patterned hand drawing and the downloadable PDF instructions for it can be found here:  The Bonifas Art Center

In my opinion, this sort of lesson, one with little patterns and details, work better for upper elementary and middle school. I believe that younger kids would make quick work out of the patterning.

I do think you could expand on this a bit by filling up the space on the paper with overlapping hands.

Heroic Figures and Folk Tales

This "Art To Go" packet, from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, includes artwork and activities. Kids may write and/or draw about heroes with step by step help from the authors. There are pages...."packets"....to download with clear directions. You may pick and choose what you want your sub to use. 

You will need to print out some things for this lesson.

Medieval Beasts and Bestiaries

Here’s a complete lesson from the Met.  Well, complete except for some illustrations. I found this accompanying beast by searching “public domain medieval animals mixed.”  Medieval Beasts and Bestiaries But there are full and complete instructions at that link.

Kindergarten and Preschool Art Lesson Plan

This is an easy to teach lesson that I have used for 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."

As a sub lesson, I would either leave the cut out bus shapes for the sub or a printed out outline of a bus that is included in the following sub plan.

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.

Here’s another one in my TpT shop that I would, without a doubt, put in an art sub folder. Print this one out for the school office, and you can teach it to any grade, K-6.  Click here to see this one:  Silly Sandwich Art Sub Plan

This one is complete with instructions and visuals. It is no prep and uses only paper and crayons or markers. It is a winner! Here are some reviews from this one:  

“ I used this for a day I had a sick child at home and had to come up with a last-minute sub art lesson. This was a lifesaver! Thank you!”

“ I left this for a sub and the kids LOVED it. They ask to revisit this project frequently. ”

I have many art sub plans in my shop called……Art Sub Lessons! Here’s a link: Art Sub Lessons - TpT Shop. Go shopping for some sub plans and save yourself a lot of headaches!

5 Summer Art Plans for a Sub

Summer Art Sub Projects

Are you working with kids in a camp or school this summer?  Will there be a chance that you might need a substitute to fill in for you at some point?  Just like if you are teaching art during the school year, you need to have some sub plans ready to hand to a substitute teacher or counselor in case you have to be absent.

I've found some options for easy art sub plans that are pretty low prep.

Paper Plate Frisbees

Check out this blog post from Make and Takes blog.  This post is about a summer camp activity about making a frisbee out of paper plates. She gives step by step directions that anyone could follow. This makes it a perfect lesson to give to a sub!

Colorful Flip Flop Artwork

The next easy art lesson that a sub could do comes from the blog, Pink Striped Socks.  The directions are pretty simple for doing this, but she does spell them out. They turn out super cute, too!

The blog, Crafting Chicks, has some good ideas for summer art activities. This post is a   Summer Scavenger Hunt - Free Printable Game. What a great idea. You could easily create an art lesson for a sub based on where you are and what you have available.

Fun Drawing Activity

Here's a summer drawing lesson that is a favorite!  Kids love silliness and fun. "Silly Sundae"doesn't disappoint.  It is a great lesson to leave in a sub folder or sub tub as it is no prep and uses simple materials. 

Students look at a variety of wacky artworks based on the theme of ice cream.  Then, they use their imaginations to create their own drawings of silly ice cream sundaes.

Quiet Time Art Worksheets 

If you need some "in your seat" kind of fun activities for early finishers or to help a sub, check out my printable art worksheets.  They're creative and fun to do.  

A basic outline is drawn in and students add whatever details they like. There are options given for details, but they are mostly meant as springboards for new ideas. Click on a link you are interested in to see more.

Create a Character in Disguise

Create a Troll in Disguise

Draw a Turkey in Disguise

Create a Tooth Fairy in Disguise

Create a Dragon in Disguise

Create a Silly Monkey in Disguise

Create a Little Red Riding Hood in Disguise

Create a Turtle in Disguise

Create a Frog in Disguise

Create a Penguin in Disguise

Circle Game - Free Art Worksheet

Decorate a Jack O’ Lantern

Create a Bunny in Disguise

Create an Elf in Disguise

Create a Leprechaun in Disguise

Create a Groundhog in Disguise

Create a Panda in Disguise

Create a Yeti in Disguise

Create a Reindeer in Disguise

Doodle a Nutcracker

Draw a Silly Monster

Lettering and Typography for Middle School Art

 

Elementary and Middle School Art Sub Lesson with Typography 

"Ms. Art Teacher" did this lesson plan herself with students and then also left it as a sub lesson.  It is based on the book Alphabeasties and Other Amazing Types, by Werner and Forss.

The illustrator has filled in the shape of the animal with the name of the animal. I can imagine where this same idea can be applied to other images of things and using a variety of words to describe the image.

This is an alphabet book to help little ones to read, so your older kids won’t be so interested in that part. The illustrations are really interesting though. “Ms. Art Teacher” did the lesson with 2nd through 7th graders. She also left the lesson with a sub and found that was successful.

There are multiple read-aloud of the book on YouTube, so you can always fall back on that if you can’t find the book itself.

I found another interested item about lettering on the website graffitidiplomacy.com. That website seems to no longer exist, but this one worksheet I found seems to have survived.  

Kids want to know how to write in bubble letters. Some gets get it and some need a little help. Maybe I'll make a worksheet for the whole alphabet.  Hmmmm.....

Anyway, that could be another direction to take the idea of lettering or typography.

If you'd like a quick explanation for how to create bubble letters, here's a YouTube video that's just a little over 2 minutes long.  How to Draw Bubble Letters for Kids

If you'd like a video done with the balloon or oval method of creating bubble letters, check out this one from: Pin Koro, Very Easy! How to Draw Graffiti Bubble Letters ABC

Do you have any other lettering lessons you love? 

One Day Art Lesson - Fourth Grade

One Day Art Lesson

Jessica Young used this plan initially as an art sub lesson for fourth grade. When she needed a quick art lesson for herself, she pulled this one out and used it for other grades as well.
You can check out Jessica's blog here:  Miss Young's Art Room. 

She says that her students stayed engaged for the whole class time with this. She also gave ideas for those few early finishers and those who took it a little too slow to finish in art. 


The materials she used were markers and paper. With subs, I am careful about leaving markers. If I know the sub and trust them to emphasize using the markers with care, I would leave markers. Otherwise, crayons would work just fine.


Miss Young demonstrated how to draw a "criss cross" star with her kids and then showed them how to repeat the lines in and around that star. I think you could also provide students with templates of other shapes for this. Basic shapes? Animal shapes? 

After that, the same shape is repeated to smaller and smaller shapes.

Check out her blog to see other examples.


If you would like to use masterpieces from art history to introduce the lesson, here is an idea that might work well.




in public domain

This is Kandinsky's Color Study, Squares with Concentric Circles from 1913.  


Here's another lesson plan that you could use to create a lead in for this lesson: "Kandinsky Squares with Concentric Circles,"at the blog, Art Prep has a good, meaty description of Kandinsky and his work.


They talk about Kandinsky choosing to switch to from using subjects in his paintings to focusing on line and color. This is great information for your lesson.




If you would like to use an art sub plan that is fully formed and ready to hand to a sub, check out this one in my TPT shop: Art Sub Lessons. It is no prep and fully scripted. It can be taught by anyone.

This elementary and middle school art sub lesson includes slides about the artist and two projects for the students to draw. It is great for teaching elementary students about abstract art and the artist, Bruce Gray.

Written for a sub, it may also be taught by classroom teachers, art teachers, and homeschool teachers.

Supplies needed for the art lesson are pencils, paper, markers or crayons, rulers and circles of various sizes.

Art Sub Plans - Cows on Parade

Cows on Parade Art Sub Plans - Middle School and Elementary

How fun to watch a parade!!! It’s been a while since I’ve been to one, but I can’t wait to see another. My heart starts to pump hard when I hear that bass drum in the distance, and tears start to well up when the rest of the band comes into earshot.

I hope that your kids have gotten a chance to see a parade or two.

Here are some fun art lessons based on the events in multiple cities called a “Cow Parade.” Here’s a website for the main idea: Cow Parade 

These cow forms have been painted by all sorts of folks, including famous artists and designers. 

Here’s a blog post about how this teacher created artist themed bulletin boards with the theme of Cow Parade in mind.  Cow Parade at Middle Brook School I believe that her students also made small ones for themselves. 

You could totally form an art sub lesson around this. I would created cardboard cow templates for the kids to trace and them let them create their own designs inside. 

Get some images from the web about designs that have been used, or purchase some of the Cow Parade books. I think kids would have fun with this.

I wrote another post on the topic a few years ago. You can find that one here:  HerDabbles blog: Cows on Parade

Spring Directed Drawing - How To Draw A Bird With Your Pencil

Directed Drawings for Kindergarten and First Grade

Art sub plans for primary students can be tricky. You really need to keep them engaged.

I noticed that there are not a lot of kindergarten art sub lessons out in the world, ready to use, so I created a few. 

Directed drawings are loved by elementary students. I like for them to have room for individuality and creativity too. Here are ones that work great for spring and summer.

This lesson was written for kindergarten and first grade, but I added a second lesson in the package for the rest of elementary. 

"Kooky Birds on a Branch" is a directed drawing that can be drawn as three birds on top of a branch or two birds on top of a branch and one hanging under. Kids follow, step by step, for the drawing part and then add their own details.

It also teaches how to color neatly and includes a rubric.

"Springtime Bird with Pattern and Flowers" was written for kindergarten but older elementary students would enjoy drawing it as well. It includes a template for making this a greeting card.

It is also no prep and fully scripted.

The last one, "Bird in a Tree with Flowers," is a directed drawing for elementary students that can also be used as a greeting card. It is also no prep and fully scripted.