Idea No. 157: Redo a Renoir
the idea: while my students are busy being impressionists, make a quick version of Renoir’s Dance at Bougival When I sat down to teach my last after school class for the …
Idea No. 154: Stained Glass meets Tissue Paper
the idea: teach stained glass using plastic laminate, tissue paper, and sharpie This is one of my lessons that I’ve picked up during my time at the MFA. When I first …
Idea No. 153: KeKe the Jester Monkey
the idea: cut a monkey out of cardboard and cover it with rainbow tissue paper One of the things that no one tells you about teaching is that there are often …
Idea No. 149: The Panda Bird
the idea: have students create their own mythical creatures by combining two or more animals I was taught how to make this kind of puppet by my friend, Amy Beth. You …
May 8: Amanda’s Something
While I greatly appreciate all my friends and family who contribute to these projects, I have to say it is particularly thrilling to get a submission from someone I don’t …
Idea No. 134: The Pink Elephants
the idea: create a pink elephant as an example for the puppet project You may or may not remember, but a few ideas back I had another puppet named Feathers. Today …
Idea No. 132: A Collaborative Flower
the idea: make a drawing with a student Last week I was teaching a class where we were using oil pastels and as the children began to draw I started to …
Idea No. 131: Salty Watercolors
the idea: sprinkle salt on a drying watercolor painting This is an old art-teachers trick that I have learned from too many different people to just credit one. however I did …
Idea No. 129: Paint Sculpture
the idea: make a sculpture out of my students’ leftover impasto paint As an art instructor, I see way too art materials being thrown away. Usually there’s nothing I can …
Idea No. 126: The Dinosaur Postcard
the idea: have kids make postcards by drawing a picture and writing a message on the back This is one of my favorite things to teach because kids always write the …