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Video Lesson Plans
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Blick is excited to announce our new Video Lesson Plans! We've taken some of our most popular lesson plans and have turned them into easy to follow video lesson plans. Just click play, sit back, and see our great projects come to life. |
Canvas Dinnerware |
NEW VIDEO LESSON PLANS |
Grade Level |
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Sculptor George Rickey used scientific precision and physics, functioning with wind to construct heavy steel sculptures that seemed to defy gravity and float on air. In this lesson, students create a simple sculpture around a rotary hub with stacked wooden beads and soft wire. When a direct air current is applied to metallic paper “sails” (blow on it!), the sculpture blades turn gently. 
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5 – 12 |
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Skyscrapers evolved from the inside out — as steel frames became stronger, windows and walls became lighter, like a “skin.” Students can construct high-rise buildings (or low-rise designs) that are extremely light and open — they're made with paper straws and corrugated plastic joints (no glue required). Imagination grows with the construction — higher and higher!
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5 – 12 |
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Stain painting was a successful technique employed by Color Field artists Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Louis. They poured diluted acrylic color over large canvases to form “veils” of brilliant color. In this lesson, students will first learn a simple process for creating their own drawing pad, then stain and design a canvas cover for it.
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3 – 12 |
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Many Metals “Day of the Dead” Triptych Celebrate a happy and colorful Mexican tradition with many metals! Using the skull as a symbol of rebirth, create a triptych with embossed metal, papier mâché, and lots of color and sparkle!
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5 – 12 |
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Roll up a felted masterpiece! Students easily create beautiful wool paintings using soap, water, and a little elbow grease.
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K – 12 |
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Prairie-Style Stained Glass Clings Frank Lloyd Wright referred to his stained glass windows as “light screens” because they interacted with the view behind them, rather than covering or obscuring it. Here, students use geometry and repeating patterns to create a vinyl window cling that incorporates the ideals of Prairie-Style Design.
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K – 12 |
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Learn the anatomy of one of nature’s most fascinating creatures and make a model from some of the very materials that threaten their habitat — plastic bags and fast food containers. These colorful, sparkling jellies are even water-resistant!
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K – 5 |
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Create a textured clay mold to use again and again! Carve a design into a slab and bisque fire it. After coating it with kiln wash, this mold can be used many times to impart unique textures to slumped glass pieces.
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3 – 12 |
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Printmaking — starring textures and shapes! A collagraph printing plate is created on a canvas panel using textures found in the classroom, textured gel mediums, or even textures from nature! After a final coat of gel medium is applied, the plate and paper are run through a printing press.
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3 – 6 |
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Practice the ancient art of sumi-e painting with a modern twist! Paint with diluted wax resist, then reveal your masterpiece by applying black sumi-e ink over the top. The addition of watercolor gives the painting even more interest.
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K – 12 |
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Originating in ancient India, Mehndi is the artistic application of designs to the hands and feet. Students can enjoy the practice of Mehndi without staining their skin by creating radial designs in marker while wearing a glove. The sense of touch while creating the design is an important part of the process.
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K – 12 |
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Have a Ball! with distorted self-portraits Observing and reproducing the distortion caused by a concave reflection is the topic of this lesson plan, as students make self-portraits inspired by M.C. Escher's “Hand with Reflecting Globe.” The canvas is a vinyl bouncing ball. Elementary ages can be challenged to create a continuous painting — with no beginning or end — then “Have a Ball!” playing with their own artwork.
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K – 12 |
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Glazing isn't the only way to create beautiful surfaces! Agateware pottery features swirling marbelized colors and was probably first developed to imitate the qualities of agate, a semiprecious stone with striated patterning. These swirling effects can be created by working with thin slabs of colored clay that has been layered to create patterns. This technique allows for both precise patterns and free, random effects.
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3 – 12 |
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Scrimshaw-Style Yupo Engraving As early as 1750, New England whalers passed the time by engraving nautical artwork on bones, tusks, etc. As a means of experiencing this traditional American craft, students can etch into Yupo using scratch tools, then fill the lines with oil pastel.
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5 – 12 |
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In this project, students explore the beauty of texture found in a surprising place... on the soles of their shoes! Texture is all around us, and oftentimes exists right under our noses.
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K – 3 |
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Inspired by Huichol Nierikas — beautiful paintings made from yarn pressed onto beeswax — this is a simple way for students to experience the color, geometric linework and symbolism of this Native American art form. Using colorful string applied to an adhesive-backed piece of felt, students create their designs without messy glue or sharp cutting tools.
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3 – 12 |
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The Italian word “volto” translates as “face”. These full-face masks were known as “citizen’s masks” because they were originally worn by common people during the Carnival of Venice. By draping acrylic felt over a reusable form and using Rice Paste (a gluten-free maché alternative) to stiffen, students create a sculptural mask that can be decorated with paint, glitter, feathers, rhinestones, etc.
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3 – 12 |
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Impressionistic Marker Painting You won't believe what these markers can do! The juicy, alcohol-based ink reacts with itself or with hand-sanitizer to make painterly drawings on clear plastic film.
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3 – 12 |
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This project utilizes acrylic paint, but in a totally unique way...dried! Acrylic paint "skins" are easily created just by brushing paint on a non-stick palette or baker's parchment and letting it dry. You can use this plastic, flexible paint in a number of ways to create mosaics, mixed media collage, stained glass-like effects, jewelry, book covers and more!
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K – 12 |
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Considered a lost art for many centuries, encaustic painting is enjoying a resurgence because of modern techniques, tools and materials. While encaustic painting requires moving molten wax from a heating element to a surface, the technique used in this lesson plan creates textured “reservoirs” in metal foil that channel and cradle sprinkled wax chips as they melt. Interesting dimensions and contrasts between the metal and translucent wax occur when cooled.
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5 – 12 |
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Functioning as both a painting and a print, a Monotype is unique and irreproducible. The “hoop-la” over Monotype can be experienced in your classroom with this simplified, safely water-based process using acrylic paint, printing foam and fabric. The technique builds the print a layer at a time and tools are used to remove or “subtract” color between layers. Stretch the finished print ona gold macramé ring for an instant frame.
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3 – 12 |
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Picasso-Inspired Soft Sculpture By looking through the vast array of figurative paintings done by Picasso during his cubist phase, students may find many possibilities for soft sculpture adaptations. Fine art, sculpture and textiles combine to make this eye-catching piece!
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K – 12 |
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“Art-O-Motion” Mechanical Sculpture In 1913, Marcel DuChamp mounted a spinning bicycle wheel to a stool to make what is considered the first kinetic sculpture. Since then, many artists have paired physical science and engineering with artistic vision to create amazing pieces of mechanical sculpture. This simple, pulley-operated design has students design “gears” that spin on spools when a string is pulled.
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5 – 12 |
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Students create their own “fossil bed” by modeling three-dimensional shapes of animals, plants or insects, then “burying” them beneath layers of tissue paper. Add earth-tone pastels to make them look as if they just came from an excavation site.
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K – 12 |
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Rattles are the only musical instrument found throughout the world. While their physical forms vary, their uses are very consistent. Many cultures give infants rattles as a toy. In rituals and ceremonies, rattles are used prominently and often believed to possess supernatural powers. Students explore texture and clay construction as they form a rattle inspired by natural shapes: seed pods, shells, gourds, rain-sticks, etc.
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K – 12 |
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Pop Art Portraits: in the style of Andy Warhol Andy Warhol, a key figure in the Pop Art movement, “mass-produced” silk-screened portraits of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. Transferring an image of themselves onto clay and duplicating it several times, students can experiment with color combinations in portraits, just as Warhol did.
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5 – 12 |
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Egg-stra Easy Watercolor “Crunch” Traditionally, eggshell mosaics are made by first dying then positioning each shard individually — a time-consuming and delicate process. This project introduces a new way to crush and color eggshells, creating intricate veining and texture all at once without pre-dying or arranging each fragment. The simple glue-and-paint process and satisfying “crunch!” of breaking eggshells will delight children of all ages and skill levels.
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K – 12 |
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Peace Windows: in the style of Marc Chagall’s stained glass Late in his career, artist Marc Chagall produced a number of paintings in glass with colorful, dream-like images symbolizing peace, love, tolerance and faith. In reality, Marc Chagall’s life was filled with tragic events and the world he lived in was anything but peaceful. In light of this fact, students can begin to understand an artist’s ability to share healing, inspiration and encouragement, using “peace” as a theme.
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K – 8 |
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Molding, casting, sculpting, painting and monoprinting — this simple project pulls all of these together into one low-relief sculpture that demonstrates the elements of texture and color. Texture is defined in clay by pressing objects in or sculpting with tools. Next, the clay is painted with watercolor and covered with papier mâché, which lifts the color as it dries, absorbing it directly into the casting.
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3 – 12 |
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Beginning in the early 1880s, the “Art Nouveau” style flourished in all forms of art. Beautiful pottery was mass-produced during this era, especially in the form of decorative tiles. Tube lining — a technique in which a design outline was created first and then filled in with color — is the definitive look of Art Nouveau. If kiln-glazed ceramics are not an option for your environment, this project is a way to produce glossy, hand-painted tiles that look like the real thing.
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K – 8 |
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In the 1800s, many homes were decorated with “Penny Carpets”, made from miss-matched fabric cut into circles by tracing around a penny. Patches were then layered and stitched together to make a large piece. Students create a Penny Carpet with fabric that they design themselves using monoprinting techniques and fabric paint. Each section is sewed to felt swatches, then joined to make a larger piece of art.
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3 – 12 |
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A whimsical makeover for discarded dishes! Inexpensive, diverse and unmatched pieces from thrift stores, garage sales, etc. are recycled into contemporary sculptures in this project. Pieces of unprimed canvas are layered and glued to the surface, then painted with Blick Matte Acrylic color. Center the design around a theme, as Judy Chicago did in the 1970’s with “The Dinner Party” or design a place setting for a particular artist.
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5 – 12 |
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Students of all ages can mimic mosaic artisans throughout history with these easy tile-making and “grouting” techniques. Clay tiles are glued to a firm backboard and grouted with acrylic paint. This project is safe and simple enough for younger students and those with special needs.
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K – 12 |
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Quilt-making spans multiple centuries and cultures. It can teach math skills, record history, recycle cast-off materials and encourage cooperative efforts within a group...just for a few ideas! This lesson looks at the story quilts of Faith Ringgold. She surrounds her narrative paintings with a quilted border, creating stories in color, texture, and pattern. Students select their own story to illustrate, then paint fabric using watersoluble pastels and watercolor.
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K – 12 |
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This project transforms traditional basketry into a contemporary fine craft. Paper Coiling Core is shaped and glued in layers in the same manner as a clay coil pot is constructed. Vibrant and fluid Blick Liquid Watercolors can replicate patterns from the Papago, Navajo, and Apache cultures of Native America and Northern Mexico, or painted in contemporary, abstract, or representational styles.
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5 – 8 |
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When one hears the name of Alexander Calder, the picture of kinetic hanging mobiles immediately comes to mind. These were only a portion of Calder’s vast body of work — he also painted and created stationary pieces called “stabiles.” Often, they resembled his mobiles — but without moving parts. In this lesson, students will create a “stabile” using Taskboard — a new, natural, wood-based medium used by architects and 3-D designers to create models.
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5 – 12 |
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This is a great project for teaching recycling and renewal. Using a plastic stencil and screen, students make a shaped piece of handmade paper from cast-off scraps. Flower and vegetable seeds are added to the pulp. When dry, the rough-textured paper can be decorated with paint or drawing materials and glued to the front of a card. When planting season arrives, place the shape in the soil to make a beautiful garden.
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K – 8 |
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A "cyanotype" is a photographic print made when UV light is exposed to a photo-sensitive paper. This lesson plan is a simple new process involving two safe and familiar classroom favorites — Nature Print Paper and Scratch Art. The finished arwork has the appearance of a linoleum block print — without the use of cutting tools or ink.
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3 – 8 |
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In this lesson plan, students design and construct a 3-dimensional letter using one of their initials. The surface can be decorated with descriptive words and images that are personally meaningful and unique to the student's identity. Instead of wet, messy adhesive, this process uses paper packing tape to create papier mâché. This tape is inexpensive, easy, and tidy to use, and the finished letters are hard and durable.
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3 – 12 |
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EZ Encaustic uses only small amounts of soft decorating wax that may be softened by hand or by using low temperature heat. Also included are instructions for a Painterly Encaustic process, using melted wax.
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5 – 12 |
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This project starts with a 12" x 12" piece of muslin upon which a variety of papers, fabrics, colors and textures are added. Paper Cloth can be sewn with a sewing machine, cut with scissors, folded and reused. It is hard to tear! The finished and dry material may be wrinkled, or placed between two sheets of paper and ironed to flatten. Color can be added using different mediums.
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K – 12 |
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Where standard painting builds an image from the background forward, a reverse painting is created in a backward fashion — foreground first — with each phase applied so the background finishes the painting. A backing of metallic foil reflects light through the pastel in the same manner as gilding.
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3 – 12 |
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Low relief sculpture with design in mind. Layer by layer, piece by piece, this three-dimensional collage is assembled with repetitious shapes and elements, illustrating the principles of rhythm, balance and movement.
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3 – 12 |
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Suminagashi is a process in which Sumi ink is floated on the surface of plain water, then transferred to a sheet of paper. Each monoprint is like a fingerprint — unique and unreproducible.
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3 – 12 |
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Using flexible, translucent acrylic paint and soft, aluminum wire, students create abstract sculptures that can be formed and reformed. Addresses the design elements of form and shape. Displayed with a light source, they have the appearance of formed glass.
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5 – 12 |
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In this lesson students will make a piece that is basically a printmaking “sandwich” — part painting, part lithograph, and part monoprint — incorporating Z*Acryl D2P Polyester Lithographic plates
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9 – 12 |
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This lesson plan combines the processes of repoussé and chasing to design a piece that looks as if it may have been crafted by an ancient silversmith. Objects are fixed to a cardboard box before the metal is applied so that the design is embossed into the metal in the style of repoussé. With tools, students then chase the metal around the objects to further define the texture.
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K – 12 |
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Based on the sculpture of Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz, students create a 3-dimensional figure study in fiber.
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7 – 12 |
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Based on the scientific concepts of insolubility and density, this technique seals water-based paint and mineral oil inside a laminating pouch. The different densities cause the liquids to repel one another in an ever-changing and interactive piece that continually flows and responds to touch.
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K – 12 |
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This project is a simple, tidy way to create the look of pulp painting without the mess of a blender or even the use of adhesive. Non-bleeding tissue paper is combined with water and agitated (torn) so that the paper fibers separate and make a rough pulp. Pressing the paper onto an absorbent (canvas) surface causes the fibers to re-bond with one another and, when dry, form a thicker, stronger paper.
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K – 12 |
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