Blick Lesson Plans: hundreds of free, original ideas for Art Education!

Cake is synonymous with celebration. For World Art Day, or simply a way to say "thank you", make a special connection with a selected artist by creating a cupcake just for them. More than just an appreciation of their work, this sculptural, non-edible cake recognizes their ideas and accomplishments.

This is a curly, swirly, colorful take on a traditional rug making technique. Also known as “standing” or “beaded” wool carpets, in modern times these whimsical fiber creations have been dubbed “quillies” because they resemble paper quilling. Using strips of sticky-backed, colorful foam in place of wool, students can roll and join shapes to form “quillies” that don’t require needles to assemble.

Featured with updated content! Explore the beauty of batik fabric without the danger of hot wax or dyes. Simply trace a design onto muslin with washable glue and add brilliant permanent color with Marabu Fashion Spray.

To illustrate how these fossils are formed, leaves and other natural materials can be pressed into soft clay. While the clay is moist and the leaf is held in place, a layer of “sediment” in the form of lustrous powdered pigment can be finger-applied to create a detailed outline. When dry, these shimmering, colorful “fossils” can be made into pendants, ornaments, charms, and more.

The practice of Sumi-e is an expression of the present moment. For this lesson, permanent ink is brushed in rhythmic strokes and layered with washable tempera paint. The tempera acts as a resist and washes away. Experience the expressive East Asian-style painting that is accomplished only with a Sumi-e brush.

This collaborative game, inspired by Salvador Dali's botanical prints, combines reproductions of technical drawings, action phrases, and elements of chance to create a multimedia collage. It relies on technical drawing skills, creative composition, imagination, and humor, resulting in a hilariously bizarre Surrealist narrative.

Small and symbolic, beads can represent cultures and tell visual stories. Begin this lesson by creating self-expressive beads and charms from polymer clay. Arrange them with manufactured beads on a self-adhesive surface to form "Beadies" - small collages that sparkle and shine.

Squares of colored and patterned paper bring this color study likeness into—or out of—focus.

Transform (almost) any plastic or paper surface into a scratch art canvas!

Fresco art is associated with wall painting, but plaster makes a lovely surface for many mediums. This project leads the way through prepping a panel, painting, then purposefully cracking and manipulating the surface to create a look of antiquity.

This project requires leaving the classroom behind to collect natural materials in the great outdoors! Collected items will be shaped and formed into a decorative papier mâché bowl. Blick’s Mix Instant Papier Mâché offers all the properties of traditional papier mâché, without the mess and hassle of preparation, making it perfect for use in the classroom or out in nature.

Glide Blick Tempera Sticks along the edge of a paper stencil and use an ordinary wet wipe to create new color blends and patterns.

Reverse the weaving process! Selected strands are removed to create negative spaces as important as the fibers themselves. Inspired by the work of Lenore Tawney, this open approach to weaving is about re-thinking and re-designing a solid piece of burlap.

Carousel book binding is a mix of the accordion book and a pop-up book. It may look like any other book from the outside, but there is more to discover when it is open. The pages fan out like a star when viewed from above, forming four distinct distinct panoramic scenes. Each page spread is like a miniature stage set, and all four sections come together to tell a larger story.

Developing sculptors will be able to grasp concepts of 3D art when they bend wires into lines, twist them into shapes, then cover them with paper to make open, expressive forms.

In this lesson, a silhouette is created from photo using tracing paper. The image is then copied using a __laser jet printer__ onto regular copy paper, then transferred onto Sculpey oven bake clay. The process works much like a gel medium transfer, but with clay! All that is needed for the transfer is a bit of pressure and some water.

Learn how to make a simple, line-based stencil using acrylic gel medium. This quick and easy method creates personalized designs that can be used in painting, drawing, fabric design, and printmaking.

Humans spent centuries dreaming of flight, inspired by the graceful abilities of birds. From the tethered flights of ancient Asian cultures and Leonardo da Vinci's imaginative flying machines to the Wright brothers’ first manned flight, kites have served as a bridge, lifting human imagination into the sky.

How many ways can you find to alter a simple square of paper? There's folding, cutting, curling, crumpling, rolling, twisting, embossing, punching...so many creative ways, it's a challenge to stop!

These creative creatures evolve from an armature of craft stems covered with fuzzy yarn and fluff balls. Inspired by the modern, cultural phenomenon of kawaii.

Use dried acrylic paint, called paint skins, and Pebeo Self-Adhesive Lead Strips to create a piece that mimics the appearance and visual aesthetic of stained-glass compositions —without using glass! Just like Tiffany experimented with a variety of methods to color glass, students will experiment with a variety of paint viscosities and transparencies to create a wide range of effects.

The use of masks in theater is ubiquitous across cultures and the ages. In this lesson, students will explore a variety of cost-efficient classroom materials like chipboard, butter board, masking tape, plaster cloth, Blick’s Mix Instant Papier Mâché, and paint to create a mask to embody a character of their choosing. With a little bit of imagination, students will be able to create a mask for the classroom performance of a lifetime!

Discover monoprinting fun with washable tempera! Mask shapes, layer colors, and manipulate paint with this clean and highly tactile printmaking process.

The eyes and brain work together to constantly make sense of the world - its why we see shapes in clouds and faces in buildings. Encourage that imaginative process with a game! Form and share wire contour shapes - each person will see something unique and different.

Young artists will study color mixing by adding Blick Liquid Watercolor to Crayola Model Magic Clay. Both clay and watercolor are kneaded together in a plastic bag, keeping hands and surfaces clean, yet allowing for a tactile sensory experience. When all the watercolor is absorbed, the clay may be handled without transferring color. From the mixed clay, small balls are rolled by hand, engaging those fine motor skills.