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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 forming four distinct panoramic scenes. Each page spread is like a miniature stage set, and all four sections come together to tell a larger story.

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.

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.

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.

These 7 techniques will challenge your perception of the tempera medium. Experiment with Blick Premium Tempera to create a "painting in pieces" by lifting, glazing, layering, spreading with a palette knife, and more.

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!

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!

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.

Typography is the art of arranging letter blocks to make written language legible and appealing when displayed. In this lesson, students will create a raised, 3-dimensional typographical statement. Letters are made from chipboard and adhered to a base using plaster strips.

Brush on medium to prep a portion of the paper and marbling inks remain just in that area. Allows color to cling to colored cardstock and construction paper. Create marble-ous effects to use with sumi-e brush calligraphy.

The grid system is a useful tool. But, when over-relied upon, it can limit creativity. In this exercise, the traditional grid is manipulated and played with to suit the artist’s message and creativity, while still demanding the same focused practice of looking as an artist.

Visual language skills are put to work in this lesson plan. Students will first analyze the elements of art used in a chosen painting. Then this visual data will be transferred to a transformable cube. The cube can be flipped and folded in different directions to reveal ten different external faces, creating the perfect substrate to explore each facet of the elements of art.

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.

Cut shapes from heavy paper and attach them to two rings. As they float around in a circular pattern, they create visual movement and energetic spaces.

In reverse glass painting, paint is applied to the back side of a glass surface and viewed from the smooth, unpainted, front side. The artist builds layers, starting with a black outline of the image, then working layer-by-layer from foreground to background, allowing each color and layer to dry before the next is added. Blick Premium Tempera is mixed with a small amount of Elmer's Glue All for adhesion. To finish, a sheet of silver mirror paper is applied to the back, filling in any clear space, and reflecting light, brightening the painting.

Sample the variety of emotions expressed by the human hand by tracing with the help of a simple drawing tool.

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.

Kirigami is a variation of the Japanese art of origami but allows for cutting the paper. The paper cuts are then folded to create a 3-dimensional design that pops out from the page. Students will first create a watercolor landscape painting. Then, with the assistance of a folding guide made from graph paper and string, cuts are made to accentuate elements painted in the watercolor. Rolling hills, trees, and other natural elements can be made to stand away from the page.