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

At Blick, we love those "light bulb" moments when an idea inspires and the creative juices start to flow. Geared for a wide variety of age and skill levels, we offer hundreds of Lesson Plans designed to meet the National Standards for Visual Art Education and bring the value of creativity to any teaching experience. All original. All free. Help yourself!

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Lesson Plan
Description
Grade Level
no-stitch-identity-patch
NEW! no-stitch-identity-patch
Grafix Double Tack Mounting Film can be used to mount a variety of materials, including fabric, without the use of glue, heat, or activator. Pieces of embroidery floss, laid closely in swaths on Grafix adhesive film, are used to create areas of color and fill in the design. When done, find the perfect surface and make your statement stick!
Grades 3-12
Foil and Oil Paper Collage
Texture and light are the shining stars of this mixed media combo of metallic paper and oil pastel.
Grades 3-12
Fabric Printing with Multi-Sided Relief Blocks
Create patterns on a wooden block using readily available materials, including classroom scraps, chunky yarn, suede lacing, WonderFoam, and cardboard. Each material will print in its own unique way!
Grades K-12
Community Curtain
Create individual strands that express ideas, respond to a theme or prompt, represent a timeline of memories, or express a personal vision. Single strands combine to form a "curtain" installation that grows and gives voice to individuals and communities.
Grades K-12
Woven Impressionistic Paintings
One scene is woven from two watercolor paintings and two impressionistic interpretations of light and color. Diagonal lines create a dynamic composition with built-in perspective.
Grades 5-12
Bas Relief Plaster Tiles
Combine clay, carving, plaster, and watercolor to create a dimensional tile.
Grades 1-12
Cover to Cover Characters
Characters come to life in readers’ imaginations through written description and illustrations within the book. But what if the character literally came out of the book? Creative writing, saddle bookbinding, and papier-mâché all come together to create this one-of-a-kind readable sculpture.
Grades 3-12
Observe Like OKeeffe
Take cues from Georgia O'Keeffe and sharpen observation skills using mindful practices. Students use a viewfinder to focus in on a subject, explore various viewpoints, and express what their senses discover through mixed media collage.
Grades 3-12
Punch and Loop Tapestry
Students will sketch their designs in opaque watercolor onto Roylco Paper Mesh. Then, using a punch needle tool that they have assembled, students will “punch” loops of yarn into the paper mesh, creating loops with the yarn. The loops can be made to be quite tight, or loose like a shag carpet. The process allows for greater textural variation than traditional weaving. And, once you get the hang of the process, it moves along much more quickly than weaving!
Grades 5-12
Treasure Leaves
Celebrate Biodiversity and the vital importance of leaves by sealing them in brilliant metallic color and adorning them with gems, glitter, and artistic designs.
Grades K-12
Advocacy Squares
Art has the power to engage people of all ages with the important issues we face today. When art is used to communicate what is happening within education, and particularly art education, both the artist and the viewer can engage in building a better future.
Grades 3-12
Metallic Shadow Book
Abstractly cut paper is folded into a freestanding accordion book, creating shadows and light patterns on the surrounding environment
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Grades 3-12
Color Block Portrait Reveal
Take blind contour drawing to a fun new level with invisible drawing media. Students will use a Sakura Cray-Pas Color Extender oil pastel to draw a contour portrait of a classmate. The line will be nearly invisible, but leave a mark in oil which serves as a resist. Students then apply color, in the form of bleeding tissue paper misted with water, to magically reveal the subject! The process is so fun it will be hard to stop at just one!
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Grades 3-12
Narrative Collage
Choose from a personal photo bank, then rebuild an image using paper, glue, and paint, telling a visual story about their chosen subject matter. Portions of the collage, such as faces and figures, may be printed in black and white on paper, cut out, and painted with opaque watercolor.
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Grades 5-12
Shape Language
In this lesson, students will learn how to break down a shape to create a vibrant painting in the style of Hannah Webb. Richeson Hardboard Flat Panels provide the perfect surface for Liquitex Basics Acrylics, resulting in a flat, smooth finish.
Grades 5-12
Grisaille Vessels
Grisaille is an effective way to teach the importance of mastering tone and only requires the use of two colors: white and black! A beginning painter’s arrangement of found and repurposed vessels is the subject for this lesson. Classroom-friendly Safflower Oil is all that is needed for color changes and clean up—no harsh solvents necessary!
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Grades 9-12
Artfully Altered Fabric Design
Breathe new life into shirts, jeans, and more using common drawing materials (that you probably already have). Fabric medium is a clear acrylic fluid that can help make many drawing and painting supplies more permanent and washable on fabric.
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Grades 5-12
Geometric Himmeli Sculpture
In this lesson, traditional Swedish ornaments serve as an educational bridge to learning about platonic solids and more complicated geometric shapes.
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Grades 5-12
Hero Figures
Heroes can be characterized by many admirable traits. Pay tribute to everyday community heroes with this simple wire and wood figure sculpture. A fun and thoughtful way to study human form in 3 dimensions.
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Grades 1-5
What the River Sees
If we take the time to think about what a river sees on its journey, then we can be better friends and neighbors to it. As a collaborative piece, this lesson challenges students to create sections of a real or imagined river that can be joined together to make a linear, flowing storyline. From the river's beginnings in mountains, springs, or creeks to the place where it meets a larger body of water—the delta and wetlands.
Grades 3-8
Screen Printed Band Posters
The American Rock Poster is a genre of graphic design that follows its own drummer. Using a few shared images, a class can learn to screen print a poster about a concert from their own imagination. Speedball Speed Screens expose in one minute without chemicals, processing, or screen coating.
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Grades 9-12
See Me 3-D
In this lesson, students will use Blick Studio Pastels on toned paper to create a three-dimensional effect portrait. When viewed on its own, the piece will look strikingly radical in color. When viewed through 3-D glasses made from poster board and colored acetate, the image will pop forward with vibrancy!
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Grades 5-12
Write a Room
Words are power. Like art, they allow an artist to express the internal, communicating thoughts and emotions. In this lesson, students will create, with words, a drawing of a place that holds significance to them. Students will reflect on why this place is special, focusing on emotive and physically descriptive words.
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Grades 5-12
Paper Bag Pocket Journal
When is an ordinary lunch sack not so ordinary? When it is transformed into a "flip-around" kraft-paper sketchbook/journal with built-in pockets for collecting and storing samples, papers and notes.
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Grades 1-8
Kindness Coins
One small artwork can make a world of difference! Created to be shared, these "coins" can be made by anyone, regardless of age or skill level. Air dry clay forms a hard, circular base that be decorated with paintings, drawings, craft supplies, stamps or collage. As a way to say "thank you" or "good job", these little tokens can be a random gift of kindess left for someone to discover or a way to offer encouragement.
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Grades K-12