Back To School Art Projects for your Classroom

Getting ready for Back to School in your classroom can cause a lot of stress and anxiety. From thinking about what to plan on the first day, to the first week, to the entire year can use up a lot of your energy. As well, we love having student work up on the bulletin boards as soon as possible for both classroom décor and for Meet the Teacher Night! The best thing to do is have students create Art Projects that have a Back to School theme that can then be displayed in your room. Here are some art project tutorials that you can use in your classroom for Back to School success! They are all complete with the step-by-steps, student handouts, reflections, assessment, rubrics, and examples.

Create a Llama-themed art project with your kids! Llamas are pretty popular so this is a great way to snag their attention and have them hooked on creating art with you! Not only will students learn how to draw llamas with confidence, but they will also explore a variety of art mediums and the Element of Art: Line. This is all ideal for meeting curricular content that you need to target in your year long plan! Always plan for success!

Teach color theory and do a color wheel! Students will learn about primary and secondary colors, tints/tones/shades, complementary colors, analogous colors, neutral colors, warm and cool colors, and monochromatic color in this work booklet.

If you’re teaching a Ceramics or Sculpture course, you can always start off with having your students create Name Tiles that explore tile making processes, addative and subtractive methods, and the Element of Art: Line while letting them explore and create in clay.

10 Lessons on Shading in Art! Have your students learn how to shade shapes into three dimensional looking objects using values of grey. Students will learn about basic skills for shading and will move through 10 of lessons that build on each skills learned.

Narwhals are so cute and are a great way to hook your students with the theme “Ready to Learn”. This art project allows students to explore layering paper elements to create both a background and foreground. Play with watercolor paints and wax crayons in this cute art tutorial!

If you have younger students, or students who need to build their confidence in drawing, try this Pencil Line Art Project with your students! In this art project they will use both felt markers and wax crayons while following a directed drawing and exploring the Element of Art: Line.

Let your primary students mix colors to create their own color wheel, color tints, warm and cool colors,value scales, and contrasting colors! Through this book your students will experiment with a variety of mediums such as paint and oil pastel to learn color theory in a fun, engaging way.

Start the year by exploring styles in POP Art with a Back to School Theme! Explore multiple mediums while building confidence in drawing in your classroom. This School Bus Pop Art project will sure be a welcoming sight on any bulletin board display!

If you’re reading your students “The Dot” by Peter Reynolds to teach them about Growth Mindset, try doing an art project in the theme of creating a Dot to help build their confidence! This art project explores multiple mediums and leads students through a step-by-step tutorial to help build their confidence in drawing and exploring art mediums! As this can be personalized, this is a great art piece for Back to School and for display on your bulletin board.

Explore the Element of Art: Line and Graffiti-styled writing with this Back to School Name Line Art Project! This best seller is sure to wow your students and help create confidence among your little artists!

“On April 7, 2019, Shelley Thompson (TpT Seller) said:I used the examples provided in this lesson to create a portfolio project with my students. I was able to fit the examples and powerpoint to my lesson. The instructions are so clear and easy follow. Thank you so much! “

“On September 22, 2018, Shelley W. said:Students really enjoyed. Easy to follow and turned out great!”

This art project is perfect for your primary students! Not only do they get to follow a directed drawing tutorial to learn how to draw a unicorn, but they can learn about the color wheel as well! This rainbow-themed unicorn is perfect for displaying in your rainbow room or hooking your cuties during Back to School!

I truly love everything about this art tutorial. It has balance, graphic-stylized design, perspective, line, value, and explores multiple mediums while incorporating the students name into the art piece. This is my personal favorite for this Back to School season and I recommend it for your classroom, especially for upper elementary grades or middle school. Those kids would LOVE this!

These school supplies are a cute and fun way to get your students creating in the new school year. Have them follow the directed drawing, and experiment with oil pastels and paint to create this fun art piece!

I highly recommend this Back to School Art Resource for your classroom!

If you want to teach your students about different ways we think or types of thinking, then this art piece is a great way to visually guide your classroom discussion. We don’t all think the same and we don’t always think in one way. There are many ways to think and it is great to help kids identify and understand the ways we think.

Learning is Meowgical! I love cats, unicorns, magic, and lots of art mediums. This is such a cute art piece if you just want your kids to have fun making art. What a way to hook them on art in your classroom!

This are piece will allow your students to explore line while drawing imagery that shows who them art for an “About Me” art piece for back to school!

If you want to have your students experiment with a range of mediums and materials, then this is an art project that will allow just that. There are lots of mediums applied and layers of paper in this artastic art piece that is perfectly designed for Back To School.

This abstract apple art project will teach your students to let the marks flow out of them and accept intuitive creation. This project layers mediums and materials such as paint, paper, and oil pastel. This is a great exploration that can be displayed to wow parents on Meet the Teacher night! Abstract starts with A!

Instead of talking about “what you did this summer” with your students (which can be a sensitive topic for a lot of kids for many reasons), try discussing and have them illustrate their wishes for the new school year. This art resource will help them communicate their wishes through visual imagery.

Teach your students how to draw self portraits with this art resource! This is a great art project to do with the students during back to school as it shows their identity, but also it teaches them the basics in drawing portraits. This is perfect for upper elementary and middle school students!

Try out some of these resources to help you plan effectively, teach confidently, and save you all that planning time! One click and you’re done!

Love from,

Ms Artastic