5 Pop Art Lesson, Projects, and Art Activities for Kids

Today I am going to talk… Pop Art. One of my favorite art movements is Pop Art and I love it! I love the artists, I love what came out of it! As well, I think teaching art lessons that are inspired by the Pop Art Movement is a great way to engage the learners in your classroom. Kids really connect with Pop Art and it can be an invitation for them to bring their ideas and the things they like in Pop Culture to your classroom. It can allow more student choice and student-centered learning. Let’s look at 5 Pop Art Lesson ideas for Kids in your classroom!

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What is the Pop Art Movement?

Before we begin, let’s understand what the Pop Art Movement is!

“Pop art is for everyone”
-Andy Warhol

Art Movement. You must have often heard the word Movement but in this article you are going to learn about the famous POP ART movement. How it started and how far it went. What were the characteristics and prominent figures of this movement? Stay tuned!

WHAT IS POP ART?
Emerged in mid twentieth century in United Kingdom and United States of America simultaneously, the main agenda of this pop art movement was to solidify the idea that art can be drawn from any source or any day to day object from our surrounding. In this movement, artists incorporated common objects like burgers, soup cans and etc into their art work and created masterpieces.

Beginning:
This movement started in early 1950s in Britain by “Independent Group” consisting of painters, sculptors, critics and writers. Then by late 1950s it reached United States and spread rapidly. It is commonly said that most of the roots of this movement lie in the Cultural Revolution that was led by the thinkers, activists and artists of that time. It started spreading quickly and many people believe “Richard Hamilton”, a pop pioneer’s collage that was shown in the Whitechapel Gallery in London, was the official beginning of this movement. After the movement started, it quickly started influencing fine art and culture and is still doing it. Hamilton describes Pop Art movement by saying “Pop Art is popular, transient, expandable, low cost, mass produced, young, witty, sexy, gimmicky, glamorous, big business.”

Characteristics:
Pop art was famous because of its vibrancy and attraction but below are some of the defining characteristics of pop Art.

Famous images: Pop art utilized the objects that were commonly known commercially like road signs, soup cans, pictures of celebrities and even brand names and logos.

Vibrant Colors: Pop art used vibrant and bright colors especially red, yellow and blue primary colors were prominent in the pop art.

Irony and Satire: Humor was the essential component of pop art as artists used to challenge status quo and made statements about current events.

Creative Techniques: Pop Artists used innovative new techniques in art like silkscreen printing and lithography or printing from a metal plate to produce large amount of images.

Mixed Media: Pop artists often blended a variety of media from different materials.

PROMINENT FIGURES OF THE MOVEMENT:

Andy Warhol:

His name became famous during the American pop art movement.

His works represent so many aspects of the pop art movement like obsessions with celebrities, repetition of images and use of advertising as a subject matter.
His most prominent work includes “Campbell’s soup cans” and “Death and Disaster”
He collaborated with artists like “Jean-Michel Basquiat” and brands like “Perrier”.
He ultimately opened a studio with the name “The Factory” that served for his workshop for art making and a hangout place for Bohemians.

Roy Lichtenstein:

Another prominent artist of pop art movement.
He is famous for his bold outlines and vibrant colors.
He used comic books as his reference for source material.
He used Ben-day dots to stimulate comic style later on in his sculptures and paintings.

He took his subject matter from print media like so many other artists.

ANDY WARHOL REPEATED IMAGES ART LESSON IDEA:

So my first idea is that you can have students create an artwork that plays with the idea of repeated images. Now depending on the age of the students, you could do this in a variety of ways. Andy Warhol was pretty big on repeating some of his prints in different ways. The fancier ones even featured special silver or gold ink or paint. I think that students could make the same art piece a few times, like smaller explorations, or they could divide the paper up into 4 quadrants and repeat the image in each smaller quadrant on the paper. With each time they do it, the image will be slightly different and they can use it as an opportunity to explore different colors or color schemes.

Students can use black wax crayon or oil pastel and can draw an image in each corner of their paper and then can paint with watercolor over top to create the colorful background. With older kids you could even explore print making! With elementary students you can use cardboard cutouts to make a type of stamp to use for block printing on a budget, or you can do full print making exploration with your middle or high school students, focusing on the style of Andy Warhol. They could be inspired by topics that he did… but make it contemporary! Perhaps they explore icons or people they’re interested in… of their time, versus exploring the individuals Warhol explored.

If you have pre-k or kindergarten students, you could photocopy an image of something simple that they like… maybe photocopy like 5 things that are popular amongst your students. Then they can explore coloring in the white space with first, wax crayons in some of the white space, then use tempera paint cakes to paint in the remaining white space. This way they’re not just coloring but are exploring the basics of wax resist painting. This would be a great idea if you need a quick lesson if you’re between units or other things and it’s a great way to engage your littles and teach to their interests.

The next 4 ideas will not only be ideas that you can plan yourself, but are already planned and you can find them as complete are lessons with all the lesson plans, assessments, rubrics, and handouts that you need to teach the lesson successfully. For these fully planned art lessons that will allow you to plan quickly, encourage creativity, and teach successfully, check out my TeachesPayTeachers store, Ms Artastic… The link to my online store is in the description of this episode, but also you can find the direct links to these resources in my blog, www.msartastic.com.

ANDY WARHOL FLOWERS ART LESSON:

You can teach students about Andy Warhol’s “Flowers” series. You can talk about how, although the image is repeated, it changes with each repetition. You can have students divide the paper into 4 sections and then paint each section a different color. After, students can print a flower onto each of the quadrants with black paint! Have your students make cardboard flower cut-outs and then they can paint the flower with black paint and press it onto each section to make a print! In this art lesson, students will practice the art of print making while exploring the style of Andy Warhol and his famous “flowers” artworks in this Pop Art Movement inspired art lesson.

This is a lovely, ready-to-use art lesson that teaches a Print Style of making & Pop Art to primary students!

For a fully prepped version of this art lesson that has a video art tutorial so you can learn how to do it yourself through watching, or simply hit play in your classroom and with all the necessary handouts, lesson plan, and assessments, check out this resource in my TpT store, Ms Artastic, or you will find it in the Artastic Collective in the Pop Art bundle when it’s released in the Artists and Art History section of your Library. Don’t forget that the membership opens every August!

ANDY WARHOL SOUP CANS ART LESSON:

You can have students to create their own versions of Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans! Students can pick their favorite flavor and then sketch out the soup can. Afterwards, students can outline the cans with a fine tip black marker and then paint it with acrylic or watercolor paints! My fully planned version of this artwork allows Middle School students to explore creating a watercolor painting version of this pop art style concept! In this lesson, students will use watercolor paints and black marker to create a watercolor painting inspired by Andy Warhol’s famous Soup Can series. This is a great lesson for teaching watercolor painting techniques & the Pop Art Movement. Find this complete art lesson in my TpT Store or in the Pop Art Bundle upon its release with your Artastic Collective Membership!

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ROY LICHTENSTEIN POP ART WORDS:

Pop Art words that explore onomatopoeia and Words as Pop Art Styled artworks are sure to engage your students! Explore Roy Lichtenstein’s Word Artworks with your students! You can teach them about the different color schemes he uses and the graphic arts style of creating his art. Kids can pick a word that expresses a sound and create, mimicking the style of Lichtenstein! In this art lesson, students will use paint and marker to create Pop Art that is inspired by the famous artworks of Roy Lichtenstein from the Pop Art Movement. Engage your students with fun Pop Art Artworks! A wonderful Art Project that is ready-to-use! Find this complete art lesson in my TpT Store or in the Pop Art Bundle upon its release with your Artastic Collective Membership!

KEITH HARING INSPIRED POP ART LESSON:

Another artist to explore are the works of Keith Haring! You can explore a variety of Haring artworks with your students and kids can discuss the different figures or elements he commonly features in his artworks. Kids can think-pair-share what they think his artworks mean or what they might reflect. They can also make a chart and record common color combinations that Harring used in his works! Students can then create an artwork that combines the common figures that he uses in artworks. In this art lesson, students will use marker and paint to create pop art inspired by famous artist, Keith Haring. Of course, I have this as a ready-to-use art lesson. This is a lovely, ready-to-use art lesson that is a wonderful way to explore the artist’s style and art from the Pop Art Movement! Find this complete art lesson in my TpT Store or in the Pop Art Bundle upon its release with your Artastic Collective Membership! This has a video art tutorial so you can learn how to do it yourself through watching, or simply hit play in your classroom!

Well those are my 5 Pop Art Movement, Art Lesson ideas that you can do with your students!

Don’t forget to head on over to www.artasticcollective.com and bookmark my site, subscribe to the waitlist, and download any free art lessons there to check out the quality of my art lessons before you decide to enroll or buy the singles in my TpT store, Ms Artastic.

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One of my favorite art movements is Pop Art and I love it! I love the artists, I love what came out of it! As well, I think teaching art lessons that are inspired by the Pop Art Movement is a great way to engage the learners in your classroom. Kids really connect with Pop Art and it can be an invitation for them to bring their ideas and the things they like in Pop Culture to your classroom. It can allow more student choice and student-centered learning. Let's look at 5 Pop Art Lesson ideas for Kids in your classroom!

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Finally, if you need some ideas or need to take a break in your classroom or from recording lessons for online instruction, I have lots of Art Video tutorials that are classroom friendly on my YouTube Channel!

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Yours Truly,
Kathleen McGiveron (Ms Artastic)