5 Christmas Art Lesson Ideas for Your Classroom Using Flexible, Choice Art Mediums

Okay so let’s dive on into 5 Christmas Art Project or Lesson Ideas that you can simply and easily do in your classroom that use choice or flexible art mediums, perfect for Christmas Choice-Based Art Education and Learning. I have a bunch of easy-to-do and prep ideas that can use choice art mediums and can allow the students to really immerse themselves in some Christmas vibes. So grab your Art Making Mediums (of your choice of course) and let’s get into these Christmas Ready-Made, Simple and Engaging, Art Lesson Ideas for your Amazing art classroom.

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5 Christmas Art Project or Lesson Ideas that you can simply and easily do in your classroom that use choice or flexible art mediums, perfect for Christmas Choice-Based Art Education and Learning. I have a bunch of easy-to-do and prep ideas that can use choice art mediums and can allow the students to really immerse themselves in some Christmas vibes. So grab your Art Making Mediums (of your choice of course) and let’s get into these Christmas Ready-Made, Simple and Engaging, Art Lesson Ideas for your Amazing art classroom.

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CHRISTMAS ELVES ART PROJECT:

This idea can be done with any age! I always think that any time we have an opportunity for kids to immerse themselves in an observational experience and we have the means to, then we should allow it. In this art lesson idea, I think we need to let students experience some Christmas workshop flavor to bring out the sillies and creative juices (assuming all your students celebrate Christmas).

IMMERSIVE BRAINSTORM: Take your classroom projector and find a YouTube video of like, “Santa’s Workshop” (if it has audio that isn’t just music, just hit mute) and then just like put it at the back of the room and project it into the classroom instead of a screen like a Van Gogh Museum immersive experience. Let them walk around in “Santa’s Workshop” as though they are an elf themselves without talking and let them spend 3 to 5 minutes visualizing what one of Santa’s Elves could look like. Explain that once they have an idea, they should quietly return to their seat and make a quick sketch (either in a sketchbook or on scrap paper) of their Elf.

After? Create an artwork inspired by the immersive experience and immersive brainstorm of one of Santa’s Elves. Challenge them to re-create the image of Santa’s elves and experiment with new ideas. You can let them choose choice art mediums OR you can pick the art mediums, or let them pick from a few art mediums that you are willing to allow them to choose from. Let it be flexible and choice. You can do this with any art mediums, it will take a few art classes, and you know that kids will be developing a strong sense of observational skills and will be highly engaged in the art making process. After all that immersion they will be tingling with creativity and Christmas art ideas. Just plant the seed and watch it grow! This is a perfect idea for anyone wanting to implement more choice based art in their classrooms and really, any teacher can do this with little prep as a lot of the art making is self-directed. Of course, for more Christmas art ideas your can visit my TeachersPayTeachers store, Ms Artastic, or Join my Art teacher Membership, the Artastic Collective, in January.

SANTA CLAUS ART PROJECT:

Want to increase engagement and have your students focused while the Christmas Spirit takes over (and let’s be honest, causes all kinds of disengagement from the classroom as they’re just too excited. I can’t blame them so I like to just roll with it!)? No problem. Combat those Christmas jitters by letting them make some Santa Claus art! You can do resist painting Santa Claus’s with white wax crayons or oils pastels and then paint the backgrounds with Christmas colors using with tempera paint cakes or watercolor paints. Of course, Christmas Colors are also Complementary Colors (Red+Green) so you can sneak in a lesson on Color theory without them realizing it. It could be a quick lesson and you can talk about how they create high contrast. If you’re exhausted by this point, I am sure you can find a YouTube video on Complementary colors that can get the job done in a matter of minutes while grasping their attention that is focused on the upcoming holiday break. I am sure your attention is there as well.

If you want more choice based play, you can provide students with a choice of a Christmas Color background paper (construction paper) and let them choose between liquid tempera paint, white soft pastel or chalk pastel, or oil pastels to create their own Santa Claus design on the paper. Ask them to really imagine what Father Christmas/Saint Nicholas/Santa Claus might look like from their culture.

BE CULTURALLY SENSITIVE: If they don’t have a Santa Claus, they can create a figure from their culture. It is choice-based and we should let students explore their own identity. If you have classroom ipads or tablets, this is when you allow them to do research. If a student doesn’t celebrate Christmas, let them create something that makes sense to them or illustrate their family if they’re spending time with them over the holidays.

You can be assured you will have a variety of Santa artworks when supplying a choice of these 3 art mediums! Your role would be to demo what each medium might look like as a sample on construction paper and show how to use each, but not show HOW to make a Santa artwork. You support with using mediums like a studio tech and kids can do the experimenting and creating.

REINDEER ART PROJECTS:

Another idea would be to let your students create Reindeer Portraits that will be the subject of their art piece and let them create or draw their choice of reindeer in their choice of art making style. This can be done with any age. If you have primaries, this is a great time to pull out some cotton swabs and let them do some fine motor practice by lettings them dip the swab into white paint and then stamp on white dots onto the artwork after drawing to create snow texture in the background. Reindeer in snow! How cute. I mean really, any age would enjoy that. Older kids could make the snow more complex and create dot snowflake designs.

If you want a pre-planned Christmas Art Projects, I of course have a large selection of fully planned Christmas art lessons in my TpT store, Ms Artastic.

CHRISTMAS TREE ART PROJECT:

Challenge your students to create an artwork of a Christmas Tree using at least 5 mediums to encourage them to experiment and be creative. This can be done with any age! However, if you’re doing this with primary, reduce it to 3 art mediums. Direct 1 of the mediums to be magazine clippings OR scrap paper pieces. Put up pictures or a YouTube video clip of Christmas trees or ones being decorated (hit mute on videos and play your own music) and let them create choice-based art by creating their own Christmas Tree inspired by the picture or video, but using a variety of art making mediums and materials. They MUST include 5 (or 3 for primary) art mediums so we can ask the students to really think outside the box and move outside their comfort zone. This can be done with most ages, from Elementary all the way up to High School. All about expanding Creative Thinking Skills.

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS- SUSTAINABLE DESIGN:

Challenge students to make their own DESIGN, a Christmas Ornament, using cardboard, any recycled objects, and paper and any other choice art mediums. No follow-along-crafts. Challenge them to explore and go deeper into the project to create and design their own Christmas Ornament. For older students, encourage them to add a little artwork on it as well of their choice (of course). This is a fun, engaging art idea that can really be done with anything from a recycling bin to also encourage reusing and sustainability. Really, this is teaching sustainable design during a month of extreme consumerism.

READY-MADE CHRISTMAS ART PROJECTS on the Ms Artastic TeachersPayTeachers store:

If you’re looking for art lessons ready-to-use that include all the lesson plans, handouts, assessment, and more, check out my CHRISTMAS Art Lessons, Winter ARTivity booklet, directed draws, coloring pages, and more in my TeachersPayTeachers store or with your Artastic Collective Membership. Find these resources in the Winter category of my TpT store or find links in the show notes blog post. Link in the description of this video or go to msartastic.com.

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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)