November in the art room has its own special kind of busy. The fall projects are drying on the rack, the holidays are close enough to feel, and every week seems to have one more assembly, one more early dismissal and one more “can you cover a class?” than the week before. So when a group of art teacher creators started talking about putting together a little Thanksgiving gift for teachers, I was happy to pull up a chair.

The result is the Art Teacher Freebie Feast: 13 free art resources from 13 art teacher creators, gathered in one place. Think of it like a potluck. Everyone brought the dish they’re proudest of, and you get to walk down the table and fill your plate with whatever your classroom needs right now. There are sub plans, drawing skill builders, fast finishers, a geometry tie-in, Elements of Art practice, art show labels and cleanup routines. My own dish is on the table too.

Below I’ll walk you through each freebie, share a few ideas for actually using a pile of free resources (instead of letting them sit in a downloads folder until June, which, let’s be honest, we have all done), and tell you a little more about the sketchbook cards I brought to the feast.

How the Freebie Feast Works

Everything lives on one roundup page. Click any freebie and it takes you to that creator’s page. Some resources are a direct download. Others ask for your name and email so the creator can send the file to you, which also adds you to their email list. That’s the whole idea behind a roundup like this: you get thoughtful, classroom-tested resources for free, and you get to meet some art teacher creators you might not have found otherwise. You can unsubscribe from any list at any time.

There’s no deadline, either. The roundup will stay up for a couple of weeks, so you can grab a few things now and come back for seconds after the Thanksgiving break.

Before You Download: A Plan for Your Plate

Here’s a small confession from someone who makes resources for a living: free resources are only as helpful as the moment you can find them again. Before you start clicking, it helps to decide where each thing will live in your art room. Here are three “homes” I’d suggest for this particular feast.

1. Your sub tub

A good sub tub is the gift you give your future self on the morning you wake up with a fever. Several of the freebies in this roundup were practically made for it: a sub tub guide, an editable sub binder, a fall grid drawing with a video demo, and a one-day creativity challenge. Print one class set of each, add the supplies they need to a labeled bin, and you’ll have a few days covered before you need them.

2. Your fast finisher station

Every art teacher knows the student who finishes in eleven minutes and the student who needs three more classes. A fast finisher station keeps the first one busy and creative while you help the second one. The Zendoodle handout, the Design Your Own fall worksheets, the Finish the Elf page and a jar of sketchbook prompt cards are all great choices. Keep them in a basket or a set of folders that students can reach on their own.

3. Your planning binder

A few of these resources are bigger ideas you’ll want to plan around: an Elements of Art review, a radial symmetry lesson that ties into geometry, art show certificates and labels, and cleanup routines for the end of class. Save these in the unit or month where they fit best, so they’re waiting for you when that time comes.

What’s on the Menu: All 13 Freebies

1. Sub Tub Guide + Activities

Be prepared for unexpected days off. This guide helps you start building your own sub tub, and it includes several sub plan ideas for K–5 elementary art.

From Marcia at Art is Basic. Find it in the Freebie Feast

2. No-Measure Fall Themed Grid Drawing

Grid drawing is a great confidence builder, and this one skips the ruler. Students follow a video demo to set up their grid with no measuring, so you get high success and high engagement. Melissa suggests it for subs, homework and distance learning packets.

From Melissa at The Speckled Sink. Find it in the Freebie Feast

3. 120 Sketchbook Prompt Task Cards

No more “I don’t know what to draw.” Grab a card and start creating. More about these below.

From Kathleen (that’s me!) at Ms Artastic. Find it in the Freebie Feast

4. Let’s Do the Zendoodle Handout!

A front-and-back handout to keep early finishers busy, or to use as a warm-up before a Zendoodle project. Students practice line, shape, color and pattern while they stay engaged and make art.

From Whitney at Look Between the Lines. Find it in the Freebie Feast

5. Design Your Own Fall Worksheets

Three easy fall designs: a gnome, a sweater and a turkey disguise. Use them as fast finishers or art sub plans. All students need are pencils and markers or crayons.

From Amie at Glitter Meets Glue. Find it in the Freebie Feast

6. Radial Symmetry Mandala

A simple, engaging and relaxing mandala drawing lesson that brings art and geometry together. Students work with lines and shapes to create symmetrical radial designs, which makes it a natural fit alongside a geometry unit on symmetry.

From Renee at Creating Art with Kids. Find it in the Freebie Feast

7. Elements of Art Worksheets

Elements of Art worksheets that middle and high schoolers will actually enjoy. This classroom-tested set gives students hands-on practice to review and show their understanding of color, line, shape, value, texture, space and form.

From Sabrina at A Space to Create Art. Find it in the Freebie Feast

8. Finish the Elf Drawing

An easy Christmas art activity: students finish drawing their own elf by choosing a hat, face, clothes and shoes, then write about a time their elf caught them being good. It’s a free two-page printable that combines drawing, writing and positive behavior.

From Stacey at Expressive Monkey. Find it in the Freebie Feast

9. Exhibiting Artist Certificate & Art Show Labels

A certificate and artwork label worksheet set that makes organizing your student art show easier, and gives students ownership of and excitement about being part of the school’s art exhibition.

From Mandy & Michele at Art Teacher Fusion. Find it in the Freebie Feast

10. Quick Creativity Challenge Activity

A one-day, challenge-style art-making activity that encourages creativity. It’s perfect for extra art days, end-of-year activities, or any time you need a meaningful project with minimal prep.

From Stephanie at Picassa’s Palette. Find it in the Freebie Feast

11. Art Room Cleanup & Lineup Routines

Simple routines for the last 10 minutes of class, with step-by-step guides, teacher scripts, organization tips, visual examples and a fun silent lineup game to help students clean up and transition more independently.

From Katie at Managing the Mess. Find it in the Freebie Feast

12. Sub Folder Templates

An organized, fully editable substitute binder template with 50 pre-designed Canva pages, so your sub binder or sub folder keeps everything your substitute teacher needs in one place.

From Lauren at Inside Out Art Teacher. Find it in the Freebie Feast

13. Beginner Grid Drawing

An easy-prep grid drawing lesson for middle school, high school and homeschool art. Students complete a worksheet with a rubric, and a 9-minute narrated video tutorial walks them step by step through the drawing. Use it as an early finisher or an art sub plan.

From Tiffany at Mrs T Fox Resources. Find it in the Freebie Feast

A Simple Plan for the Short Thanksgiving Week

The week before a holiday break is its own creature. Attendance is patchy, energy is high, and starting a brand-new multi-week project rarely feels like a good idea. If you’re looking for a way to put a few of these freebies to work right away, here’s one way you could shape that week. Treat it as a menu, not a prescription, and swap pieces in and out for your grade levels and your schedule.

Day one: draw and warm up. Open with a sketchbook prompt card as a 10-minute warm-up, then move into one of the grid drawing lessons. Grid drawing is wonderful for this time of year because the steps are clear, students see their own progress quickly, and the video demos let you step back and circulate instead of drawing at the board the whole period.

Day two: pattern and design. The radial symmetry mandala and the Zendoodle handout pair beautifully. Both ask students to slow down and build a design from line, shape and repetition, and both are calm, focused work, which can be exactly what a room needs right before a break.

Day three: choice and celebration. Put out the Design Your Own fall worksheets, the creativity challenge and your sketchbook cards, and let students choose. Choice days are a lovely way to end a stretch of work. You get to see what students reach for when the decision is theirs, and they get a day that feels a little like a treat.

And if you’re the one who ends up home sick that week, everything above can go straight into the sub tub with a short note on top.

A Few Tips for Printing and Storing Freebies

A handful of small habits make a big difference in whether free resources actually get used. Rename each file as soon as it downloads, with the subject and grade band at the front, so you can find it in a search later. Print one master copy, slip it into a sheet protector and file it in a binder by month or by unit. When you need a class set, the master is already there, and you aren’t hunting through your downloads folder at 7:45 in the morning.

For anything that lives in your room all year, like prompt cards or cleanup routine posters, it’s worth the extra few minutes to print on cardstock or laminate. Cards that get handled by 25 students a class don’t last long on regular copy paper.

Finally, jot a quick note on the master after you teach it: what worked, which class loved it, what you’d change. Next year’s version of you will be very grateful.

My Dish for the Table: 120 Sketchbook Prompt Task Cards

If you’ve ever handed a student a sketchbook and watched them stare at the blank page, these cards are for you. There are 120 open-ended prompts, so every student can take a card somewhere different. Nobody has to wait for you to invent a drawing idea on the spot, and nobody can say there’s nothing to draw.

Print them, cut them apart and keep them in a jar or a deck by the sketchbooks. Teachers use them for sketchbook warm-ups at the start of class, early finishers, sub plans, quick art challenges, centers and choice time.

One simple routine to try: keep the cards in a jar by the sketchbooks, and once a week let a student pull the prompt for the whole class. Students get to be the one who picks, and it turns a quiet warm-up into something they look forward to.

Want More Than a Plate of Freebies?

Freebies are wonderful for filling gaps. If you’d love a whole year of art lessons that are already planned, with step-by-step slides, videos, handouts, rubrics and reflection pages, that’s what I built the Artastic Collective to be. It’s my K–9 art curriculum membership for art teachers, classroom teachers and homeschool families. Come take a look whenever you’re ready.

Pin It for Later

Save this roundup to your art teacher board so you can find it again when you’re building your sub tub or planning a busy week.

Thank You for Everything You Do

Teaching art is joyful, messy, important work, and it’s a lot to hold in a season this full. I’m so grateful to the creators who brought their best to this table, and I’m grateful for you, the teachers who make room for art in kids’ lives every single week.

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends, and happy art making to everyone. Go fill your plate.

Kathleen