Need Art Lesson Ideas FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR? ➡️ Click here to Grab my Ultimate Year-Long Art Making Guide
The Artastic Collective K–9 Art Curriculum is officially open for new members from August 11–15, 2025, and if you’re looking for a full-year art program that is easy to use, beautifully structured, and actually enjoyable to teach—this is your moment.
I’m excited to invite you to join the FREE Art Teacher Mastermind Group—a supportive community designed to help you thrive as an art educator. This group is all about sharing ideas, building confidence, and growing together.
Let’s dive into some ideas to help you plan your first week of school with art lesson ideas that help you build student confidence, develop creativity, and encourage exploring a variety of art mediums so that you can have an amazing back to school and classroom full of artist flavor!
Classroom sketchbooks can not only be a resource to use for art lessons in your classroom, but they can be used intentionally to cultivate creative confidence, curiosity, and critical thinking children. They can be the key that opens the door to an adventure of creative confidence, experimentation, risk taking, and embracing mistakes. Sketchbooks can be the doors to our minds and identity; they can be deeply personal, but also places of exploration and discovery.
Looking for a complete art curriculum for Kindergarten to Grade 9? The Artastic Collective is open for enrollment from August 11–15 only! Discover how to save time and teach meaningful, creative art lessons all year long.
Can you believe it? It is already back to school! And my friend it is time to announce when TPT is having their Sitewide sale for August 2025 so that you can save 25% on ALL of the Art Resources, Art Lesson Plans, and Art Projects in the Ms Artastic TPT store. So let’s dive in on when the sale will be and what you should add to your cart this year to refresh your curriculum and plan your scope and sequence.
Celebrate International Dot Day with a meaningful art lesson that explores creativity, growth mindset, and self-expression. Learn about the history of Dot Day, classroom activity ideas, and discover a ready-to-use Dot Day Art Resource that pairs perfectly with *The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. Great for back-to-school art and building a positive classroom culture!
It is already that time of year for teachers and homeschoolers to get planning. One of the biggest questions I am asked is “What art lessons should I teach in the first weeks of school?” Today I am going to answer that question and give you the BEST Back to School Art Lessons & Projects for Elementary!
Nothing says “welcome back” quite like a bright, bold apple on the first day of school with this back to school art lesson. 🍎 But this isn’t your ordinary apple. In this art lesson, students dive into the world of color and shading as they learn all about the Element of Art: Value. They’ll use oil pastels on colorful construction paper to create juicy, realistic apples that practically pop right off the page!
Back to school season is officially here, and I don’t know about you, but I absolutely LOVE starting the year with a creative art project that sets the tone for an inspiring and fun classroom. One of my favorite ways to do this? A Glue Bottle Line Art Project that’s perfect for introducing your students to the Elements of Art: Line and Color while letting their personalities shine.
Let’s talk about something magical for a moment. Picture this: you’re scrolling through TpT, you spot the perfect art lesson or resource for your classroom, and then—BOOM—you realize you have enough TpT credits sitting in your account to get it for FREE. Or maybe you can snag it during a sitewide sale and those credits bring your total down so low it feels like you’re winning the TpT jackpot.
Sound dreamy? Well, it’s 100% possible… and I’m going to show you exactly how.
Discover how to use Art Challenge Cards for art fast finishers, bell ringers, and exit tickets. Perfect for keeping students engaged year-round with low-prep, creative prompts for any art classroom or homeschool.
Let’s dive in on my Top 5 Favorite Art Lesson Plans and Resources so that way you can get inspired for new art lesson and project teaching ideas for back to school or to include in your curriculum or scope and sequence so you can plan art like a pro! If you’re like me, you probably love to feel organized with a general idea of what you plan to teach in the upcoming school year. Infact, my favorite thing is to plan my Back to School during the LAST month of school before I go out on vacation, so I can use all that time off to really recharge my energy, health, and mindset. Teaching is such a draining profession and I am a huge advocate for teachers using time away from school for them (and I know there isn’t enough of that because so many are marking and planning at home).
Write and draws are an opportunity to blend the benefits of writing or handwriting practice with the joys of directed drawing. It is using art as a prompt for writing, blending two forms of creativity. As an artist, I always grew up doodling and drawing. You might have those kids in your class too- the ones who doodle in the margins of their paper. That doodling helps our brains focus on listening and also can be used to spark creativity. So let’s dive in on ways to blend the joys of art and drawing and using it as a prompt for writing, blending literacy and art for arts integrated activities.
The truth is that better classroom systems will not only help you feel happier and more relaxed, and in more control, but they will help you free up time and energy that you can spend on the things your WANT to do.
If you’re struggling to know where to begin to transform your art teaching life to calm, clear, and focused, then my Art Teacher Focused Guide is the step for you!
