For a successful art journey, foundational skills are KEY.

These Fall Tree Collages are a great way to reinforce basic elements of line and color, strengthen precision and coordination skills through collage, and practice drawing different line types.

And what better way to hook your young artists than with TWO kinds of paint?!

In this autumn lesson, students use watercolors to paint a cool-colored background, create fiery warm painted papers with a stippling technique for textured leaves, and use lines to make their own unique tree branches.

Your students will love creating these trees, and your bulletin board will be a gorgeous display of bold fall colors!

It’s not easy to teach line, color, and shape to 20+ five-year-olds, so you’d better make it fun!

Line Monsters are SO silly and the lesson gives your youngest artists a chance to practice drawing different line types, experiment with color, and use shapes to create an expressive face. ALL the wins!

This is the first multi-day project I do with my Kindergarteners at the very end of September after we have learned classroom routines and basic materials care. This is also the first time I introduce watercolors!

This project will help your students strengthen their dexterity, fine motor skills, and coordination. And most importantly – it provides the perfect opportunity for the kids to see their skills grow in real time!

Sure, you could use a Kandinsky-inspired abstract piece to practice lines and shapes (and I certainly do later in the year!) – but add some big googly eyes and a silly face, and suddenly, your kids are ALL in. Ready for the next adventure in the art room.

Color Monsters = The best fall project for young artists.

I could leave it at that. But there is SO much about this lesson that makes it more than an instant visual favorite.

Your youngest learners will learn to identify and share emotions through color and line type, assemble an expression that shows a feeling, AND supercharge their dexterity and fine motor strength through an extensive cutting experience.

Core art elements, social emotional learning, and physical skill-building. Win. Win. WIN.

This lesson starts with the story, The Color Monster by Anna Llenas, and continues with students using line and color to share a feeling of their choice. Then we cut and glue, and cut and glue some more until we have a monster with an expressive face that shows the emotion to match the color.

Enjoy the process. Enjoy the giggles of pride even more. And take as many pictures as you can of the hilariously creative monsters your students create. They’ll be better than any example you make.

I promise.

This is an easy fall project inspired by the artist, Yayoi Kusama, and it is PACKED with elements and principles for young artists to learn and practice.

The project begins with a tracer to create a pumpkin contour, then students build color blending skills using oil pastels. The project is finished with sponge dots and cotton swabs dipped in black tempera paint to mimic Kusama’s trademark polka dot patterns.

I have made the physical process of this lesson accessible to a variety of levels, and the artistic elements customizable for you to suit the needs of your students and curriculum goals.