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Be Colorful & Creative!

American Artist Appreciation Month + National Coloring Day = a Month of Creativity! This week we share resources to cultivate your students' creativity, starting with art lessons for all ages.

Grades K-5

I Am An Artist

Learn about six strands of art: paint and color, clay, fabric and fiber, drawing, construction, and print. Each strand includes a short video, engaging slideshow, hands-on exploration, and more. Don't miss the "For Teachers" area, including lesson plans.

Grades 5-12

Murder at the Met: An American Art Mystery

Step back to 1899 and attend an evening gala full of mystery. You will use art to solve the crime. Tour American paintings, sculpture, and more that reside at The Metropolitan Museum of Art to solve the murder of Virginie Gautreau, a.k.a. Madame X.

Grades 1-10

Draw a Stickman

Draw a simple stick figure, bring him or her to life, and begin your adventure (your stick figure will be the hero). Choose an episode (mini interactive story) and read and follow the directions, solve mysteries, think creatively, and solve problems.

Grades 6-12

Of the People: Art and History of the White House

Bring the artwork of the White House into your classroom. Go behind the scenes for an in-depth video about the art and history of the White House with (then) White House Curator, William Allman. Brainstorm questions with your class before you view.

Cross-Curricular Art Connections

From coding to math to social studies, we have teacher reviewed resources to connect art to your lessons! 

Grades K-6

Coloring Squared

Bring some color into your elementary math lessons! Peruse this free collection of math printables to teach and review various concepts. Determine the solution and color the squares based on a key found on every page to reveal a pixel art puzzle.

Grades K-12

Pencil Code Gym

Connect coding and the arts with this collaborative coding site. Easily play music, draw images, and create games with drag-and-drop blocks or text. Helpful features include: Materials for Teachers, Teacher's Manual, and Activities.

Grades K-12

CurriConnects Book List: The Artist's Eye

Connect art with your reading lessons using this list of Caldecott winners and books with unusual or beautiful layouts or illustrations. The list also includes books about art or artists. The books are divided by grade level and include reading levels.

Get Creative with Color

Honor individuality in your art. Share this trio of online tools for creating coloring (or colorful) projects. 

Grades K-2

Lecky's Picture Painting

Take coloring to a new interactive level with this simple virtual activity. Students choose a picture and color scheme and then recreate (online) the same colors and pattern in a larger version of the picture.

Grades K-2

The Color

Paint your primary classroom full of color with this collection of 100's of online coloring pages sorted into categories: holidays, dinosaurs, continents, letters, and more. You can color online and share the URL or print the page to color on paper.

Grades K-4

Color, Draw & Paint

Have students create drawings to demonstrate math problems, share science experiments, or draw scenes from a story. The options are endless with this virtual tool that includes drawing, spray paint, adding stickers, and more.

This Week at TeachersFirst

Get ready for school with these summer learning opportunities. This week, join our OK2Ask® virtual workshop and Twitter chat to learn about tech tools for the classroom. And visit the Infusing Technology blog for more edtech inspiration.