March Art Activities
You can check out a collection of my March art activities and St. Patrick’s Day resources HERE in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. They are each described below, with free resources included when available. I have lessons for integrating art into math and language arts, student collaboration projects, drawing practice, and fine motors skill development–best of all, they are super simple for the teacher and super exciting for the students!
St. Patrick’s Day Interactive Coloring
I created interactive Pop Art coloring sheets for all major holidays and seasons. These sheets are great for so many reasons but mostly because, just like the artists (students) that create them, no two are ever the same. The pattern and color possibilities are endless, and when you mix that with a child’s creativity, you have an unmeasurable number of options for creation. I also have writing prompts included for kids who finish early or to use these sheets in your writing programs.
The best part about my St. Patrick’s Day set is that this is the FIRST set to also include 4 pattern-filled designs. Teachers often ask me for the pattern-filled designs that are sometimes more appropriate for the younger kids or differentiation. To give you a taste of what these pattern-filled coloring sheets are like, I have included a sample for FREE (or by clicking on the image below). Please note it is for personal use only. And if YOU want to get in on the coloring fun (after all, adult coloring is all the rage these days), I have created a (free) set of coloring sheets just for teachers. I have a fun and engaging Pop Art Adult Coloring Book available for purchase over on Amazon–I hope you’ll check it out!
Take this Pop Art Shamrock FREEBIE and pair it with this St. Patrick’s Day Limerick FREEBIE from Brain Waves Instruction to create a Limerick and Pop Art Mobile. Read the full blog post HERE about this fun art integration idea!
St. Patrick’s Day Math
I love using my Pop Art images to let the kids review their math facts–what kid can’t use extra math fact practice? My set of St. Patrick’s Day math coloring sheets allows them to practice all of their multiplication/division facts, and there is addition and subtraction practice as well.
It’s so easy for the teacher, and since the colors are non-traditional, the kids can’t guess. They have to really do the math (don’t worry teachers, the resource comes with an answer key for you).
The best part about these math sheets is that they allow for very discreet differentiation. Since the designs are the same, you could provide an advanced student a division sheet and a struggling student a subtraction sheet, and it wouldn’t be obvious since the end results in colors are the same.
There are 4 designs for each set of math facts for a total of 16 sheets. My motto is “fun for the kids, easy for the teacher!”
St. Patrick’s Day Sight Words
Sight words seem somewhat of a boring thing for kids, so I set out to create my own idea of how to use sight words in an art project. I came up with my Pot of Gold Sight Words activity. This activity is a fun way to turn sight words into gold at the end of a rainbow. I provide the lists of sight words for the different levels along with the templates and instructions. The sight words are already on the paper–you simply copy them onto “gold” paper and let the kids trace around the letters (very low prep for the teacher). My kindergarten students love this project.
Celtic Knot Paper Activity
To challenge older students, grades 3-6, I created this Celtic Knot paper activity It looks a lot harder than it really is. That is what makes it so cool. I even left this with a sub and it worked out great!
The steps are broken down and all the templates are included. This is one of those “WOW” lessons your students will be so proud to have completed. The pdf instruction set provided in this lesson can be projected on your whiteboard and everyone in the class can follow along with the steps. It’s really not that hard because it follows the basic over and under pattern used in weaving. Great fine motor skills practice!
I also have a new (as of 2018) Celtic knot design that is inspired by a shamrock. It works just like my first design (as far as the steps the students go through) and includes a video step-by-step tutorial! It looks like this:
Just check out this bulletin board display (talk about WOW)!
In my experience, kids LOVE Celtic knots. If you aren’t convinced, try these Celtic knot drawing practice sheets. Free to you when you join my email list.
I love to spoil my e-mail subscribers by sending exclusive freebies, tips and tricks, as well as special announcements of sales – not to mention that after you join you’ll get invited to my “Subscribers Library” of freebies.
Draw and paint a monochromatic leprechaun
Kids love to draw and they L-O-V-E to paint…so why not use this awesome “green” holiday to teach them about the word monochromatic (one-color)? You can use watercolor or acrylic/tempera paint to create different values of green. This lesson is great for letting students play with mixing paints to see what happens!
In this lesson, I provide kids with a step-by-step sheet for drawing and painting the leprechaun to include teaching students about tints and shades.
Kids have so much fun with this and the leprechauns often take on a personality similar to the student!
Collaboration Poster
I told you one of my main goals is to make your life as a teacher easier. I know there are only a small group of teachers that “enjoy” decorating their doors for the holidays. The rest of you are probably thinking “oh bother!” So last year I started designing door posters using my signature collaborative poster style.
My collaborative leprechaun poster is the perfect poster to decorate your door for March. This poster is so super-duper easy (and fast) because each kid colors one piece of the poster and then it gets put together to reveal a large leprechaun. No enlarging or crazy copying is involved. Just print and go! When this poster is finished he is approx. 32″ x 56 ” and there are 28 pieces.
If you are still with me, thank you for reading my post about my March art activities, checking out my resources, and snagging some free resources to try in your classroom. I truly believe art integration can be your best “tool” for engaging and motivating students.
Thanks for reading, and for making art with your students.
