icebreaker questions for the art classroom

1. If you could be any artist in the world, who would you choose to be?
2. If you spent all day working with your hands, what would you do?
3. If you could have a super hero power, what would it be?
4. If you could visit any place in the world, where would that be and why?
   What is the one kind of art you would collect from that place and why?
5. What is the one substance you would like to build a home out of?
6. If you lived the life of a cartoon character, which one would you select and why?
7. What kinds of hobbies do you have and how could these relate to the subject of art?
8. What is the most artistic hair style you have ever seen?
9. If you could redecorate your room, in any way you wish, what would it look like?
10. What is the one thing that surprised you about visiting someone else at their home?
11. Who is the most artistic person in your family and why?
12. What is the strangest piece of artwork you have ever seen?
13. If you had to write a magazine article about an artist, how would you begin to do it and why?
14. If you had to build a tree house to live in, what would it look like?
15. Let's pretend that your parents or guardian is going to give a big party. He or she is expecting you to decorate some cupcakes and to set up a decorated area. What are some of the ideas you would use?
16. What is the one activity that you hope to do before you turn fifty five years old?
17. If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?
18. If you woke up tomorrow morning and found that your hair had changed color, what color would embarrass you so much that you would wear a hat on your head during the entire school day?
19. If you have a pet or if you were to have a pet and you had to dress him in human clothing, what would he or she wear?
20. If your parent had to make artwork to sell from your home, what do you think they could create in order to survive as an artist?

art class icebreakers index

Icebreakers are exercisers designed to help more than one person participate in activities that promote: introductions,  new partnerships, community spirit and successful team accomplishments. I have developed the following icebreakers for my own art classrooms. 

1. Four Wonders of The World
2. Lost Inside This Painting
3. Sort of Fun
4. Never Have I Ever . . . Game
5. Improve This Collection
6. Icebreaker Questions For The Art Classroom
7. Mingle Madness
8. Tell Two Truths
9. Photo Scavenger Hunt
10. "Icebreaker" Artist Trading Cards

More icebreaker ideas from the web:

• Icebreakers, fun games, group activities
• Ice breakers from ResidentAssistant
• Icebreakers, Warmups, Energizers, & Deinhibitizers
• Break The Ice
• Icebreakers Games for Parties
• Ice Breakers from About.com
• Easing Group Contribution Through Ice Breakers
• Icebreakers for Group Interaction
• Icebreakers, Warm-up, Review, and Motivator Activities
• Ice Breakers for Camps

string a few dangling nut head people

Nut head dolls, strung seed bodies
by kathy grimm.

Brief Description: These dangling nut head dolls were made from natural materials. I loved to spend time with my children gathering from the wooded areas during a Fall walks. This craft brings back to mind fond memories. Natalie helped me collect the acorns yesterday and then I strung these dolls together on my own. Had she still been a little girl, this activity would have elicited much excitement. I think that should she ever have little ones of her own, she will enjoy the project again someday.

Supply List:

• a handful of small wooden beads
• two acorns, include their caps
• dental floss
• an embroidery needle, not too large (some of these have blunt ends more suitably designed for young crafters)
• wood glue as needed
• soft bristle tooth-brush

Directions:

1.  Clean and dry all to the seeds and nuts that you have collected in advance with a soft tooth brush. I have already included directions in an earlier project that explain how to string pumpkin seeds.
2. I decided to string together my selection in a pattern. This reinforces important concepts about design to small students. You can also talk to them about simple math during this activity as well.
3. Thread your needle with dental floss and string together the bodies.
4. I attached the acorn heads with wood glue after stringing the bodies. Parents may decide that this requires a bit of patience. They may wish to hot glue the acorns to the seed bodies instead so that there is less drying time needed before the project is finished. Sometimes little folk get very anxious about playing with these nut head dolls so, parents may hurry the craft along in order to please their interests.
5. A word of warning. Do not give these little dolls to infants who may choke on the nuts! This project is appropriate for five year old children and up.

Additional Suggestions: Sometimes parents get interested in crafts that they intend for their children. This is often the case in the making of nut head dolls! So harvest enough seeds and nuts to make a few for yourself. I enjoy hanging my own samples on the Christmas tree every year. This is, in fact, a very old folksy tradition. Craft artists living in the Appalachian mountains used to make this kind of folk doll to sell to tourists. It was a popular craft around 1910. I still can find nut head dolls in flee markets on a rare occasion.

The nut head people finally rest after I have spent an
hour in the park looking for their heads.

I chose to string these dangling nut people with a
variety of pumpkin seeds, wooden beads, and acorns.

just a few music suggestions for any art classroom

      Opera, you must be joking right? No, I’m not kidding. Josh Groban & Charlotte Church 
are excellent soloists for young people. Not only because they are young 
themselves but also because they sing many opera selections with a contemporary twist. 
Introducing students to opera is not easy but with the right artists,
students can learn to appreciate old world performances!

Introduce students to an authentic taste of old Ireland by playing classic tunes
by The Chieftains. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band will treat 
students to a bit of authentic New Orleans history.

Putumayo World Music publishes “Gypsy Caravan’’ and many 
other ethnic selections from all over the globe.

Rosemary Clooney is perfect for very young students to listen too. 

She sings absolutely charming music for little ones to listen 

to while they work and adults enjoy listening to her as well. 

Some music recorded for children is unbearable for adults to play 

but Rosemary can be tolerated anytime. I love her versions of

“Aren’t You Glad You’re You?,” and “Too Marvelous For Words.” 

I’ll take her over Barney any day folks.

Most selections by Michael Buble’ are appropriate for the classroom. 

He sings many old swing tunes that all students   

both young and old enjoy him. He is “Mr. Feel Good.”

Young teens love popular music sound tracks and these certainly
have cleaner lyrics for the classroom.

Disney soundtracks are always favorites of little students. 
My favorites are Tarzan, Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Lion King.

Music Selections For Parochial Schools

Two wonderful music collections from Dream Works 

Records are the soundtrack from “The Prince of Egypt” and “Joseph, King of Dreams.”

Selections from Africa include The Themba Girls with Erin Bode 

Group and the Soweto Gospel Choir. Both are very 

different and joyful. Children can barely keep from dancing 

                                    when they listen to these two CDs and I don’t stop them.                                                                         

glue together a birch bark birdfeeder

My birch bark bird feeder

Brief Description: This bird feeder is easy to make because you start with a prefabricated wooden bird feeder. I made it many years ago while camping at Arcadia. I collected the bark from a peeling birch tree in the woods and glued it to the bird feeder.

Supply List:

 * prefabricated wooden bird feeder

 * wood glue

 * small stones, about 30

 * large rubber bands or twine

 * hot glue and hot glue gun

Directions:

   1. Make sure the surface of the wooden bird feeder is clean before your begin.

   2. Glue strips of birch bark to every surface area of the feeder excluding the "floor" of the feeder.

   3. You may need to wrap twin or rubber bands around the exterior of the feeder to help keep the bark from sliding off while the wood glue dries.

   4. After the bark is dry, hot glue the stones onto the floor of the bird feeder with a hot glue gun.

thefrugalcrafter makes a birch bark frame

More craft projects made from birch bark:

• Birch bark place cards
• Tiny Birch Bark Canoe Tutorial
• DIY: Birch Bark Hearts
• Birch Quiver
• Birch Bark Basket
• Birch Bark Frame
• Bird of Happiness from birch bark
• Bast Shoes - originally made from birch bark
• Birch Bark Things

Upcycle a candy box into a Valentine scrapbook

Above is the recycled chocolate box lid
with fancy "LOVE" lettering.

Brief Description: This heart shaped scrapbook comes with it's very own box container. It is a perfect place to keep love letters, photos, and Valentines, of course.

Supply List:

• Heart shaped chocolates box (recycled)
• Decorative scrap letters
• Decorative wrapping paper, enough to cover the box and also cut out a front cover page for the scrapbook
• Two large binding rings.
• A stack of solid colored paper, large enough to cut custom shaped pages for your scrapbook
• White Glue
• Scissors
• Hole punch

Directions:

   1. Clean out the recycled chocolate box thoroughly before beginning the project.

   2. Lay out the lid of your box top on top of the wrapping paper and draw around the heart shape. If you wish to cover the edges as well, I suggest you do so with a long narrow strip of paper matching the dimensions of the sides of the box. This will make your box look cleaner and more professional. The box pictured in the photo above had velvet trim and I chose to leave this intact.

   3. You will need to repeat the same step for the back side of the box.

   4. Glue the wrapping paper on the edges only to the box. Use a very narrow line of glue. Some of you may choose to use a spray adhesive for this project, but, white glue is just fine for young children.

   5.The lettering in my sample project was purchased at a Hobby Lobby. All I had to do was peal and stick it directly onto my lid. You may wish to visit some font collections on the web instead and print some illuminated letters on your home computer instead.

   6. After decorating your recycled chocolate box, cut a stack of pages just 1/4 inch smaller than the lid so that these will fit neatly into your heart shaped container.
   7. Punch holes into the stack of pages and clip these together with a couple of red binding rings. 

Above is the heart shaped scrapbook and the 
bottom of the box it fits into. It is advisable to cut
a few additional pages that may be added later.

All photos and descriptions copyrighted by Grimm 2017

Really neat Valentine scrapbook by Juhi K.

More Valentine Box Crafts:

• DIY candy filled heart box for 18" dolls - adorable clay canndies
• Craft a Welsh Corgi Valentine Mailbox by kathy grimm - template included too

practical applications for the art classroom based upon nine essential strategies

The nine instructional strategies developed by McREL are as follows:

1. Identifying similarities and differences

2. Summarizing and note taking

3. Reinforcing effort and providing recognition

4. Homework and practice

5. Non-linguistic representations

6. Cooperative learning

7. Setting objectives and providing feedback

8. Generating and testing hypotheses

9. Cues, questions, and advance organizers

Identifying Similarities and Differences In The Art Classroom: This idea refers to the method of "compare contrast." Students need to be able to see, describe and develop examples of artwork  relating to different cultures, time periods, and philosophy according to DESE  state standards. Some traditional strategies for introducing compare and contrast activities might involve the use of: Venn diagrams, Power Points, or art posters/prints in the art classroom.

Summarizing and Note Taking In The Art Classroom: Summarizing what you know usually presents itself in the form of tests, quizzes, and students art assessments of studio work. Summarizing can also be effectively practiced during presentations and art critiques as well. Note taking has become increasingly popular through the keeping of art journals and many art teachers grade these as either a midterm or final exam, instead of the more traditional final studio project.

Reinforcing Efforts and Providing Recognition In The Art Classroom: Many art instructors now develop their grading methods based upon consistent efforts made by a dedicated art student. The key to this philosophy is rooted in the idea that all students progress in the arts at different speeds. Therefore, it is also just as important to reward dedicated behaviors with high marks as it is to give grades according to standardized student/professional results.

   Recognition comes often through increased inclusion in exhibits and by lifting expectations just a bit higher in each additional art assignment. This is the kind of recognition that goes beyond compliments. Expectations are far greater than tangible rewards and these should be used liberally in an academic environments.

Homework and Practice In The Art Classroom: Practice not only makes for perfection in the art studio but it also trains the young to become self-sufficient and confident. Students are painfully aware of the differences in the professional artworks that they compare to their own. Teaching that focuses on training the young to succeed should never be eliminated from the art classroom. Remember, students can be taught how to produce successfully articulated renderings. They will need these skills to compete with others in the future. Never avoid teaching obvious skills under the pretense of superior art philosophy. Art students will have ample time to grow in that arena as they age. Indeed, what they believe and how they apply those beliefs is paramount to their adult lives, but first, they must be taught exactly how to say what they wish. They can not do this, if they do not know how it is to be done. Developing technical skill is necessary for even the most professional, articulate artist.

Non-linguistic Representations In The Art Classroom: The contemporary art teacher lectures, writes assessments and critically analyzes minutely in his or her classroom. However, art instruction demands that one must always include visuals to prove those queries, statements, and assumptions. The very nature of art is dependent upon this necessity, otherwise, the art classroom becomes a forum for philosophy alone instead of art in general.

Cooperative Learning In The Art Classroom: It is always helpful to articulate some art activities around small or large group projects. Art is not only created by the solitary, heroic figure of the American individual. Art is also created by entire societies and also smaller sub-cultures. An thoughtful art teacher reinforces this concept through group activities as well as lecture. Indeed, group lessons will bring these ideas to realistic fruition long before mere verbatim ever will. If you want your students to understand art and culture it is best to have them reenact the cultural norms that they experience personally. Then they may be taught what it is to be from another culture on a deeper level.

Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback In The Art Classroom: Objectives should never be a mystery in the art classroom. Teachers should always repeat information by visual, comprehensive, auditory, and kinesthetic means. This is because we understand that people learn by a variety of means, some leaning more toward one mean than another. A good teacher covers all of her bases in order to fully engage students with every learning disposition in her classroom. Don't become quick to give into exasperation! Expect to repeat yourself over and over. Turn it into a kind of challenge. How many ways can you say the same thing?

   Providing feedback is done through traditional group reviews and exhibits. But art teachers can also use modern technology to do this as well. Develop a blog forum and require students to participate, even if they only just leave a few comments. You may find that they are more comfortable with this kind of feedback than any other.

Generating and Testing Hypotheses In The Art Classroom: I love the idea of presenting a "what if" to my art students or even showing just part of an artwork or film, and then asking them how it will come out in the end. Students find this kind of participation very entertaining. However, they are not merely being entertained. You are actually asking them to think of their own innovations and results. This builds upon prior knowledge and also encourages personal development skills.

Cues, Questions and Advance Organizers In The Art Classroom: Think before you think. Studies have shown that reminding students of what they know or asking them questions in preparation of an experience helps them to mentally shift into a proactive mode of learning. Advance organizers are the quiet contemplation before the storm. In other words... "I've heard this is coming, I know that this is coming, it will soon come into my space and now, it has arrived. What shall I do with it?" Graphic organizers can come in the form of a question, an image, a quote, a brief reading, an outline etc...