Lesson Plans

Ideas and resources

Go on a Nature Walk and Build a Bird’s Nest

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It’s just gotten warm again this week where I live, and we all want to just be outside all the time. It’s light enough in the evenings that we can go on little walks, so I think this would be a great activity to do as a family or in a classroom setting if you have a natural place you can walk or wander.

This build a bird’s nest activity from Pink Stripey Socks is really easy to do and involves some observation as well as artistic and engineering skills.

You can also talk about why birds might choose particular items for their nest, different animals that build nests and learn about birds that live in your area while you work on this project.

[Photo: Pink Stripey Socks.]

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Learn about Women Artists

We’ve already talked a bit about women in STEM for Women’s History Month, but I thought it would be fun to take a look at some female artists, too. Kids can learn about the women, see their art and even make art projects inspired by them. Let’s take a look at some fun resources for learning about female artists.

The Wadsworth Atheneum has a video reading of the book Women Artists A to Z by Melanie LaBarge, which covers women artists and the subjects they painted (example, n is for nature and talks about how Maya Lin uses natural materials and makes works that fit into the environment surrounding them). Or check out this post full of children’s books about female artists from the New York Public Library.

Need more ideas of artists to talk about? These lists overlap a bit, but check out:

Once you’ve picked a few artists to focus on, or let each child choose an artist to work with, you can search for their art and more biographical information online. You may also be able to find projects inspired by particular artists, or you can develop your own. For example Yayoi Kusama is known for the use of dots in her work, so you could use that as inspiration for a classroom project. Or check out these ideas:

  • These art projects inspired by women artists from Artsy Craftsy Mom include Kusama, Sonia Delaunay, Helen Frankenthaler and more. The one shown above is inspired by Alma Thomas and can be found on Woo Jr.
  • Table Life Blog has a collection of resources for studying Mary Cassatt, including books, videos and projects.
  • Artsy Craftsy Mom has several art study lessons for various artists, male and female. Here are her posts on Georgia O’Keeffe and Frida Kahlo. I love the flower bowl pictured above, which comes from the Crayon Lab.

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