Favorite art projects??

[Lavender]

I've taken on a few more classes in the new year and now I'm teaching 5 y/o - adults instead of just the 12-17 crew! (I have my first adult class tomorrow and yes, i'm low key terrified)


My classes are once a week for 6 week terms and basically the project criteria is "fun to make and looks good" so I don't have to get into art history or anything... but I can if that is relevant to the project and makes it more interesting to the kids. But some of these kids stick around for years, not just one term so I can't really repeat projects... ever lol 

My question for all of you is if you think back to elementary/middle/high school if there are any projects you did in a classroom setting that really stood out and stuck with you! I cover pretty much every medium 2D and 3D, so I have lot's of freedom there

But even if you don't really remember everything about it I would still love to hear what made that project interesting to you!

Thanks for any input

[Sid]

Not sure if you know what zentangling is, but we had a project where we had to draw a portrait with one black thin sharpie, using the doodles to create dimensions and shadow. Not easy but by far the most fun I ever had in art class, and produced the best work. I’ll send you a snap of my drawing to show you what I mean!!

[devin]

Oooooooh man. I dunno I love art but I'm gonna try and remember a few I love the most?

In elementary school we did "mosaics" where we had to randomly cut up paper into tiny pieces in a couple colors and then create a mosaic picture from it.

In high school graphic design we did block printmaking, I LOVED that. The challenge of like having to create the reverse image was a whole new thing to me.

I like the soothingness of painting premade ceramics and I love experimenting with the ways to create different textures in the glaze color - the bubble method, the shaving cream method, etc. I've always wanted to explore more "3d" techniques for decorating pottery for instance drawing with slip instead of color for subtle shape and carving out designs instead of building them up.

Quilling!! We experimented with quilling when mom wanted me to do a project for her and it was just totally different.

[Nyxistaken]

We used to create bags for life (like the shopping bags you carry around with you instead of plastic ones) We would first create designs for them and what media we wanted and then start making them.
Personally, when I made them I would use rubber bands and fold the bag in different ways and then dip it into dyes, fold it again to create patterns on the surface and then dip it again, then you can use ink and draw on it or whatever you like, at this stage we would get rubber tiles, draw designs into them and then cut them out carefully (can also scrape into it to create textures and stuff) then we would cover it in ink and lay it in patterns (our ones were created so that it would be a matching pattern with each of the eight tiles placed, so once the ink transferred onto the bag all the tiles blended together into one design) if you cant use like tiles or anything like that then stamps work too, it was really fun when I did it! Just be careful what bags you use, cotton worked well for me but for others, they used weird materials and the dye went all weird

We also had a project where we used clay to create models of animals we love (or anything really) and after we had made them we baked them and painted them to create like little scenes, then we did kinda the same thing but instead made little candle holders that looked like characters/objects. I had made this lil ladybug with a hole in the back to hold the candle, it was a lot of fun! and if you can't use candles then you could always just do different holders.

This is one is a bit different cause it was for my Art and Design exam for the last year of secondary school but what you can do is find like cool/weird/whacky items and lay them out on a display in the centre of the class on a table, then ask your students to bring in a personal item (not anything valuable cause that always ends in disaster lol) they then add the item to the display and sit around it and draw it (for me I had placed the first ever rosette I won on a hat that was placed ontop of a manequin) after the drawing they take a smaller piece of the frame and develop into a piece using different media, first I did an ink painting of just the hat and Rosette, then I tried water colours with the same composition, after this I revisited ink and included the manequin and also added a frame in with a picture of a horse, after mutiple different pictures of the same thing with different media (One fun one was taking plastic and scratch in the image, then ink it and print it onto paper), then you come up with the final piece where you combine (or stick to one) media and create the finished piece, personally mine was of course for an exam but it can also be used as a fun project I guess.

[Lavender]

Thank you guys!!
Planning is the hardest part for me, so this helps <3