Art Resources for Educators and Parents
Picturing America
A K-12 teaching tool created by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Picturing America consists of 40 images of paintings, sculpture, drawings, decorative objects and architecture that represent several centuries of U.S. history. Used singly, chronologically or thematically, the images provide gateways to cross-curriculum learning in social studies, history, writing, literature, geography, …
KinderArt
KinderArt is all about making art fun for kids and easy for adults who teach art to kids. Currently, there are over 1000 art-incorporating ideas and lesson plans, as well as an extensive library section and many, many other features. Highly recommended!
Art Teacher on the Net
Chock-full of ideas, lesson plans and projects for teachers, parents, and group leaders. It offers a spot for the exhange of ideas between educators, as well as afterschool and adult education project areas. (My only criticism is that blinking GIFs are annoying, but it's not my place to point fingers, now, is it?) Definitely worthy of your attention!
ArtsConnectEd
A wonderful resource, courtesy of the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Walker Art Center. It includes an online art gallery, library and "playground" (interactive activities) which are all great, but head straight for the Classroom section. To get the most out of the site, download the Teacher's Guide. (Requires Acrobat Reader, which is available for free.)
Odyssey Online
The Odyssey Online project was developed to help educators teach using works of art from the ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece, Rome and Africa. Access the Teacher Resource area to learn the site's what-s, where-s and how-s, as well as the many ways in which this project meets curriculum standards. Lots of gorgeous art images provide visual interest for elementary and middle school-aged students.
The Incredible Art Department
Truly incredible! Just following the links to "Art Lessons" and "Resources" will provide you with years worth of already-done work and planning - and there are lots of additional categories of interest to art educators here. Grab a beverage and a snack, as you'll likely be exploring the site for a good while.
Education at the Getty
The Getty Trust has put together a large online resource for art educators. Sort through dozens of plans and ideas by either grade level or alphabetical listing.
teachart.net
An excellent resource designed to integrate art into the classroom. The section entitled "The Basics of Art", with its thoroughly planned lessons, makes this site worth exploring...and there is much more here.
Portrait Detectives
This online activity is for independent readers, or a very patient educator who enjoys reading aloud. It shows, interactively, how to discern which clues in any given portrait help to put it, its subject and often the artist all in historical context. A wonderful way to introduce (or reinforce) the concept of critical thinking in art.
Artsology
There are many neat online games and activities for the children here, along with helpful articles for the adults who are steering them towards the importance of art.