Fifth grade art students are starting to master more advanced skills and techniques, and the work they create is really something to be proud of. These project ideas will expose them to new artists and concepts and help them find the creative artist within!
In Art We Trust
1. Illustrate your name
This is a perfect project to kick off the school year. Kids illustrate their names with items that fit their style and personality. It will help you get to know them and assess their art skills at the same time.
We all know kids (and adults!) love LEGO. That’s what makes these portraits so cool! Kids draw themselves as minifigs, starting with basic shapes and adding details as they go.
This is one of those activities with such impressive results that you’ll be amazed it can be done by fifth grade art students! Take a look at Jasper Johns’ number paintings, then use stencils and rulers to create your own incredible designs.
The color wheel is a basic art concept your students have probably mastered by now, so take things a step further by crafting 3D color wheel spheres instead. This is an easy project that requires nothing more than paper plates, paint, and paper clips.
Picasso’s mind-bending works stimulate students to look at the world in a whole new way. This cardboard relief portrait is all about deconstructing and reassembling to find a new perspective.
Hokusai’s woodblock prints are the inspiration for these paper lanterns. Use watercolors to create soft images, then fold the paper into lanterns to hang from the ceiling.
It may look complicated, but this fifth grade art idea starts with basic concentric curved lines that any student can draw. The magic comes when you fill in with Sharpies, then shade with colored pencils.
The coiling method of ceramics is really accessible for everyone. Though it’s often used to make pots, we love how it works for these colorful coil sculptures too.
Explore the concepts of positive and negative space with this cool paper craft. Kids will have to be very careful as they cut so their reflections will be exact.
The watercolor resist method is an eternal art room favorite. It’s terrific for creating a snowy winter scene with dreamy watercolors and stark bare trees.
Zentangles have become popular in recent years as a way to relax and de-stress. Teach students how they work, building designs around the negative space of their initial.
This sculpture project requires your fifth grade art students to tap into their engineering skills too. They’ll have to figure out how to balance their letters in a way that’s pleasing to the eye but also stable enough to stay in place.
Grant Wood’s American Gothic is one of those iconic paintings everyone knows. That’s what makes this parody project a real hoot! Kids re-create the painting with a new pair of main characters, showing that art definitely has room for humor.
There are so many details in these cool bird nests that you’ll just want to stare at them for hours. Start with a painting, then add 3D elements like twigs and clay bird eggs.
This pop art project starts with a directed drawing lesson, as kids learn to create the various paintbrushes. Then they add color and paint speckles to bring the piece to life.
Review terms like horizon and background with these soft lighthouse landscapes. Use white crayon on black construction paper to add depth to the lighthouse itself.
Here’s another awesome blending activity, this time with oil pastels. Kids can draw sunflowers with true-to-life colors or use their imaginations to create any color scheme they like.
Start by mixing paint and paste to create a thick mixture to spread on paper. Then create patterns with your fingers, a fork, or any other object. Finish by cutting one page into strips and weaving it into the other.
Combine multiple art styles in one awesome project. In the center, students draw their subject realistically. On either side, they draw the same object in abstract and non-objective forms.
For kids who feel overwhelmed by drawing, try the grid method. Break a drawing into grid sections, copying each section one at a time. It makes a big project seem much more manageable.
This is part fifth grade art project, part writing project. Kids fold paper using a bookmaking technique called “squash books,” then write and illustrate the sections to tell all about themselves.
Banyan trees are works of art in themselves, so they’re sure to inspire your students to create beautiful pieces. They can show the trailing roots reflected in water or imagine them underground.
Keith Haring’s vivid graffiti style is instantly appealing to kids, so they’ll enjoy creating their own breakdancing scenes. All you really need is paper and markers for this quick project.
Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama made incredible art using only dots of different sizes. Challenge your students to do the same with these clever pumpkin prints mounted on stencil-rolled backgrounds.
Elements of art are stylistic features that are included within an art piece to help the artist communicate. This creative project demonstrates all seven.
