10 Simple Centers to Connect Art and the Curriculum

By Mary Parks

When I was in elementary school, my illustration for a book report was a much more personal response to reading than anything I could write.

Since all of our students learn and express themselves in various ways, we need to provide opportunities in our classrooms for all learners. Art centers are a great idea if you don't have a separate art period set aside in your daily curriculum. As you'll see below, these centers can also provide a neat way to integrate the arts throughout your curriculum. Here are ten art centers you can easily set up in your classroom this year to meet the needs of your tactile and visual learners and to develop art appreciation in all your students.

Tip: Art-Center Smarts

Art-Center Smarts

The hardest part about having an art center in your classroom is keeping it clean. Assign two students per week to be in charge of art-center cleanup, performing chores such as replacing supplies, wiping up spills, and keeping things in order.

1. The Easel

If you do nothing but set up an easel area this year, you have brought the world of art into your room. In addition to the easel itself, all you need are paints; paintbrushes; clean aluminum cans or plastic containers for water; and some construction paper, newsprint, or old newspaper.

Put just a few colors out at once, to avoid clutter and mess. Try having orange and black in the fall, blue and white for winter, red and yellow for spring, and shades of green during a study of the rain forest. Also try putting out other media such as chalk, crayons, colored pencils, pastels, and watercolors.

Set up the easel by a sink if possible. This will make cleanup a lot easier. And don't forget to cover the floor around it with newspaper.

Integrate: Have students name the one children's book illustrator they'd choose to illustrate their own writing, and explain their choices. Then give each child the opportunity to work in the style and medium of that illustrator to create a piece of art that best captures the spirit of their writing.

2. Masks and Puppets

Recycled scraps are great for making masks and puppets. Use plain white paper plates as masks and brown paper bags as puppets. Have children decorate and glue yarn and pieces of paper to create their favorite characters.

Integrate: As a class, find out how puppets and masks have been used in different cultures to remind people how to behave. Have your students create their own puppet show or mask-play about classroom rules.

3. Quick-Draw Station

Most students love to draw but don't know where to begin. Tips from how-to-draw books can help them get started. Gather how-to-draw books and drawing materials, such as paper and crayons, and your kids will draw objects they were not able to draw before. Some books to try: Draw Fifty Famous Cartoons; Draw Fifty Dogs; and Draw Fifty Cars, Trucks and Motorcycles, all by Lee J. Ames (Doubleday).

Integrate: Since good drawings are built from basic geometric shapes-such as circles and rectangles-have kids build their visual math vocabulary by finding the shapes in a classroom object and drawing them.

4. Stamp Prints

There are many rubber stamp kits on the market today. If students have their own, encourage them to share with the class. Kids can make their own stamps using potatoes and a plastic knife to carve images. Older students can make stamps with erasers by carving with a sharper knife. Use tempera paint as ink.

Integrate: Have kids use letter stamps to create their own codes for classmates to decipher. Study African and Native American symbols and encourage students to design their own symbolic stamps to personalize their papers.

5. Modeling Clay

Modeling clay can be used over and over again if it is properly cared for. Store clay in seal-tight containers-such as margarine tubs-to keep it fresh. For permanent sculptures use inexpensive air-dry clays.

Integrate: Ask students to plan on paper a large public sculpture in honor of an important author or historical event, and then create a scale model in clay.

6. Crayon Rubbing

Use thick crayons with thin paper such as newsprint, typing paper, or tracing paper. Fill a shoe box full of items such as leaves, scraps of textured fabric, and coins that kids can pick and choose from. Encourage kids to bring their own items from home to share with the class.

Integrate: Have students do rubbings of items they've picked to symbolize a book you've read together. Display the class's rubbings along with kids' explanations of their choices.

7. Theme-Oriented Murals

Set up a large roll of newsprint, paint, chalk, and crayons on one side of your room. Place the paper on the floor or tack it to a bulletin board.

Integrate: Have your class create a mural to go with your next science exploration-be it butterflies or volcanoes. Students should collaborate on an appropriate background first and then add details and labels as their knowledge grows.

8. Paper Collages and Mosaics

Save and recycle scraps of construction paper, wallpaper, yarn, and such. Have kids use newspaper as a background sheet and create a fancy collage with the recycled scraps.

Integrate: Invite students to create collage posters encouraging the community to recycle.

9. Tangram Kits

Tangram kits make it easy to integrate art and math. If you don't have a premade kit, kids can cut triangles and squares out of construction paper. They can then use grid paper to design their own geometric shapes. Challenge students to invent tangram challenges for one another involving symmetry and patterns.

10. Art and Music Appreciation

Display reproductions of famous paintings such as those by Claude Monet or Norman Rockwell. Along with the artwork, set up a listening station with a tape recorder and headphones. Provide samples of various styles of music, such as classical, rock, and jazz. Then create sheets for students to fill in as personal responses. Here are a few examples:

The music made me feel _
The artist is trying to say
This music seems to go best with picture because
Here's the poem I wrote about the picture __ and music _ together:

Mary Parks (Art), has taught art for 19 years. She currently teaches in Naperville Community School District 203 in Naperville, Illinois. She is the winner of state and national art education awards.