Art Lesson Plans

Art lesson plans that teach about outdoor landscapes are very popular among students who are in the upper elementary school years. You would be surprised at the number of children who are not aware of their surroundings, let alone know how to create depth and distance through sketching or painting. Art lesson plans which deal with teaching students how to perceive depth will focus on using the horizon as their base.

To prepare for your art lesson plans that focus on teaching depth and perspective, gather art work and photographs that show depth through using light and shade. Discuss how light and shade work to create depth in each of your examples. Have the students recreate their own versions of a chosen piece of art work from your samples. Allow each student to be creative in how they reproduce the art work; just be certain that they understand how to find the light in the picture and how it works to create depth.

The following class, have your students gather pencils and paper along with chalks, crayons, paints, paint brushes or whatever their preferred art supplies may be. After your students have gathered up their supplies, take them outside. Show them the horizon and ask them to sketch it. Go around and help students who are struggling with light and shade and teach them how light works to create depth in the horizon. After they have completed their sketches, allow them to paint their pictures. After the pictures are complete allow the children to see how other students viewed the horizon.

An addition to your art lesson plans could be having your students go home and sketch the horizon from their homes. This final and third task works to reinforces to the children how to achieve depth by using light and shade.