Emily Sheeley

Art Lesson Plan

Time: 2 hours
Materials: tempera paint (if you dont have access to every color, make sure the paint will mix
easily), white paper, pencils, scissors, glue or glue sticks, markers, paintbrushes, cups, water,
paint trays
Summary: During this lesson, children will learn about some of the popular artists of the
Cubism movement. They will learn what Cubism entails and will work on making their own
piece of art. They will create a picture of an object, cut it into shapes, and glue it back together in
a different way.
Prior Knowledge: The children may have heard of Picasso and may have seen some of his
artwork or artwork from other Cubist artists. It is unlikely that they have heard of Cubism, but
they may have seen some of the pieces before.
Grade Level: 3rd grade
Objective/Standard(s):
VA:Cr1.1.3a- Elaborate on an imaginative idea.
Children will elaborate on the idea of a simple 3D object by cutting it apart and gluing it
back together in a different way to show the different dimensions that an object can have. This
links with the idea of Cubism, so children will try to emulate the Cubist concept to create their
art piece. They are focusing on an object that is very common and they see often and will be
transforming it into something unique through Cubism.
VA:Re.7.1.3a- Speculate about processes an artist uses to create a work of art.
Before children start their own projects, we will look at some of the work of Pablo
Picasso and Georges Braque in order to think about what Cubists do to a piece and why they

make their art the way that they do.

VA:7.2.3a- Determine messages communicated by an image.
We will continue to look at works by Picasso and Braque before we start our own works
to determine what the idea of Cubism contributes to a piece of art.
Essential Questions:
What is Cubism?
How and why did Cubists create pictures like this?
Vocabulary (Key Terms):
Cubism- a style of visual art that creates a picture with fragments of different shapes and colors
Outline/Procedure:
1. Introduce topic of Cubism.
2. Show children PowerPoint with the definition of Cubism and examples of different Cubist
artists.
3. Get out all of the materials and put them in tables where the children can access them.
4. Explain that each child will create a piece that involves something that is an everyday object
or something that he or she is very familiar with. Be sure to include that the object should have a
general round shape. The teacher should also make sure the children know that the object that
they are drawing is 3-dimensional.
5. Have objects available in the classroom that the children can look at and explore as they are
deciding what to draw as their object. (e.g. orange, apple, stuffed animals, pile of blocks, globe)
6. Give the children white paper, markers, and paint to create their pictures.
7. The children should fully color their objects with paint or markers before they proceed to the
next step of the project.

8. Next, I will go through and explain my process in creating my own exemplar. I will show a
picture of my final apple. I will talk about how I chose to cut through the middle of the black
lines, more like Picasso with his work. I will talk about how I chose to make different cuts that
created bigger and smaller pieces and many different shapes as well. I will walk around the
classroom as the children are working in order to assist them in their art making.
9. Once the picture has dried, have the children use a dark colored marker to draw straight lines
on the picture. Tell the children that they should create fractions of the picture that are varying
shapes and sizes.
10. Next, the children should use scissors to cut the picture up along the lines that have been
drawn.
11. Finally, the children should get a piece of white paper, glue or a glue stick, and the cut up
pieces of the picture and arrange the pieces differently than the original picture. Tell the children
that they should try to make the redesigned object recognizable as the original object.
Adaptations/accommodations: If a child struggles with fine motor skills, he or she could use a
paper cutter to cut his or her pictures into the fragments because it does not require as much
agility with the fingers.
Assessment: In order to determine whether the students understood the concepts in the lesson, I
will assess the performance of the students, as well as ask myself some questions about my
teaching of the lesson. In our other classes, we create questions that the teacher asks him or
herself in order to understand whether the children grasped the concept being taught and whether
the teacher could have done anything differently to help them grasp it. The questions are not
generally yes or no questions, so that they can create a more meaningful assessment.
Questions about the students performance:

1. How well were they able to follow the instructions given to them?
2. How did the students think that Picasso and Braque went through the process of creating
3.

their artwork?
Did they have any ideas about what Picasso and Braque were trying to communicate

with their artwork? If so, what were they? Are they reasonable?
4. Can the students explain in their own words what Cubism is? Is their definition correct?
5. How did students choose what to draw and how to piece the object back together?
Questions about the teachers instruction:
1. Were the majority of the children able to understand the instructions that I gave them?
2. How did the questions I asked stimulate the discussion and encourage the thinking of the
3.
4.
5.
6.

students?
Did I spend time working with each child in the class?
How did the feedback I gave the children one-on-one encourage their art making?
What went well about the lesson?
What could have gone better?

Follow up: This lesson could be the beginning of a unit on Cubism. Next, I would have the
children work on a piece that involves drawing the picture and then drawing shapes over it
and coloring them different colors.