Interdisciplinary Art Lessons

Art can help children integrate their knowledge of a variety of academic disciplines.

Art can help children integrate their knowledge of a variety of academic disciplines. A student who is particularly gifted in art, but perhaps struggles in math or science, can learn more about these topics if they are presented in an artistic medium.

Culinary Arts

Show how food can also be art. Have children bring in their favorite foods and build statues, collages, or three-dimensional sculptures using food arrangements.

Astronomy

Each student chooses, or is assigned, a constellation. Students then replicate that constellation by cutting holes in black poster board and gluing aluminum foil on the backs of the holes to resemble stars. Then students can use the artistic supplies at their disposal to connect the stars and bring their constellations to life.

History

Have students paint a portrait of a historical figure that interests them. In the portrait, have them include elements that represent the subject's personal style and the era in which he lived. Encourage imagination.

Language Arts

Have the students build poems out of words cut from magazines and glued together to form sentences. Help the students string their sentences into verses and display them decoratively on a piece of sturdy paper.

Anatomy and Physiology

Each student lies on a piece of paper while a friend traces an outline of his body. Once the outline is complete, the student draws his internal organs according to scientific models and diagrams found in textbooks. To do this as a group project, divide the class into small groups and have each group draw one of the body's major systems: digestive, reproductive, respiratory or circulatory.

References

• School of the Museum of Fine Arts; Boston, Massachusetts