Medieval art projects for kids

When I visited Europe as a child, I remember being struck by the Gothic stained glass windows, and particularly the rose windows found in so many cathedrals- for their symmetry and massive scale. So this year as we've been homeschooling through the Middle Ages, I found myself wanting to help my children interact a little with the beauty of Gothic stained glass somehow. I liked the way this project allowed my children to do their own work but create pieces that were unique and presentable. I…

Create a beautiful foil embossed Irish art project for kids for St. Patrick's Day

Yesterday was the first session in my after school Medieval Art Class! What a blast! I have a great group of kids and a nice mix of boys and girls! Aren't these fabulous?! We did a variation on a project I saw in the book, "Medieval Projects You Can Do" by Marsha Groves. The image is pretty much the one Groves uses, but I used the Contact paper technique that I've developed with my students over the last couple years. I showed the children pictures of stained glass from medieval times…

Using the classic double-loading paintbrush technique, and drawing using black paint, children learn how to create these fantastic fairy tale royals of king

We have been doing some fascinating activities for our Medieval History unit, (Viking Runes, Medieval Illuminations, and our own homemade Medieval Subtleties) but this craft or "craftivity" turned out the most beautiful of all. We created our own stained glass windows! This is an easy activity, especially if you purchase our premade Medieval Window packet which includes 4 possible designs for your students to choose from to make their window. You will also need a transparency sheet (or some…

We have been doing some fascinating activities for our Medieval History unit, (Viking Runes, Medieval Illuminations, and our own homemade Medieval Subtleties) but this craft or "craftivity" turned out the most beautiful of all. We created our own stained glass windows! This is an easy activity, especially if you purchase our premade Medieval Window packet which includes 4 possible designs for your students to choose from to make their window. You will also need a transparency sheet (or some…

This is a lovely Christmas art activity to do with children. Triptych panels (3 panels which are hinged so it can open and close) were often found in Churches during the Middle Ages. They depicted …

Please heed my warning: this post is extra long. Also, I meant to post it on Monday. It's been that sort of week. Each summer, my district invites teachers to create their own week-long classes for local kids. So guess who's asked to do art classes? This past summer, we used cardboard, glue, and foil to make some cool foil plates based on those I found here (via Pinterest). The kids LOVED them and they looked great (note: we opted to use tempera instead of shoe polish), so I decided to…

Ways to explore Medieval Europe.

Armor Repousse Sixth graders were excited to learn about medieval armor and to use metal in class during this armor repousse project. They began by drawing a suit of armor on regular white paper. They then transferred their design to thick aluminum foil by tracing through the paper onto the metal. Textures and details were added using wooden stylus sticks and ball point pens. As a finishing touch, students glued their suits of armor to a colorful background and added weapons and a…