It’s no surprise to me that my students love the food truck art lesson. It has a lot of fun elements to it and a lot of educational benefits as well. Here’s what makes it so fun and how I teach it.
Why They Love It
I think the reason my kiddos love this Food Truck lesson is because they can imagine themselves as business owners and the fantasy of owning a food truck excites them. Every child dreams about what they want to do when they grow up, who wouldn’t love to dream about owning a food truck that serves your favorite foods all day. To add to the fantasy, I pretend to be their demanding boss and they are the graphic designers in a cutthroat design firm trying to make it to the top. It is a great way to reinforce good design, while getting them to laugh about it. They eat it up!
Food Truck Art Lesson Objectives
This lesson is great for introducing art careers and getting gifted artists to think about future plans. I talk about the career of a graphic designer and students learn the roles and responsibilities of the job. The students also learn how to create a logo with creative lettering and imagery. I teach my students some lettering basics, such as bubble letters, block letters and “fancy” letters. Lastly, I use this lesson to teach a little color theory. Students analyze, identify and apply basic color schemes such as cool colors, warm colors, monochromatic and complementary colors. Learning while having fun is the icing on the cake.
Easiest Sculpture Lesson Ever
Students love to build, create sculptures and make 3D art. I use a printed template for the students to cut out and fold to make their food truck. The easy to use template allows students to take a creative idea and make it into something they can physically hold in their hands. As far as sculpture lessons go, this is the least messy and easiest to prepare!
Interdisciplinary Options
This art lesson can also partner with other disciplines. Our culinary teacher has students design a menu. My students use their restaurant name from their menu design and create a logo and food truck. Our math department has also taught a lesson on the expenses of a food truck, which is another great connection for students. There are literacy and creative writing options too, from using rhymes and alliteration for the business name to creating a clever slogan or writing a jingle to accompany the food truck.
How I Teach the Food Truck Art Lesson
I ask my students to think of their favorite food and brainstorm a name for a food truck that could sell that food specialty. We have so much fun talking about our favorite foods, dishes and desserts. It is a great way to get to know more about your students too. Next, we take a look at logos and logo design. Students have fun playing a quick game identifying companies based on their logos. I show my students some lettering basics and they begin sketching their logo design. I give students the option of adding a graphic, image or a mascot and encourage them to make a slogan for their food truck.
Putting it Together
Once the logo design is finished they transfer the logo to their blank food truck template. I intentionally left the template relatively bare so students could “customize” their vehicle. They really get creative with this step. I’ve had students add a service window with a slide, draw people cooking food in the kitchen and add actual shelves to the side of the truck.
I let them know craftsmanship, color theory and creativity are all important attributes to a well thought out design. I show them examples of food trucks and students analyze and identify the color scheme used. Students apply this knowledge to their food truck to make it eye-catching and get noticed. Lastly, I made a video tutorial of me cutting and assembling the food truck. I loop the video and play it during class for my students to follow along. Once the trucks are created, we line them up and have a food truck rally.
My complete Food Truck Lesson Plan is available here.
Thanks for Reading – Trista
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