Winter Art Ideas

Looking for some fun winter art ideas? Here’s some winter art lesson ideas for all ages that celebrate the cozy, colorful winter months!

Happy Polar Bear

This is my favorite winter Kindergarten art lesson. By this time in the school year, Kindergarten students are better with a simple guided drawing activity. My students draw a polar bear wearing a hat with me step-by-step, using simple lines and shapes. Next, my students carefully trace their pencil lines with a Sharpie. Tempera cakes or markers can be used to add color to the hat. Lastly, my students use gadgets and sponges to stamp white dots for a snowy background.

Winter Hat With Patterns

This is a great 1st grade collage lesson with many educational benefits. Students practice cutting and gluing, as well as using lines and shapes to create patterns. I have my students use metallic markers on black paper for extra excitement. Next, I demonstrate how to make the actual texture using crumpled tissue paper to create a pom pom for the top of the hat. Lastly, students will fill the negative space around the hat with snowflakes.

winter art project of a cardinal — Click to enlarge.

Winter Cardinal

I love to use this guided drawing and painting with my 2nd grade artists. I provide my students with a step-by-step handout or draw the cardinal with my students using my document camera. After we have drawn our very fluffy winter cardinal sitting on a branch, my students use Sharpie to trace their pencil lines. Next, they use crayon or oil pastel to add color to the beak, branch, snow and wind. Students use watercolor to paint the cardinal and sky and they are excited to see the wind and snow appear using crayon resist. This is always a winter favorite!

Winter Landscape

I use this lesson to teach my 3rd grade artists how to make tints of a color and create the illusion of space in a landscape. To begin, I give each student a small cup of white paint. My students add a small amount of blue paint to the cup to create a very light tint of blue. They paint a third of a paper with this color, then add more blue to the cup to create a darker tint and paint another third. Lastly, they add more blue to create a darker value and fill the remaining third with this tint of blue. Once the paper is dry, the paper is cut into rolling hills. Students glue the paper to a dark blue sky to show a foreground, middle ground, and background. Next, students cut trees from green construction paper in a variety of sizes to help create the illusion of space and use diluted white tempera paint to spray and splatter paint across the paper to make it snow!

Cup of Cocoa

This painting helps students create space and depth in their artwork by drawing a 3D form. Students draw a 3D like cylinder to create the mug and marshmallows, and use overlapping to include a saucer and a table surface. Next, students use tempera cakes to paint the image. Once the paint is dry, they use Sharpie to trace the pencil lines and oil pastel to add patterns to the wall, cup and table surface. The final touch is the steam. Students unroll a cotton ball and glue strands of cotton above the cup. These paintings look good enough to drink!

Snowmen At Night

This lesson has a great literacy and art career connection. I read the book “Snowmen At Night” by Caralyn Buehner and my students study the illustrations by her husband Mark Buehner while I read the book. Then I show my students my YouTube video or demonstrate how to blend chalk pastels and create a 3D form. I use yellow to create a highlight from the moon and blue and purple on the other side to make the shadow. In addition, students add cast shadows. My students use creative problem solving to create a fun winter scene to imagine what snowmen do when everyone is asleep. The outcome is always hilarious. This lesson is perfect for middle school students as well.

The above lessons are all included in my Elementary Winter Art Lessons bundle.

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LESSONS FOR OLDER STUDENTS

Tim Burton inspired snowman art lesson for winter — Click to enlarge.

Tim Burton Inspired Spooky Snowman

This is another lesson that is great for older elementary or middle school students. My students learn about Tim Burton’s style and the characteristics of his characters. I teach my students how to apply a thick layer of graphite around the outside edge of the circle and smudge to create a 3D sphere and body shape. Next, I provide my students with a handout of various eyes, noses, hats and accessories for their snowman. Students use a range of values in their snowman, as well as use lighter values to create a setting. Lastly, black Sharpie is used to define edges and create contrast. Students love this drawing and I can always count on 100% engagement. More info on this lesson.

Indi Maverick inspired art lesson idea — Click to enlarge.

Woodland Animals

Students look at Indi Maverick’s paintings of animals wearing clothes. They draw the head of a woodland animal of their choice and add a colorful sweater and accessories of their choice to the animal portrait. Lastly, students use hatching to create the fur texture for the animal. Click here for more information.

Thanks for reading! – Trista

Related: Christmas Art Ideas

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I’ve been teaching art for over 20 years and I love it!

I have taught every grade from kindergarten to high school. This site features art education articles with art resources and ideas as well as art lesson ideas for all ages. My goal is to allow students to explore a variety of art materials, discover different genres and styles, and most importantly, have FUN!