Learn about art and the five senses. A lot of art is made to be seen — but what if you could touch, hear, and even smell works of art? In this episode, host Lauren Paullin shows you how to mix paints that smell like pastries and transform sounds into sketches. You'll also learn about a fascinating condition called synesthesia, which links multiple senses together in the brain so that some people can taste music, hear color, and smell words! Developed for students in grades 4- adults.

This article discusses how to use murals as an interdisciplinary, cooperative activity to blend science, art, and math concepts.

This is a lesson to encourage students to go outdoors and engage their world despite living in a pandemic. 

This art history video discussion examines Pieter Bruegel the Elder's "The Tower of Babel," 1563, oil on panel, 114 x 155 cm (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna).

On the front, students are offered a coloring page based on an object in our collection. On the back, through the lenses of "DISCOVER, IMAGINE, CREATE" students can learn a little about the object, think critically and creatively about the object, and do another related creative activity.

How do artists create a story that provides a message or provokes emotions in that single frame? This lesson will help students analyze ways in which the composition of a painting contributes to telling the story or conveying the message through the placement of objects and images within the painting.

The formation of images by plane and spherical mirrors will be studied by examining paintings done by several masters which include images formed in mirrors.

This collection uses primary sources to explore the Hudson River School. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

In this lesson, students analyze Jacob Lawrence'sThe Migration of the Negro Panel no. 57(1940-41), Helene Johnson's Harlem Renaissance poem"Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem"(1927), and Paul Laurence Dunbar's late-nineteenth-century poem"We Wear the Mask"(1896), considering how each work represents the life and changing roles of African Americans from the late nineteenth century to the Harlem Renaissance and The Great Migration.

This collection uses primary sources to explore Japanese American internment during World War II. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

Students discover why Leonardo is considered the ultimate Renaissance man. They will learn about his famous notebooks, focusing upon his machines of motion, then zooming in on the flying machines.

Light painting is a creative activity that involves creating striking images and illusions using a camera, a light source, and a little practice. Light paintings may be literal representations or impressionistic, color-filled images. When the camera shutter is open (and the room is dark) the film or digital sensor acts like a blank canvas onto which learners "paint" with a flashlight.

This art history video lecture Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris discuss Pietro Lorenzetti's Birth of the Virgin (c. 1342, tempera on panel) for the altar of St. Savinus in Siena Cathedral (now in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena).

This is the first lesson in a sequential unit. Students look at and discuss still-life paintings and develop a definition for the genre. They then further their understanding of this type of painting and practice watercolor techniques by painting their own still lifes from direct observation. Art production focuses on the tools used to create the illusion of three-dimensional space and convey texture in watercolors.

This lesson is part of a sequential unit. Students choose meaningful objects for a still-life arrangement and paint it using watercolors. After reflecting on their choice of objects and composition, students begin to write an artist's statement.

This lesson is part of a sequential unit. Students paint the same still-life arrangement from Lesson 2, but in an opaque medium. They compare similarities and differences of working with the transparent and opaque mediums and refine their artist's statements.

This lesson is part of a sequential unit. Students display the two still-life paintings that they created in previous lessons along with their artist's statements. They write a review of a peer's work and discuss all of the paintings in a group critique.

Learn about the connections between the arts and the Earth. Make art at home using natural and recycled materials, travel the world to see some of the planet’s oldest paintings (in caves!), and check out an Earth-friendly music video featuring primary school students in Mamelodi Township, South Africa.

This lesson focuses on light and shadow. Students will examine several paintings at the Ackland Art Museum for light and shadow.

This collection uses primary sources to explore visual art during the Harlem Renaissance. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.