Fifth grade art students are starting to master more advanced skills and techniques, and the work they create is really something to be proud of. These project ideas will expose them to new artists and concepts and help them find the creative artist within!
1. Illustrate your name
This is a perfect project to kick off the school year. Kids illustrate their names with items that fit their style and personality. It will help you get to know them and assess their art skills at the same time.
Learn more: In Art We Trust
2. Take inspiration from Andy Warhol
Warhol’s pop art is so much fun to explore and emulate. Your fifth grade art students can pick any object they like for this colorful activity.
Learn more: Elements of the Art Room/Andy Warhol Inspiration
3. Craft LEGO minifig portraits
We all know kids (and adults!) love LEGO. That’s what makes these portraits so cool! Kids draw themselves as minifigs, starting with basic shapes and adding details as they go.
Learn more: Art. Eat. Tie Dye. Repeat.
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4. Design Jasper Johns numbers
This is one of those activities with such impressive results that you’ll be amazed it can be done by fifth grade art students! Take a look at Jasper John’s number paintings, then use stencils and rulers to create your own incredible designs.
Learn more: Art Room Blog
5. Hang 3D color wheels
The color wheel is a basic art concept your students have probably mastered by now, so take things a step further by crafting 3D color wheel spheres instead! This is an easy project that requires nothing more than paper plates, paint, and paper clips.
Learn more: Art Room 104
6. Assemble Picasso relief portraits
Picasso’s mind-bending works stimulate students to look at the world in a whole new way. This cardboard relief portrait is all about deconstructing and reassembling to find a new perspective.
Learn more: tinyartroom
7. Decorate pretty paper lanterns
Hokusai’s woodblock prints are the inspiration for these paper lanterns. Use watercolors to create soft images, then fold the paper into lanterns to hang from the ceiling.
Learn more: What’s Happening In The Art Room?
8. Sketch 3D cone drawings
It may look complicated, but this fifth grade art idea starts with basic concentric curved lines that any student can draw. The magic comes when you fill in with Sharpies, then shade with colored pencils.
Learn more: Art With Mrs. Fillmore
9. Illustrate onomatopoeia words
Calling all comic book lovers! Students will get a real kick out of illustrating action words inspired by Roy Lichtenstein.
Learn more: Jamestown Elementary Art Blog
10. Fold origami dragon eyes
Teach students to illustrate an eye, then fold a simple origami shape and add dragon scales for a paper craft that’s like no other.
Learn more: Elements of the Art Room/Dragon Origami Eyes
11. Fashion clay coil designs
The coiling method of ceramics is really accessible for everyone. Though it’s often used to make pots, we love how it works for these colorful coil sculptures too.
Learn more: Mini Matisse
12. Cut out positive negative collages
Explore the concepts of positive and negative space with this cool paper craft. Kids will have to be very careful as they cut, so their reflections are exact.
Learn more: Zilker Elementary Art Class
13. Paint snowy pastel mountains
The watercolor resist method is an eternal art room favorite. It’s terrific for creating a snowy winter scene with dreamy watercolors and stark bare trees.
Learn more: Primary Art
14. Draw Zentangle initials
Zentangles have become popular in recent years as a way to relax and de-stress. Teach students how they work, building designs around the negative space of their initial.
Learn more: Miss Young’s Art Room
15. Create 3D paper name sculptures
This sculpture project requires your fifth grade art students to tap into their engineering skills too! They’ll have to figure out how to balance their letters in a way that’s pleasing to the eye but also stable enough to stay in place.
Learn more: Mrs. Yang’s Art Room
16. Parody American Gothic
Grant Wood’s American Gothic is one of those iconic paintings everyone knows. That’s what makes this parody project a real hoot! Kids re-create the painting with a new pair of main characters, showing that art definitely has room for humor.
Learn more: Jamestown Elementary Art Blog
17. Construct mixed media bird nests
There are so many details in these cool bird nests that you’ll just want to stare at them for hours. Start with a painting, then add 3D elements like twigs and clay bird eggs.
Learn more: Art With Mrs. Fillmore
18. Try direct drawing with Jim Dine paintbrushes
This pop art project starts with a directed drawing lesson, as kids learn to create the various paintbrushes. Then they add color and paint speckles to bring the piece to life.
Learn more: Elements of the Art Room/Jim Dine Inspired Paintbrushes
19. Study form and paint lighthouses
Review terms like horizon and background with these soft lighthouse landscapes. Use white crayon on black construction paper to add depth to the lighthouse itself.
Learn more: Primary Art
20. Shade spheres to make plants
Chalk pastels are wonderful for helping students work on blending and shading. Use photographs of planets to inspire their work.
Learn more: The Learning Tree
21. Blend oil pastels into sunflowers
Here’s another awesome blending activity, this time with oil pastels. Kids can draw sunflowers with true-to-life colors or use their imaginations to create any color scheme they like.
Learn more: Expression of Imagination
22. Layer a window scene
Build this piece from the background up, layering window frame and sill over the landscape and finishing with a cat enjoying the view.
Learn more: Education.com
23. Weave paste paper patterns
Start by mixing paint and paste to create a thick mixture to spread on paper. Then create patterns with your fingers, a fork, or any other object. Finish by cutting one page into strips and weaving it into the other.
Learn more: Ms. Amsler’s Art Room
24. Explore one subject in three styles
Combine multiple art styles in one awesome project. In the center, students draw their subject realistically. On either side, they draw the same object in abstract and non-objective forms.
Learn more: The Art of Learning
25. Sculpt Georgia O’Keeffe flowers
Georgia O’Keeffe’s huge brilliant flower paintings practically seem to leap off the page, so they’re ideal as inspiration for this fun clay project.
Learn more: Jamestown Elementary Art Blog
26. Use a grid to help you draw
For kids who feel overwhelmed by drawing, try the grid method. Break a drawing into grid sections, copying each section one at a time. It makes a big project seem much more manageable.
Learn more: Art With Mrs. Fillmore
27. Write All About Me squash books
This is part fifth grade art project, part writing project. Kids fold paper using a bookmaking technique called “squash books,” then write and illustrate the sections to tell all about themselves.
Learn more: Art Is Basic
28. Reflect beautiful banyan trees
Banyan trees are works of art in themselves, so they’re sure to inspire your students to create beautiful pieces. They can show the trailing roots reflected in water or imagine them underground.
Learn more: ARTipelago
29. Color graffiti break dancers
Keith Haring’s vivid graffiti style is instantly appealing to kids, so they’ll enjoy creating their own break dancing scenes. All you really need is paper and markers for this quick project.
Learn more: Deep Space Sparkle
30. Dot Kusama-style pumpkins
Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama made incredible art using only dots of different sizes. Challenge your students to do the same with these clever pumpkin prints mounted on stencil-rolled backgrounds.
Learn more: Art Room Britt
Now that you’ve sparked their creativity, keep things going with these 50 Fifth Grade Creative Writing Prompts.
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