Teaching art is incredibly rewarding, but it’s also easy to lose sight of your own creative spark amidst lesson plans and classroom management. Supporting your students’ artistic growth is no easy feat, and can take up a lot of valuable mental real estate. You may feel too tired to meet your own artistic needs when you get home after a long school day. If this feels familiar, it’s time to rekindle your love for art!
Spice up your relationship with the visual art side of art education with the joy-filled ideas below.
1. Go on a field trip without the kids.
Every community has incredible museums and cultural spaces to explore. However, when teachers chaperone student field trips, the focus on safety and student learning often prevents teachers from enjoying the excursion. Gather a group of friends or go solo and embark on a guided tour of a local museum. Let the museum guide worry about planning the experience. Focus on being present in the moment and take in the art, history, and thoughtful conversation with fellow lifelong learners.
2. Make an art history date night.
Choose an artist and immerse yourself in their world. Whip up a meal inspired by their culture or era. For a real challenge, recreate your favorite artwork of theirs as a dessert. Paint it onto a sugar cookie, sculpt it with crispy rice cereal treats, or even cast it in candy using silicone molds. Finally, cuddle up and forge a deeper connection with someone special through a captivating movie about the artist’s life and work.
3. Hunt for art easter eggs in your community.
Art is all around you and the hidden details often go unnoticed and underappreciated. All sorts of artists, including architects, fashion designers, and graphic designers, love to reference other art in their work. Walk around your community and document everything you notice that references other art. Whether it is a mural at Trader Joe’s, a sculpture in a park, or a t-shirt at your favorite store, art shapes our world. Take time to notice and appreciate the collection curated by your community.
4. Explore like a kid.
Forget everything you learned about good taste and break out all of your glitter, fluorescent, or metallic supplies. Remember how it felt to be a kid excited by all things shiny and tap into that feeling now. Allow yourself to experiment and embrace spontaneity without restraint and the pressure to create something “professional.”
5. Dress the part.
Playing dress up is fun at any age. While your clothes do not define you as a person, they can affect how you feel. Apply your artist’s eye to your wardrobe and experiment with different combinations of colors, patterns, and textures. Try an off-the-wall Romero Britto-inspired look that breaks all of the conventional rules of fashion. Experimenting with a new look can give you and your students a whole new outlook—even if it’s just for a day.
6. Give your classroom a makeover.
Rearrange the furniture or change the artwork on your walls. Refreshing your space is exciting for you and your students. Plus, it can be a good opportunity to reset your classroom management if something isn’t working.
Think about the flow of your space and how you want everything organized. Then, take a few blocks of time during your planning periods to make it happen. Gather some colleagues with the same planning period, bring in some snacks, and tackle an overhaul of your space, zone by zone.
Students appreciate when their teachers put effort into their classrooms and it encourages them to care for the space in return. Have a little fun with it and hide little art history easter eggs among the decor to spark joy in discovery. Duct tape a banana to the wall like art teachers did in Art Room Makeover and see how long it takes students to ask about it!
7. Swap with another teacher.
We all swap lessons and materials, but have you considered swapping classes? Trade positions with a fellow art teacher for a day. It will be fun and informative for the students as well as yourself. Students will get a fresh perspective from another art teacher. Plus, you will have a great time as a guest in a new classroom.
8. Create guerrilla art.
Imagine the delight of family, friends, and students as they stumble upon an unexpected piece of art! Create a small artwork and hide it in a friend’s home or in a colleague’s classroom. Paint a rock and leave it in a park. Make drawings or text-based art using sidewalk chalk. Channel your inner Banksy to spread joy in the everyday.
9. Imagine with friends.
Invite your friends over for a fun evening after school. Get a pack of canvases to play a creative game. Randomly pull words from a hat to generate a wild prompt that everyone paints. Consider setting an interval timer and swapping pieces or adding prompts in the middle of the process. The end result may not end up in the Louvre, but it will certainly be good for a laugh and letting loose!
10. Reimagine your childhood toys and games.
Play with your favorite childhood toys and games with an artistic twist. Use building blocks, stuffies, and other objects for a still life or a printmaking plate. Reconnecting with your childhood favorites will not only evoke nostalgia but can also spark novel lesson ideas that will bring joy to both you and your students.
Rekindling your love for art is an investment in yourself. When you take time to care for yourself, you can show up to be a better art teacher for your students. Actively nurture your creativity and artistic well-being, and you’ll return to the studio with renewed energy, passion, and a fresh perspective. Get out and explore, dress up, create, and play! Sometimes the best way to reconnect with what made you fall in love with art and education is to tap into the playful, experimental spirit that first inspired you as a child.
What is your favorite silly or fun way to engage with the arts?
How do you make time to prioritize joy and play in your artistic practice?
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Magazine articles and podcasts are opinions of professional education contributors and do not necessarily represent the position of the Art of Education University (AOEU) or its academic offerings. Contributors use terms in the way they are most often talked about in the scope of their educational experiences.
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