25 Kindergarten Art Projects To Spark Early Creativity

Art activities help kindergartners learn about the world around them. Exploring colors, textures, shapes, and contrasts opens their eyes to details big and small. Kindergarten art projects allow kids to work on their hand-eye coordination through cutting and tracing. They teach about primary colors and color mixing. More importantly, they encourage kids to be creative and embrace the creativity they see in others around them.

We partnered with one of our favorite art teachers on Instagram, Ms. D. (@art.party.with.ms.d), to bring you this incredible list of ideas. Her projects are inspired by a wide variety of artists, while also making connections to the time of year and what students are studying in other subjects. “Beautiful art + happy students + teaching about a wide range of artists will always be a winner for me!” she says. Visit this talented teacher’s page for more photos, details on the projects shown here, and even more ideas for primary art students!

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Kindergarten Art Projects

Paper crowns kindergarten art project — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Crazy Art Crowns

Ms. D notes that while she likes to start off each school year by covering art room rules and expectations, she also likes to get kids creating right off the bat. These paper crowns give students practice putting their names on projects and trying out some of the supplies. It’s an easy first-day art project for kindergartners.

Learn more: Crazy Art Crowns

Kindergarten art projects showing blue dog drawings — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

George Rodrigue Blue Dogs

Share some examples of Rodrigue’s famous Blue Dogs with your students, then help them create their own.

Learn more: George Rodrigue Blue Dogs

Rainbow watercolor cats on a black background — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Chanoir Cats

Art fans will instantly recognize these fun cats by the contemporary street artist Chanoir. Students will love re-creating the bright colors and cheery expressions.

Learn more: Chanoir Cats

Charley Harper inspired kindergarten art project showing ants on leaves — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Charley Harper Insects

Harper’s paper collages often look as if they’ve jumped straight off the pages of a children’s picture book. Kindergartners will relate to it instantly as they put together their own Harper-style collages.

Learn more: Charley Harper Insects

Clay and mixed media owl kindergarten art project — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Clay and Mixed-Media Owls

Start by sculpting simple owls from air-dry clay, decorating them with tempera paint. Then, use oil and chalk pastels to create the perfect nighttime background scene.

Learn more: Clay and Mixed-Media Owls

Collages showing paper silhouettes climbing stairs — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Christian Robinson Paper Collages

Kindergarten art students will recognize Robinson’s style from his illustrations of books like Last Stop on Market Street. Assembling their own Robinson-style collages will take some time and patience, but the results are so cool!

Learn more: Christian Robinson Paper Collages

Paint and paper art in circles for kindergarten — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Takashi Murakami Dots

Ms. D does annual projects for #internationaldotday, like this one inspired by the work of Takashi Murakami. The circles are made of diffusing paper, with pen and ink flower designs over the top.

Learn more: Takashi Murakami Dots

Chinese Dragon Vase Still Life

Don’t underestimate what kindergarten art students can do! These Chinese vase still life pieces start with a template, but students use guided drawing with markers, pastels, and watercolor pencils to create the rest.

Learn more: Chinese Dragon Vase Still Life

Colorful drape paintings created by kindergarten art students — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Sam Gilliam Drape Paintings

Black American artist Gilliam’s Drape paintings “freed the canvas” as he displayed his painted fabrics without stretcher bars or frames. This kindergarten art project encourages young students to do the same with their own diffusing-paper creations.

Learn more: Sam Gilliam Drape Paintings

Friendly Ghosts

Celebrate fall by reading How To Make Friends With a Ghost. Then, take inspiration from illustrator Rebecca Green’s charming pictures and have students create a stamped background for their own friendly little ghosts.

Learn more: Friendly Ghosts

Green garden animal dogs and cats by kindergarteners — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Topiary Animals

Here’s another wonderful project inspired by a picture book: Grandpa Green. Students sponge green and yellow paints to create the topiary look, then trace and cut out the animals from templates.

Learn more: Topiary Animals

Colorful heart drawings accented with dots and dashes — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Alma Thomas Heart Art

Need a quick Valentine’s Day project? Take a look at educator and artist Alma Thomas’ work, then have students make their own colorful heart paintings.

Learn more: Alma Thomas Heart Art

Paper and paint hedgehog art projects by kindergarteners — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Paper Hedgehogs

How adorable are these little hedgies? Students create them via a directed drawing session, focusing on the basic shapes and lines they need to bring their hedgehogs to life.

Learn more: Paper Hedgehogs

Clay penguins with pipe cleaner ear muffs — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Clay Slab Penguins

Take the stress out of sculpting by starting with a simple rolled clay slab. Kids add details with tools, then use paints and inks for color. Finish with some adorable pipe cleaner and pom-pom earmuffs!

Learn more: Clay Slab Penguins

Paper squirrel holding fall leaves against a painted background — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Leaf Thief Squirrels

If your kindergarten art students love The Leaf Thief (and who doesn’t?), they’ll get a kick out of creating these little guys using warm colors and stamping techniques.

Learn more: Leaf Thief Squirrels

Colorful paper sculptures made by kindergarten art students — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Marta Minujín Paper Sculptures

To Marta Minujín, “Everything is art.” What an amazing thing to teach kids! These paper sculptures are a tribute to her unique soft sculptures, in eye-grabbing colors that will draw kids in.

Learn more: Marta Minujín Paper Sculptures

Origami dog against a collage background — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Origami Dogs

Ms. D loves to use origami with her students, combining it with a variety of backgrounds for incredible displays. Here, the paper puppies pop against a scrap paper collage accented with circles made by stamping with empty toilet paper tubes.

Learn more: Origami Dogs

Kindergarten paintings of plovers on a seashore — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Painted Plovers

These realistic paintings were part of a larger series about endangered animals. Each class focused on a different species, discovering more about it while learning techniques to capture its likeness on paper.

Learn more: Painted Plovers

Mixed media art showing endangered animals — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Animal Collages

Ms. D tied these animal collages in with her kindergarten students’ unit on zoology. She also took inspiration from the book Becoming a Good Creature, choosing a few different animals for her students to re-create in multimedia projects.

Learn more: Animal Collages

Rainbow Cats

What a fun way to teach kindergartners the ROYGBIV colors of the rainbow! Those facial expressions are an absolute delight.

Learn more: Rainbow Cats

Simple self-portraits painted by kindergarteners — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Pop Art Self-Portraits

Roy Lichtenstein’s style is instantly recognizable. This cool project introduces kids to his pop art style, encouraging them to think creatively about themselves and the world around them.

Learn more: Pop Art Self-Portraits

Cartoon style self portraits by kindergarten art students — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Christian Robinson Self-Portraits

Here’s another self-portrait project, this one in the style of Christian Robinson (who also appears earlier on this list). It’s a bit more realistic but still leaves plenty of room for color and personalization.

Learn more: Christian Robinson Self-Portraits

Fabric snake bracelets worn by kindergarten art students — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Felt Snake Bracelets

Ms. D created these stiffened felt and wire bracelets with her students for Lunar New Year. But you could use them any time of the year, especially to tie in with a unit on reptiles or similar creatures.

Learn more: Felt Snake Bracelets

Snow Dinos

Snowmen are great, but kids will be even more excited by snow dinosaurs! This project teaches kids the watercolor resist technique along with several others skills.

Learn more: Snow Dinos

Sound helmet sculptures from kindergarten art students — Courtesy of @art.party.with.ms.d

Nick Cave Sound Helmets

Cave’s “Soundsuits” series features wearable art pieces full of color and life. This unique kindergarten art project riffs on the concept, giving students a chance to create their own wearable masterpieces with paper and other materials.

Learn more: Nick Cave Sound Helmets

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