Get inspired to bring more creative thinking into your paper mâché projects, from small-scale sculptures to bold, collaborative builds that celebrate imagination over perfection. We’ll show you lesson plans, practical strategies for classroom management, materials, while highlighting how project-based learning and STEM helps students experiment, problem-solve, and create meaningful work.
In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn how child artists’ monster drawings can become the starting point for soft sculpture, social-emotional learning, cross-age collaboration, and community connection. Based on a project in which young students explored emotions through The Color Monster and created monster drawings that older students transformed into handmade plushies, participants will practice translating an “ish-style” drawing into a small felt plush object while considering both creative interpretation and responsibility to the original young artist. Participants will sketch or work from a sample monster design, create a simple pattern, begin sewing and stuffing a plushie, and discuss classroom adaptations; a $8–10 materials fee is requested to cover felt, stuffing, thread, needles, pattern paper, and embellishments.
Hand Sculpture Slices: Anatomy and This presentation features a simple modeling-clay hand sculpture project where participants can review basic anatomy while learning fundamental sculpting techniques with modeling clay. The project helps develop spatial reasoning, observation, problem-solving, craftsmanship, creativity, and other essential artistic skills through a straightforward and engaging sculptural process Sculpting Techniques.
From censored exhibitions to public backlash, this session shares powerful classroom stories from around the world. Learn how to guide controversial student work with confidence, clarity, and care while centering responsibility and student safeguarding. Gain practical tools to support creative risk-taking while navigating cultural context, institutional expectations, and real-world consequences.
This mixed media embroidery workshop invites teachers to slow down, stitch, and reconnect with their own creative practice through a calming, hands-on collage process, no experience needed. Using simple, beginner-friendly stitches, you will layer fabric, paper, and found materials while focusing on texture, reflection, and mindful making. Come ready to reset, experiment, and leave with a meaningful piece and a practice you can bring back to your classroom.
Literacy in the visual arts classroom empowers students to interpret, analyze, and communicate meaning through both images and words, strengthening critical thinking and creative expression. In a hands-on experience like Japanese stab-bound bookmaking, students naturally integrate reading, writing, and visual storytelling as they design pages that convey personal or cultural narratives. This blend of visual and textual literacy deepens engagement, making artmaking a powerful tool for comprehension, reflection, and authentic communication. All materials for creating the Japanese stab-bound book will be provided—just bring your creativity and an open mind to incorporating literacy in the art room.
Educators will learn how to create a universal lesson for their various art subjects in order to unify their 4-year journey into a comprehensive slide presentation that is 80% completed by the time that they walk into their Senior year. This way, students are not fumbling to find evidence from freshman year, or all of the various arts courses taken over their 4 years.
