Resources

Inspiring, arts-integrated projects co-designed by artists and teachers. Filter by grade level, art form, and core content area, including Next Gen Science.

P.S. ARTS’ videos and instruction sheets feature activities with common art materials inspired by famous artists, including artists who are women and people of color. One section even has art activities related to specific children’s books read aloud on video.

North Coast Arts Integration Project, Create Humboldt, and the Arts and Creativity Initiative bring a wealth of professional development resources and lesson ideas with the goal of improving student academic performance, reasoning skills, creative thinking, and engagement through arts integration.

Digital resources for educators, including articles & how-to’s, lessons and activities, and media & interactives. Search arts-integrated lesson plans by grade and subject. Press “print” to save to your Google Drive! Check out all of their digital arts resources here: https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/

A searchable collection of lesson plans and videos on how to use the arts to teach the youngest learners.

Historically, art education has centered on Western aesthetics and Eurocentric art history. Anti-Racist Art Teachers promote inclusive thinking, celebrating diversity, and inspiring transformative action through arts education. Their website has a wealth of visual arts resources, including an index of diverse artists suitable for classroom study, anti-racist art activities for kids, and professional development resources for educators.

The world’s largest online professional development provider for teachers and leaders using arts-integrated approaches. The institute offers fee-based online workshops, resources, courses, conferences, and certification. Check out their free resources and scroll all the way down to find their newsletter sign-up for weekly ideas in your inbox.

By Zaretta Hammond on the Power of Protocols, gives useful tips for using conversation structures & graffiti walls to diversify student participation, including ideas on how to draw from youth and hip-hop culture.

In a community responding to trauma, art can be used as a nonverbal pathway to reduce stress and anxiety, acknowledge and manage emotions, and build connections when verbal means of communication are more hampered by the trauma response. Turnaround Arts California has gathered our favorite resources to consider using in the classroom or at home.

This report documents how participation in arts education develops both artistic and social-emotional competencies, including self-management and self-discipline, interpersonal skills, and self-expression, that extend beyond arts.

Check out these free SEL printables in English & Spanish, that may be shared or used with families. The Strengths Chain and Accomplishments Box are creative artmaking activities that support SEL.

KID smART’s free curriculum offers lesson plans for K-4 and 5-8th grades that use simple, standards-based art experiences to build emotional literacy and self-knowledge.

A creative e-learning series geared towards K-8th graders. KID smART Teaching Artists lead hands-on creative activities, including read-alouds and movement exercises, that can be completed from any classroom or home.

Crayon Collection partners with artists to design simple projects that use only crayons (presented as lesson plans).

Kennedy Center Artist in Residence Mo Willems (Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus) invites YOU into his studio every day for his LUNCH DOODLE videos. Learners worldwide can draw, doodle and explore new ways of writing by visiting Mo’s studio virtually once a day for the next few weeks

This video series by Jason Reynolds, award-winning young adult and children’s novelist, and the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, shares fun prompts for creative thinking, writing or designing in his GRAB THE MIC video series.

Created for young people and the young at heart, The Music Center's Artivities offer inspiring arts and culture experiences with workshops and performances by world-class artists that bring the arts to your school or home.

YouTube video channel offers extensive art, music, and dance lessons suitable for incorporating into K-5 classrooms.

Create CA is a coalition of dedicated and innovative leaders who understand that together we have the power to create lasting change for every California student. Particular resources of note: Prop 28- What We Know So Far shares timely information about arts funding for California schools. The Arts Education Data Project allows you to see how your school, district, or county compares to others in the state in the provision of arts education services.

This webpage hosted by the California Department of Education is a source of information and FAQs about the ballot measure passed in Nov 2022 that requires the state to establish a new, ongoing program to support arts instruction in schools.

This go-to resource from the California County Superintendents provides an understanding of teacher credentialing in the arts, and how to navigate it as an individual, a school/district, or as a college or university.

This website has access to useful research and advocacy tools. Founded by Merryl Goldberg, Executive Director and founder of Center ARTES in the School of Arts at CSU San Marcos.

The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (ESSA) introduced several new funding streams that states and districts can use to improve schools, including 12 that could be used to support arts integration.

This blog post informally summarizes research on the power of dance and movement to lower stress hormones, boost endorphins, and foster social connections. It describes what types of music increases concentration, optimism, or relaxation, just by listening.

This report documents how arts education provides opportunities for SEL, primarily by fostering positive relationships which often stand in contrast to those formed within regular academic instruction. They find that the "how" is as important as the "what" in the arts studio or regular classroom.

This article on how children benefit from music education in schools cites dozens of research studies and articles.

This 2011 report inspired the President's Committee on Arts and Humanities to create the Turnaround Arts pilot program. The report provides information about the disparities in public arts education across the country, and includes information about the documented outcomes of arts education. It analyzes the challenges and opportunities in the field, and provides recommendations for federal, state, and local policymakers.