This six-lesson bundle introduces elementary students in grades K–5 to the element of value through engaging, age-appropriate art projects that progress from simple light-to-dark color shifts to more advanced illusions of depth and form. Each lesson includes a video demonstration, a ready-to-teach presentation, exit tickets, and detailed teacher instructions, where you’ll find the clearly defined lesson focus and aligned art standards. Everything is designed to make teaching the element of value simple, effective, and fun.
Each lesson includes:
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PDF Presentation with step-by-step instructions is included.
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Full Video Demonstration for modeling or guided instruction
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Printable Handouts to support student learning
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Exit Tickets for assessment and reflection
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High-quality display examples for bulletin boards and showcases
- Teacher Overview with National Visual Arts Standards
Lessons Included:
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Shades of Snails (Grades K-1)
Students draw a playful snail and use warm-color chalk pastels to create a shell that shifts from light to dark. The cool blue body contrasts with the warm shell, helping students see how value can highlight different parts of a picture.
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Snow Bear Shades (Grades K–2)
Students learn how small touches of gray around the bear’s nose, eyes, and side make the white fur look fuller. The simple shapes and soft blending help them understand how shading adds dimension even on light-colored animals.
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Shading Sharks (Grades 2–3)
Students use light, medium, and dark blues to separate each wave layer, creating the illusion of depth through clear value shifts. By stacking waves from lightest to darkest (or vice versa), they learn how simple color changes can show which parts of the water are closer and which are farther away.
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Layered Landscapes (Grades 3-4)
Students cut and stack layered triangles to form hills or mountains, placing darker shades toward the front and lighter ones in the distance. This hands-on collage makes atmospheric perspective easy to understand and visually striking.
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Shady Geometric Fox (Grades 3–5)
Students draw a fox from simple shapes and use color blending to make some areas darker and others lighter. The project strengthens control of colored pencils and shows how value brings personality to a stylized animal.
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Triple Tone Cupcake (Grades 4–5)
Students shade the frosting with a smooth value transition and build depth in the cupcake wrapper with contrasting colors. After cutting and mounting the cupcake, they add a cast shadow to complete the illusion of a three-dimensional treat.
Why Teachers Love This Bundle:
- Reinforces the Elements of Art curriculum
- Ready-to-use for elementary art classes
- Supports hands-on learning and art vocabulary development
- Perfect for substitute teacher plans, art centers, or homeschool instruction
- Encourages students to practice creativity, fine motor skills, and observation
Students explore value using a variety of materials—chalk pastels, oil pastels, colored pencils, and collage techniques—while creating vibrant projects such as warm-color snails, shaded polar bears, layered shark waves, blended geometric foxes, atmospheric green landscapes, and three-tone cupcakes with cast shadows. These hands-on lessons help young artists understand how light and dark values create contrast, depth, and visual interest, building a strong foundation for future drawing and shading skills.
This complete value bundle offers high-quality teaching tools, step-by-step guidance, and engaging results thatstudents love. With comprehensive resources at a fantastic price, it’s the perfect addition to any elementary art curriculum, whether you teach in a classroom, art studio, or homeschool setting.
©A Space to Create Art™
