I had a Ceramic class that perpetually experienced a lot of drops in the first cycle of classes. Most of the reasons were intrinsic to the school I was at and had nothing to do with me. In my efforts to combat the drops, I learned from students that one of the ways to engage them was by immediately giving them clay.  Immediately, as in, “Hello, welcome, here’s a ball of clay for today’s class.” And the results were exceptional in terms of the energy. Anyone who has ever lived through the First Day of School at a middle or high school can tell you that students universally do not want to do syllabi and classroom rules. By the end of the day, they are simultaneously bored and exhausted. So, over the years, I moved away from that and invested in things that were creative, fun, and often hands-on.

So, I present ten activities for art students for the first days in the art room.

  1. Art Style Bingo, anyone?  You can use a website like My Free Bingo Cards to play the traditional game with a new twist. You insert the art vocabulary, artists, media, art tools, or whatever you are basing your bingo on, and the website will generate up to 30 bingo cards for free (above that they charge), and all their cards can be played as virtual bingo games. Prizes? Ideas for virtual learning for students can be found here.
  2. Name that Famous Art Work! Students are sometimes surprised at how many famous artworks they are familiar with. Collect digital images of iconic pieces of art, pieces that are referenced so often they become part of our shared cultural experience. Like, American Gothic. They may not know the artist or the style, but they have probably seen it or the many spoofs on it. You can ask students if they are familiar with it, then ask if anyone can share more information about the piece. After, I like to do a quick education about the art piece and any unusual facts I can dig up. For example, did you know that the farmer in American Gothic was Wood’s dentist? As Wood had a bit of a sweet tooth, he spent a fair amount of time at the dentist, where he came to admire his hands and strength. Here is an online game along these lines.
  3. The Creativity Test The goal of this challenge is to push people to test their creativity by turning circles into recognizable objects in a very short period. It’s an oldie and goodie as well as a great exercise in ideation. Find a tutorial here.  If you want more creativity challenges, you can find thirty circles and more here.
  4. Teaching a Design Class? Perfect for a class that is online, in a lab, or even playing as a group with the teacher collecting information and inputting. A fun warm-up to a logo unit can be found here. My Design students LOVED this. The game takes six minutes and is highly addictive. (Edit: user mentioned that the Playboy logo appears in the game, so be aware and always preview suggestions for your grade level and audience to determine what you feel is appropriate.)
  5.  Map Your Heart  Want to learn a little about your students on the first day? Try this “Map out your heart” exercise found here.

  6. Draw a Portrait with Data  Follow designer Giorgia Lupi’s step-by-step instructions to generate a data-driven perspective on the person you know best: you. Her exercise here.

  7. Exquisite Corpse Drawing Game Who doesn’t love the Exquisite Corpse Drawing Game? And if this is new to you, let me introduce you. Here’s a teacher on YouTube who will talk you through the basics, and she also talks about how she does this with family and friends digitally, so it’s a “can do” for virtual learning too.
  8. Dot Day!  Did you know that International Dot Day is September 15? Do a warm-up with dots. Check out this collaborative project by Zamorano Fine Arts Academy.  Another great one inspired by the work of Wassily Kandinsky can be found at Faber Castell’s blog, here.  Or other dot day activities on My Art Lesson’s Pinterest Board for Dot Day. Digital ideas here.
  9. Teacher Trivia I have to admit, I love NPR’s show Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me. They do fun things like Two Truths and a Lie. Doing a version of this game about yourself will allow the kids to get to know you and laugh. We all have some good stories, so go share them and get the “getting to know you” portion going.
  10. I’m going to bend my own rules and suggest covering the classroom rules but make it fun with memes.