It allows them a great outlet to express their creativity, and it can be a great way for them to relieve some stresses that they may be holding onto.
The thing about art is that the possibilities are truly endless, and there are so many different things that you can create by engaging with art.
This is what makes art special, but it can also make it incredibly daunting to pick some perfect art projects for 5th graders to get involved with. That’s why you’ve likely found your way to this very article!
Today, we are going to dedicate ourselves to showing you 45 of the very best art projects you can enjoy with your 5th graders to bring out their artistic genius! Let’s jump into it!
1. Drip Art
Drip art is an incredible art project to get 5th graders involved with because it allows them to get a little bit messy and sticky and yet still create something incredible and often beautiful.
No matter the artistic skills of the child getting involved with the project, they’ll all create something uniquely theirs that they can bring home and give to their parents.
Simply give the kids some paints, and allow them to drip them down the canvas, allowing the colors to meld like a rainbow, without any need for brushing!
2. Dot Trees
Wassily Kandinsky was an artist famed for his use of concentric shapes, especially concentric circles.
With this activity, you can teach the kids a little bit about this important artist while also allowing them the opportunity to play around with color.
Cut out some basic tree shapes for the children, paste them onto paper, and hand each one to each child.
It is up to the children to carefully cut out some concentric circles using colored paper to create interesting leaves on the branches.
3. Lighthouse Scenes
When a lighthouse shines its light onto the expanses of the open waters it can create some incredibly interesting colors as the lights reflect all over.
As such, painting a delightful lighthouse scene can allow your fifth graders to experiment with color and develop fine motor skills as they attempt to communicate light through their piece.
It will result in serene artwork that is just as relaxing to produce as it is to look at!
4. Graffiti Names
What makes graffiti attractive to younger people is the spirit of rebellion inherent in the activity.
With this project, the kids can express themselves more freely, and they can easily search the internet to find inspiration for creating interesting-looking versions of their names.
5. Shade-A-Sphere
Teaching your fifth graders how to achieve some more refined results with their art can be incredibly rewarding, and can help them to discover artistic abilities they may not have otherwise realized were there!
This amazing activity asks the children to shade in a sphere shape, which gives them an opportunity to work on how they manipulate light within their work.
A sphere shape is interesting because of the way light wraps around it, making it an interesting challenge without being too difficult!
6. Still Life
Getting the kids to draw a still-life scene is an awesome activity because all you need to do is lay out some average items in the center of the room, and ask the kids to draw what they see from where they are positioned!
7. Van Gogh Flowers
It’s never too soon or too late to introduce the kids to the art of Vincent Van Gogh, and his unique and famous painting of sunflowers.
This activity helps the kids to learn about one of the most important artists ever, while also learning to imitate artistic styles, which improves their fine motor skills and their artistic capabilities.
8. Abstract Color Wheels
Teaching 5th graders about color theory doesn’t have to be difficult. With this simple activity, you can teach the children how the color wheel works while also allowing them to create abstract pieces.
It also allows the kids to play with the rainbow, which can only ever be an exciting and attractive prospect!
9. Perspective Art
5th graders likely already know the benefits that shading can have on making a piece of art really stand out, but with this activity they can learn a little more about perspective, to allow their art to look a little more realistic!
This activity will also teach the children a little about the science of perspective!
The kids might need a little bit of help with this one, but it will prove incredibly rewarding!
10. Splatter Paint Art
Allow the children to channel their inner Jackson Pollock, and give them a fresh canvas that they can then splatter the many colors of paint directly onto!
You can either have the children do this individually, or put them into small groups around the same canvas.
Either way, the kids will totally love this opportunity to let loose and make a bit of a mess!
11. Paper Lanterns
Not only is this activity incredibly tactile, allowing the 5th graders to get really stuck in, but it can also be used as a great way to teach them a little bit about the culture of China, helping to expand their knowledge of other cultures from around the world!
There are many different types of lanterns you can make, so make sure to look at some of the designs across the internet to take inspiration from.
But regardless all you need is some paper and glue to bring these to life!
12. Andy Warhol Art
Warhol was famous for championing the pop art movement, and your kids can easily get involved with this unique artistic style, allowing them to draw some basic but fun shapes, and then color them in specific ways.
This activity is great because it encourages the kids to create color palettes to stick to!
13 .3D Color Wheels
If you want to make learning the color wheel a little more interesting, why not try making them in 3D?
Follow the guide above, and you and the class can easily create 3D color wheels that can be displayed in the classroom!
14. Picasso Self Portraits
Picasso’s unique art style can allow 5th graders to create amazing choppy self-portraits!
15. Basic Origami
Origami is one of the most unique art forms in the world, and though it looks daunting from the outside, there are loads of handy guides that can help your 5th graders to easily get involved and make animals and other shapes!
16. Create Planets
This amazing activity can allow your 5th graders to learn from previous lessons on shading spheres to create unique planetoid shapes that they can paint or draw upon a space-themed background.
We loved the way these finished planets looked, and the children will love the opportunity to create some out-of-this-world artwork!
17. Weave Some Paper
Weaving paper involves a little more care and dexterity from 5th graders, so it can be an excellent activity to get them involved with when you just want to achieve a little bit of peace and quiet in the classroom.
To do this, simply cut a series of parallel lines across a sheet of paper, and then hand the kids some thin strips of paper that they can then weave through those lines to create an interesting and unique pattern that they will love.
You can make this activity a little more engaging for the children by giving them paper of all kinds of colors so that they can mix and match paper of whatever colors they want to create their own patterns!
18. Grid Art
Grid art is easily one of the very best activities to get your 5th graders involved with because it helps to foster collaboration, and allows the children to create a piece of art that you can easily display in the classroom.
This activity involves taking a certain image, dividing that image into distinct grids, and then assigning one of those grids to each of the children.
This means that the child can focus on recreating that area of the image in their own style.
Once all of the mini-masterpieces are completed, simply collect them, arrange them into the correct order, and display them on the wall. This will create a massive piece that everyone can feel proud of!
19. Yayoi Kusama Style Art
Yayoi Kusama’s art is amazing because it makes use of some simple patterns that create a unique look.
Creating patterns helps to keep 5th graders’ minds engaged, and encourages them to work on their mental facilities to keep the patterns going!
20. Keith Haring Art
Keith Haring’s artwork will be quickly appealing to young artists because it has a fun and energetic look to it that they will love imitating themselves.
The kids will enjoy posing the small cartoon characters in all kinds of ways!
21. American Gothic Parodies
American Gothic is perhaps one of the most famous paintings of all time, and also one of the most parodied.
This amazing project will allow the 5th graders to parody the painting themselves, encouraging them to change the characters that the piece focuses on, so they can express their humor through the art!
22. Snowy Scenes
Normally, if you were to set a bunch of 55th graders loose with a load of colored paints, they’d seek to cover every inch with color.
This amazing activity, which involves painting snowy scenes, can help to teach the kids some control and self-restraint, as they must make use of the neutral color of their canvas to create the look of snow!
23. Name Illustrations
Similar to the graffiti activity we explored earlier, this simple activity allows the kids to express themselves as they illustrate their names using various shapes and patterns!
24. Animal Art
Most kids naturally have their own favorite animals, or at least some animals that fascinate them.
Encourage the kids to head out onto the internet to look for inspiration, and look for images of their favorite animals.
From there, the kids can draw the animals or paint them in any way they wish, which can help to teach them more about that specific animal.
Encourage the children to create a list of interesting facts about each animal below their illustrations.
25. Fall Leaves Collage
The colors of fall leaves are incredibly iconic and look simply amazing together.
This activity can allow the children to celebrate the colors of the season by creating their own fall leaves and then creating a collage using them!
26. Op Art
Op art is an art form that takes its inspiration from optical illusions, creating 3d shapes that lead the eyes down incredibly twisting spaces.
Getting fifth graders involved with op art can allow them to learn how to illustrate 3D shapes, and allows them to create art that will blow their minds.
Take some images of op art from across the web to give the kids inspiration.
27. Oil Pastels
There are so many ways to use oil pastels, so you can easily encourage the children to illustrate anything they want using the materials.
The children will have to get used to the texture of oil pastels, which can give them a unique art-creating experience.
28. Play With Clay
Clay is one of the most fun materials for 5th graders to work with because it is incredibly tactile and allows them to create 3D shapes.
Clay can be hardened once the kids have created their art, so they can have a solid piece that they can take home with them!
29. Georgia O’Keeffe Flowers
Flowers are almost like natural works of art, and no artist has best captured the unique look of flowers quite like Georgia O’Keefe.
This amazing activity will allow the 5th graders to really appreciate the natural beauty of flowers themselves.
30. Kaleidoscope Names
Your students might need a little help with this one, but with some careful precision they can easily create kaleidoscopes that are made entirely from their names! They’re very trippy to look at!
31. Animal Eyes
The eyes of animals are often much larger than human eyes, and this can make them incredibly interesting to look into.
This activity will encourage the children to recreate the look of eyes while also considering what might be reflected in them, encouraging creativity and careful control of light!
32. Crystals
Drawing crystals can be incredibly engaging for 5th graders because of how they interact with light. This will encourage children to carefully consider how they shade in the crystals that they draw or paint!
Give them some physical crystals to use as a reference. They’ll appreciate the tactility.
33. Create Mandalas
Mandalas are fun to create because they require careful symmetry, and they allow the children to consider their color palettes. Their minds will be engaged for hours at a time!
34. Ted Harrison Landscapes
Ted Harrison is one of the most beloved landscape artists of all time, and your 5th grade class will not only enjoy looking at his art, but recreating it in their own unique ways.
This project allows your children to get creative without having to worry about realism!
35. Desert Scenes
Similar to the snowy scenes we explored earlier on this list, this project encourages the children to carefully consider their use of color while sticking to the desert theme.
Despite this, the children can still be very creative with how they compose the scene, and what colors they use in specific areas to create the perfect desert image!
36. Word Play
With some careful planning, you could combine an English class with an art class to double the kids’ education!
For example, you could come up with a list of idioms and famous phrases, and then encourage the students to create illustrations or paintings that directly reflect the literal meaning of the phrase!
It will get the kids’ minds thinking, and will also encourage them to look for hidden meanings behind popular phrases.
37. Drawing Symmetrical Insects
Many insects, like beautiful butterflies, or creepy spiders have a lot of symmetry in their biology, and this activity can encourage 5th graders to consider the symmetry that appears throughout nature.
Get the children to draw some symmetrical butterflies, spiders, or other insects, and then encourage them to color them in while keeping to the symmetrical pattern.
This will really help the children to develop their cognition, making them much smarter and more critical!
38. 4 Leaf Clovers
With this activity you can not only encourage the children to color with limited palettes but also teach them a little bit of history about St. Patrick’s Day!
39. Mixed-Media Collages
Encouraging the children to work with mixed media is a great idea, because it allows their imaginations to run wild with possibilities, and helps them to imagine how certain shapes or items can stand in for others in a piece of art.
Why not take some inspiration from famed artist Elizabeth Rosen? Grab some images of her collage art, present it to the 5th graders, and have them take inspiration from it all!
40. Quilling
Quilling is an often under-represented art form that the kids will totally love getting to grips with.
The activity involves taking incredibly thin strips of paper and then carefully twisting them round to create unique shapes.
This incredibly tactile activity will allow the kids to create some beautiful flowers and countless other shapes.
41. Paper Menorahs
If you want to help children to better understand other cultures and their holidays, then one of the best ways to do this is to get them directly involved.
This amazing art activity will help the children to learn about the menorah while also being creative.
42. Cacti Art
Cacti are some of the most unique plants in the world, and they are immensely interesting to look at., and even more interesting to create art of.
Allow your 5th graders to look at some real cacti in person, or allow them to search online for the perfect inspiration!
43. Make Masks
Sometimes nothing quite beats the fun of playing dress up. This amazing activity is incredibly simple, and yet allows the children to easily express themselves and their imagination!
44. Hand Op Art
We showed you some amazing op art earlier, but did you know that with just their hands your 5th grade class can easily create 3D op art?
This amazing art can be created by simply outlining the children’s hands, and then carefully using lines to create a 3D illusion!
45. Painting Paint Brushes
We figured we would close this list off with a meta activity that the kids will love. This activity involves the children painting the very implements that they will be using to create their art.
Ask the kids to draw some basic paintbrush shapes, and then they can color the image with paint to create a colorful and messy-looking piece.
To Wrap Up
There you have it! Though there are truly infinite things your 5th graders can do with art, these 45 activities will easily entertain them best!
Why not try out a few of these in your next lesson? There’s something here for everyone!
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