14 art sub plans anyone can run, with paper and pencils
You walked into the art room and there are no plans. You do not need to be an art teacher for any of these fourteen lessons. Each one runs on plain paper, pencils and crayons or markers, and each says what to say, what you need and the grades it fits, from kindergarten through middle school. Pick one for a short class or string two together for a long block.
Pencil and paper only
1. Draw along from the board
Pick a simple subject like a cat, a house or a fish. Draw it on the board one shape at a time, saying each step out loud, and have students copy each step before you add the next. Finish by letting everyone add their own background and details.
Grades K–3You need Paper, pencils and the whiteboard
2. One-line room drawing
Ask students to draw something in the room, like a chair, a backpack or their own hand, without lifting the pencil from the paper even once. Wobbly lines are the point. After ten minutes, have them try a second object and compare which drawing has more life in it.
Grades 3–8You need Paper and pencils
3. Partner portraits without peeking
Partners sit facing each other. Each student draws the other's face while looking only at the partner, never at the paper, for two minutes. Then they draw again, looking as often as they like. Students compare the two drawings and talk about what changed when they looked.
Grades 4–8You need Paper and pencils
4. Finish the squiggle
Draw a different random squiggle on each sheet before handing them out, or have students draw one and swap with a neighbor. Each student turns the squiggle into a picture: an animal, a machine, a monster or a place. Have them give the picture a title along the bottom.
Grades K–5You need Paper and pencils or crayons
5. Zoomed-in drawing
Each student picks a small object, like an eraser, a key or a leaf from outside, and draws it so large that it runs off the edges of the paper. Ask them to fill the page with every line, bump and shadow they can see when they look closely.
Grades 3–8You need Paper, pencils and small objects from the room
Lessons from famous artists
6. Swirly night skies like Van Gogh
Tell students that Vincent van Gogh painted night skies full of swirls and bright stars. Have them draw a town, a field or their street along the bottom, then fill the sky with curling lines, circles around each star and a glowing moon. No two skies should look alike.
Grades 1–8You need Paper and crayons or markers
7. Water lilies in dabs like Monet
Tell students that Claude Monet painted the pond in his garden many times, using small dabs of color instead of hard outlines. Have them make a pond of blue and green dabs, then add lily pads and flowers with short strokes. Ask them to step back and look from across the room.
Grades K–5You need Paper and crayons or markers
8. Dot pictures like Seurat
Tell students that Georges Seurat made whole paintings out of tiny dots of color. Have them sketch a simple picture in light pencil, like a tree or a boat, then fill it in using only dots, putting different colors side by side. Show how the dots blend when seen from far away.
Grades 2–8You need Paper and markers
9. Giant waves like Hokusai
Tell students that the artist Katsushika Hokusai made a famous print of a huge wave curling over small boats. Have them draw their own giant wave with a curling top, then add a tiny boat, a mountain or a town to show how big it is.
Grades 3–8You need Paper and pencils or markers
Quick projects
10. Folded name art
Students fold a sheet in half the long way and write their name in big bubble letters along the fold. They cut or trace it so the name mirrors on the other half, then color the shape into a creature or pattern. Ask them to find what their name looks like.
Grades 2–8You need Paper and crayons or markers
11. Shape monsters
Call out three shapes, like a circle, a triangle and a rectangle. Students must build a monster using at least one of each, then add eyes, arms and feet. Ask a few students to name their monster and tell the class one thing it likes to eat.
Grades K–2You need Paper and crayons
12. Pattern tile sheets
Students draw a large square and split it into six or eight sections with curved or straight lines. They fill each section with a different repeating pattern, such as stripes, dots, scales or tiny circles. Remind them that the goal is careful, slow repeating, not speed.
Grades 3–8You need Paper, pencils and fine markers
13. Eight-box comic
Students fold a sheet into eight boxes and tell a short story with a beginning, a problem and an ending. Each box gets a picture and one line of words or a speech bubble. Stick figures are fine, so the focus stays on telling the story clearly.
Grades 3–8You need Paper and pencils
Wrapping up
14. Silent gallery walk
Ten minutes before the end, have students leave their artwork on their desk and walk around the room in silence, looking at every piece. Back in their seats, each student writes or says one kind, specific thing they noticed about someone else's work. Then clean up and stack the art for the teacher.
Grades K–8You need Students' finished work on their desksUse 10-minute timer
Making it work
- Use only supplies the art teacher left out or the office says are fine. Leave paint, clay, glue guns and the kiln alone on a sub day.
- Write the steps on the board before the class comes in. Students can check the board instead of asking you the same question many times.
- Plan clean-up time of at least five minutes and run a 5-minute timer so it does not get squeezed out.
- Have every student write their name and class on the back of the work, then stack it by class for the teacher with a short sub note.
- If a lesson ends early, add a second one from the list or use a quick filler from the activity picker.
Questions teachers ask
- What can a sub do in art class with no plans?
- Choose a drawing lesson that needs only paper and pencils, such as finishing a squiggle, a one-line drawing or a swirly night sky in the style of Van Gogh. Write the steps on the board and save time for a gallery walk and clean-up.
- Do I need to know how to draw to run these art lessons?
- No. Each lesson tells you what to say and what students do. The directed drawing on the board uses simple shapes, and the rest have students doing the drawing while you walk around and ask about their work.
- Which art lessons work best for kindergarten?
- Shape monsters, finishing a squiggle and drawing along from the board work well for kindergarten. Keep each step short, show it on the board, and let them use crayons, which are easier for small hands than markers.
- What art sub plans work for middle school?
- Older students do well with partner portraits without peeking, zoomed-in drawings, pattern tile sheets and the eight-box comic. These take real focus, give them some choice and fill a full class period without much talking from you.
Written for teachers by Peabody Teach. No ads, no affiliate links. Something wrong or missing? Tell us.