50 Inspiring Fourth Grade Art Projects for Creative Kids

1. Go colorful with Fauve portraits

Artists of the Fauve school believed in bright colors and bold lines, so their work really appeals to kids. Use bingo daubers to make the portraits, then oil pastels and liquid watercolors to create the colorful backgrounds.

Learn more: Cassie Stephens/Fourth Grade Fauve Art

2. Fold zig zag selfies

Your fourth grade art students will be wowed by the illusion of this portrait project. They’ll create two different pictures of themselves on accordion-folded paper. When they unfold it, they’ll be able to see each portrait depending on the angle they look from.

Learn more: The Art Room at The Falcon Academy of Creative Arts

3. Blend snowy silhouettes

Learn to blend tints and shades with these winter landscapes, featuring full moons and silhouettes of trees, snowmen, and other wintry objects.

Learn more: tinyartroom

4. Learn the parts of a landscape

Teach your students terms like foreground, middle ground, and horizon as they create these patterned landscapes. They’ll also learn to use warm colors to make some elements pop and cool colors when they want something to recede into the background.

Learn more: Jamestown Elementary Art Blog

5. Sail mighty pirate ships

Students will have fun painting textured waves to back their fearsome construction paper pirate ships. Challenge them to personalize their sails with their own insignia too!

Learn more: Pirate Ships at Deep Space Sparkle

6. Add texture with glue

Aluminum foil makes a really cool canvas for art projects. Use school glue to “draw” insect art, then fill in the colors with Sharpies.

Learn more: Denette Fretz

7. Put your students in The Scream

Munch’s The Scream is one of the most well-known pieces of art out there. Learn more about the original painting, then have kids paint their own backgrounds. Finish it off by taking “scream selfies” and pasting them on!

Learn more: The Scream at Art With Mrs. Seitz

8. Make Dean Russo-inspired animals

Dean Russo’s vivid pet portraits have become incredibly popular, and they’re exactly the kind of style that appeals to kids. This is another fourth grade art lesson that’s perfect for using bingo daubers to make the bold outlines.

Learn more: Elements of the Art Room

10. Turn book pages into a seascape

Collect some old textbooks and turn them into bounding ocean waves! Dab the torn pages with watercolors, then add boats of various sizes to create the illusion of depth.

Learn more: Mrs. Jackson’s Art Room

11. Try a toothpaste batik

The traditional batik process involves wax, but this version uses a surprise substitute: toothpaste! Learn how it works at the link.

Learn more: Toothpaste Batik at Art is Basic

12. Sculpt figures from foil

Turn a box of aluminum foil into cool sculpted figures! After your students make their figures, have them draw and shade the shadows the figures make.

Learn more: Mrs. Knight’s Smartest Artists

13. Craft radial paper relief sculptures

Explore the concept of radial symmetry with this intriguing folded paper project. Visit the link below to learn some basic folds, but don’t be afraid to try out creative shapes of your own.

Learn more: Paper Relief Sculptures at Art With Mrs. Nguyen

14. Sew giant pizza pillows

15. Mix paint for giant Hokusai waves

Japanese artist Hokusai is best known for his series of woodblock prints of Mount Fuji, including The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Fourth grade art students will enjoy mixing acrylic paints to get the proper shades to recreate this iconic marine scene.

Learn more: Kim & Karen: 2 Soul Sisters

16. Draw Escher-inspired tessellations

Get ready to see your students’ eyes widen when you show them M.C. Escher’s mind-bending illustrations. Then challenge them to create their own tessellations, which are repeating patterns that cover a page with no gaps or overlaps. It’s tricky, but oh-so-satisfying!

Learn more: Tesselations at Art With Mrs. Seitz

17. Put together free-fall foreshortening art

Fourth grade art students are ready to tackle some more advanced concepts, like foreshortening an object to produce the illusion of distance. These free-falling portraits emphasize hands and feet, creating an interesting, foreshortened perspective.

Learn more: Education.com

18. Write typography self-portraits

Make some time in your curriculum for graphic arts like typography. This self-portrait is a combination of poetry and art, and the results are truly special.

Learn more: Flying Crayons

19. Shade close-up dragon eyes

Your fourth grade art students will develop a whole bunch of new skills with this project, including shading, wet-on-wet watercolors, crayon resist, and more. Plus, those dragon eyes are simply mesmerizing!

Learn more: Art With Mrs. Kerbaugh

20. Cut out Dubuffet sculptures

Dubuffet took great inspiration from watching kids create, eventually coining the term art brut, sometimes called outsider art. After looking at some of his work, ask kids to use paper to make a free-flowing abstract sculpture of their own.

Learn more: The Art Room

21. Split and share circles

Collaborative art projects give kids a chance to work together and share their creativity. For this one, each student creates one Kandinsky-inspired circle and cuts it into four pieces. Then kids mix and match with each other to put together unique compositions.

Learn more: Kandinsky Inspired

22. Outline and paint 3D gems

Use the magic of crystals and gems to inspire students for this watercolor project. Show them the basic steps, then let them compose their own valuable collections.

Learn more: 3D Gems at Elements of the Art Room

23. Dive deep for undersea sculptures

Everything’s better under the sea, including these gorgeous clay sculptures. Use photos of tide pools to inspire fourth grade students to mold starfish, urchins, seaweeds, and more.

Learn more: Nic Hahn

24. Create a shape explosion

Here’s another lesson in perspective, this one focusing on the vanishing point. For a personalized twist on this idea, have kids sketch the letters of their name instead of using shapes.

Learn more: Mrs. Knight’s Smartest Artists

25. Float away with dandelion puffs

One look at these paintings, and you’ll feel like you’re sitting in a sunny meadow on a warm summer’s day. Kids use the wet-on-wet technique to create those soft misty backgrounds.

Learn more: Art With Mrs. Fillmore

26. Snack on papier-mâché donuts

These donuts look yummy, but don’t be tempted to take a taste! Instead, drop by the post below for some donut art inspiration, then shape your own sweet treats from papier-mâché.

Learn more: Wow Art Project

27. Look down on birds-eye view snowmen

Viewed from the top, snowmen are just a series of concentric circles. Practice shading to add depth to each circle, then add a scarf, arms, and snowman features to finish it off.

Learn more: Snowmen at Art With Mrs. Nguyen

28. Explore indigenous art with totem poles

Make this art lesson meaningful by learning why and how some Native American tribes make totems. Then have each student choose an animal that’s important to them, and build your own class totem poles.

Learn more: Welcome to Art Class

29. Construct clay castles

Have some royal fun with these textured clay castles! Metallic glazes and glittering pennants make this a project that really shines.

Learn more: K-8 Art

30. Stitch and paint on burlap

Here’s a project that’s likely different from anything kids have tried before. First, paint a design on burlap. Then, stitch on some embellishments with colored thread. The results are unique and awesome!

Learn more: Art is Basic

31. Craft with recycled Shrinky Dinks

Turn recycling into a fun art lesson with DIY Recycled Shrinky Dinks. This project allows students to repurpose plastic into vibrant, shrinkable art, teaching sustainability alongside creativity.

Learn more: As For Me and My Homestead

32. Doodle desert masterpieces

This project combines art fundamentals like concentric circles, contour lines, line variety, color blending, and watercolor control. Students start by sketching cacti and landscapes, then outline their drawings with permanent markers, filling in with detailed doodles and color washes for a stunning effect.

Learn more: The Lost Sock

33. Sow succulent garden still lifes

Inspire students with the resilience of desert life through “Succulent Garden Still Lifes.” This project blends art with nature, as students study succulents and their adaptations to create beautiful, vivid artworks.

Learn more: Succulents at Art with Mrs. Nguyen​

34. Create drip paintings like Pollock

Dive into the action-packed world of abstract art with drip paintings inspired by Jackson Pollock. This project lets students splash, drizzle, and pour paint, embracing spontaneity and movement to create their own vibrant masterpieces.

Learn more: Dali’s Moustache

35. Craft mixed media leaf collages

Explore the beauty of nature with a twist by creating mixed media leaf collages from photocopies. This project invites students to collect leaves, and then use photocopies of these leaves as the basis for vibrant, layered art pieces. By adding paint, texture, and creativity, each collage turns into a stunning exploration of the natural world’s intricate patterns and shapes.

Learn more: Barley & Birch

36. Make chalk pastel jellyfish art

Brighten up the classroom with a colorful chalk pastel jellyfish art project. Using black paper, students will draw and color their own jellyfish, learning to blend colors and create light and shadow effects that make their art pop.

Learn more: Projects with Kids

37. Explore paper-weaving techniques

Introduce students to the world of weaving with an easy and colorful paper weaving project. They’ll start by cutting slits in one piece of paper and weaving strips of differently colored paper through the slits. This project not only teaches basic weaving patterns but also allows for creativity in color and texture combinations.

Learn more: The Kitchen Table Classroom

38. Learn to draw landscapes in perspective

Introduce students to perspective drawing with a landscape art project. They’ll learn how to create depth by drawing a road that narrows into the distance, along with trees that gradually decrease in size, resulting in a captivating scene that looks far away.

Learn more: Landscapes at Art Projects for Kids

39. Assemble 3D paper doodlebug insects

Create intricate 3D paper doodlebugs that spring to life on a leaf. This crafty project encourages students to design, color, and construct their own doodlebug using a printable template, fostering a blend of artistic creativity and scientific curiosity.

Learn more: The Craft Train

40. Create bird silhouette art

Capture the beauty of a sunset with bird silhouette art. This project encourages children to observe color changes in the sky, blend paints to create depth, and use templates for striking bird silhouettes against a vibrant background.

Learn more: Arty Crafty Kids