Digital Resources
Looking for projects or resources to make and use at home? Welcome to our new Digital Resources page!
The Dayton Art Institute’s growing Learning Library Online offers art-making lessons, projects and educational materials for learners of all ages. Connect with your museum through art experiences you can do at home … or anywhere! Click a project to learn more and to download lessons. Check here often for updates and new lessons.
Families
Crushed Chalk Houses
Young artists create an artwork using crushed chalk!
Art Vids for Kids: Circe Mulling Wine
Gioacchino Assereto (Italian, 1600-1639)
Retrofit: Turning Today’s Clothes into Period Costumes (Lesson 1)
Create fantastical, faerie-inspired skirts and a matching magical wand.
Harlequin Puppet
Use cutting and gluing skills to make a stick puppet!
Paper Plate Guitar
Make your own playable four-string guitar.
Dinosaur Dancing Feet
Make your own wearable dinosaur dancing feet!
1st – 3rd Grade
Art Vids for Kids: Circe Mulling Wine
Gioacchino Assereto (Italian, 1600-1639)
Retrofit: Turning Today’s Clothes into Period Costumes (Lesson 1)
Create fantastical, faerie-inspired skirts and a matching magical wand.
Art Vids for Kids: Flying Pup King
Yoshitomo Nara (Japanese, b. 1959)
Lovable Line Drawing
Creating a portrait of yourself with an animal friend using crayons and markers.
Rad Robot Puppet
Learning to create stability and movement with inanimate objects.
Watercolor Resist Self-Portrait
Create a self-portrait inspired by LEGO®s and featuring personality traits using crayons and watercolor paints.
4th – 6th Grade
South American Jewelry
Create pendants inspired by ancient South American artworks, using metal embossing techniques.
Leaf Texture Collage
Create a monochrome leaf texture collage using tree leaves and collagraph printmaking techniques.
Shaping Peace Together: Collaborative Chalk Mural
Create a collaborative chalk mural.
Japanese Cherry Tree Painting
Paint moonlit cherry trees inspired by the woodblock prints of Yoshitoshi’s One Hundred Aspects of the Moon.
Native American-Inspired Clay Bowls
Sculpt a clay bowl utilizing Native American pueblo pottery techniques and designs.
Pop Art-inspired Painting
Learn to use crayons or oil pastels with watercolors to create a unique “resist” painting.
7th – 12th Grade
Leaf Texture Collage
Create a monochrome leaf texture collage using tree leaves and collagraph printmaking techniques.
Shaping Peace Together: Collaborative Chalk Mural
Create a collaborative chalk mural.
Charcoal Portrait Drawing
Learn traditional techniques to make a charcoal portrait drawing.
Wearable Art: Cosplay Armor
Build 3-D arm bracers while learning the foundations of armor design.
Plein Air Landscape Painting
Experience the outdoors in creative ways and create your own personalized landscape.
Lyrical Poster Illustration
Create a personalized illustration inspired by song lyrics.
YA & Adults
Feasts and Flair
Discover and draw ornate, colorful fabric details.
Cantata
Norman Lewis (American, 1909-1967),
Kannon Bosatsu
Japanese (Muromachi period, 1392-1573)
Nature and Landscape
Unkoku Toeki (Japanese, 1591-1644), Landscape, 17th century
Animals in Art
Chinese (Tang Dynasty, 618-907) – Dancing Horse
Le Comte d’Adhémar de Cransac
Lionel Noël Royer (French, 1852-1926)