Art Center ideas

On many days, my students might have 10 minutes or so at the end of the class period when they may have free time if they have completed all of their art making for the day. This usually means they will Free Draw using one of the drawing books we have. I have worked really hard this year to build a collection of drawing books (parents have been making donations) and they even have their own book storage shelf in my room that I acquired through a mini-grant.

But I have decided that now is a good time to begin adding some more center options. I am doing my very best to come up enticing activities that cover a range of student interests. Here are two new ones that I am happy to offer along with tangram sets, Play-Doh, art related word searches and dry-erase boards with markers. To the right, you can see color matching games that I made using construction paper and paint samples! Each game consists of 10 matches (20 cards total) and the paint chips are mounted onto 3x4 paper and then laminated. To keep the matching games from getting mixed up with one another (I made 6 games total), I made sure to mount each set on a different color of construction paper (there is a light blue set, a green set, a peach set a red set, etc.). The kids always surprise me and invent their own games with these too! Fun!

Below is a cursive writing center with a handout for kids who would like to practice and teach themselves this old-school skill. Lined paper is available in the bottom part of the tray. 

What centers do you have in your art room? How do you feel about free draw?