Keith Haring Art Projects for 5th Grade

Without a doubt, kids love Pop Art! And, over the years, I’ve done different Keith Haring art projects with 5th grade to feed that beast. I even made a Roll a Haring game out of it.

If you’re not in the know, Keith Haring was a famous American artist and activist known for his colorful and simple art style. He used basic shape, bright colors, and bold black outlines to create dancing figures and radiant babies.

Haring believed that art should be for everyone. To that end, he often addressed important issues like AIDS, apartheid, and LGBTQ+ rights in his artwork.

Even though he passed away young, his art still inspires people all around the world. And, it makes the perfect art project muse!

Getting Pumped for Keith Haring

Keith Haring’s art is bold and in your face. And that? Is how I start my 5th grade art lesson. There’s no better way to pump up the anticipation of a great art project than with a DOPE baseline.

As the kids take their seats, I douse the room in darkness and instantly start the “Haring Shake” video. By the time the baseline drops, they’re either mesmerized, staring at the screen or smiling, bobbing their heads to the beat. It’s only 30 seconds. But it leaves us all wanting more!

pop art ideas for students — **Are you feeling the love yet for Keith Haring? This art project was a huge hit with 5th grade.**

At this point, my 5th graders are all wondering, “What this all about? What are we going to do today?”

We then jump into discussing Keith Haring and his “We the Youth” mural. The name is a riff on the preamble of the US Constitution that begins, “We the People.”

I love showing kids artists engaging in their craft within the community.

I think it’s important for students to see and hear from them about why they create art.

What I also like about this video is that it features students of all races and nationalities talking about the impact that the project had on them and their community. It brings up a lot of discussion amongst my 5th graders about how kids are perceived in society.

Even 5th graders understand that teenagers and youth in general get a bad rap.

Lastly, we discuss how Haring was artistically inspired by Pop Art painters of the 1950’s. But, that he was socially influenced by the epidemic spread of AIDS and drug use during the 1980’s to generate topically important works of art.

This always leads to a discussion on what’s happening now in society that would be the subject matter of artwork created in today’s times.

keith haring inspired art project — **This student was about to glue and flip over this dancing figure onto their background. You can see the pencil lines where they drew their stick figure to get the proportion right.**

Drawing Keith Haring Dancing Figures

When I teach this lesson, we practice drawing Haring figures using the principle of design called, “proportion.”

Now, some kids are great at looking at Keith Haring’s dancing figures and mimicking the style. And others need scaffolding.

One way to do that is to teach them to draw a posed stick figure. Then, draw around the stick, giving it a plump body, bowling ball hands, and loaves of bread for feet. And yes, I explain just like that because it resonates with them!

Then, we brainstorm how to contort the bodies into different positions, replacing certain parts with other inanimate objects and removing other parts so people appear hollow. My students really dig that the figures are so simply created.

This animated short video is an awesome introduction to the second day of this Keith Haring art project. That’s because it illustrates the concept of drawing his dancing figures in contorted positions.

Keith Haring Art Projects Over the Years

Every few years I tweak my approach to this art lesson based on other lessons for that year.

Some years this is simply a collage project. Other times it’s been marker and paint, or collage and marker. Some years I use my Keith Haring roll a dice game based on it.

Regardless of the approach, my students enjoy this art project because they don’t have to worry about drawing “perfect” figures, especially if we’ve already done a more realistic drawing project preceding it.

They love adding their own touches of creativity to them. They’ll sway out heads for other more personally relevant symbols. Or, add their own flare in coloring or painting them in.