Giuseppe Arcimboldo Art Lesson
Ready to ignite your middle school art curriculum with engaging, step-by-step Italian Renaissance art projects? This Giuseppe Arcimboldo art lesson will boost confidence and creativity. Kids will be amazed by his fruit face portraits. Moreover, they’ll delight in his creative fresco paintings and reversible portraits.
And, it’ll help time-starved teachers like you create lesson plans for artists like Giuseppe Arcimboldo.
During this art project, your class will learn how Giuseppe Arcimboldo was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings to create unusual portraits using fruits, vegetables, and other objects. Use it to discuss Italian Renaissance art history as well as drawing and composition skills. Students will draw a fruit face portrait using the step-by-step guide and PowerPoint.
Plan lessons for students about Italian Renaissance artists and art appreciation in a way that excites them. Finally feel confident in your art curriculum and be organized and prepared to teach art!
What’s Included
Can I be honest with you? Art history can sometimes be boring for kids. There, I said it. Teaching about artists and cultures doesn’t have to be a snoozer, though!
I’ve designed 3 different ways for students to attempt this Giuseppe Arcimboldo art lesson. All will engage kids to create! Choose which way works best for your classes:
- Roll a dice game to add randomness to your student’s artwork
- “You Pick” art worksheet for kids to choose their own elements
- Digital spinner wheels, so kids can randomly pick elements and you can integrate technology in the art room
- Printable dice template in case you have no dice
- Step-by-step picture directions to guide students through the art process
- Drawing practice worksheet, for kids who want to sketch out their ideas
- 4 Fruit Face Portrait Templates, so your students can have a structure to draw the fruits and vegetables on. Two are pumpkin heads, one is a pepper, and the last represents a generic human head.
- Giuseppe Arcimboldo Artist biography about the life and work of this Italian Renaissance (Mannerist) portrait painter, so you don’t need to research
- “Big Ideas” reflection worksheet where students write about their art process
- Self-assessment worksheet so kids can think about how they performed during the project
- Art grading rubric which assesses expectations, craftsmanship, work habits, creativity, and clean-up
- 8 “I CAN” Statements aligned to the Studio Habits of Mind to use during instruction or post on your bulletin board
- 4 Art exit tickets with quick, thought-provoking prompts
- Art history coloring pages to keep kids inspired by Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s art style outside of the art room
Ways to Use This Giuseppe Arcimboldo Art Lesson for Middle School
This Giuseppe Arcimboldo portrait lesson is flexible and can be used in many ways throughout your art room and beyond. It’s great for maternity or emergency art sub plans, early finisher activities, and even for virtual art class or an after-school art club.
You Will Receive
- 1 Non-Editable Printable PDF (Giuseppe Arcimboldo Fruit Faces Art Lesson)
- 1 Non-Editable PowerPoint
- 5 Digital Spinner Videos (downloadable, and links to them on Google Slides and YouTube)
- Paperless Google Drive Digital Resource
Why You’ll Love It
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My kids love these games. I have several that I’ve gotten. They request to play “the dice drawing game” for every lesson we do now. Definitely recommend!
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Fabulous resource for a veteran teacher that’s new to the art room. I’m excited to use this with the kids in different ways. What a GREAT way to introduce artists to the kids! I plan to show them a PowerPoint of the artist and some of their works, and then have them play this game. I just discovered this artist… what an original way to make art!
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This is an amazing resource. My students loved making their own portraits!
Terms of Use
Please refer to my complete terms of use prior to purchasing.
Kikis Curriculum 0Teacher-Author) –
My homeschool student and I LOVED this activity. The final products were amazing!
Christine F. –
This resource was a great benefit to my students. Thanks.
Elvina L. –
I used this resource from Years 2-6 while we were learning from home. It was such a fun project. The students loved it.
jesse B. –
My students love these Roll a Masterpiece activities. I use them as art choice activities.
Kim D. –
Great resources for my classes. Thank you!
Yekaterina Tereshina –
Thank you!
Patricia D. –
So fun!!!
MAYKA S. –
Really fun. I had to adapt it a bit for CLIL but my students loved it, they have really enjoyed it.
Christina G. –
I used this with my grade 4 FI class. I translated the document and put it into a Powerpoint format so it was more suitable for online learning. Lots of fun! The kids really enjoyed it and asked to do it more often.
Dawn H. –
My students loved this lesson.
Jennifer T. –
My students loved using this resource as they created their own silly portraits! The drawing examples inside the lesson are easy to view and draw from– I also appreciated the labels!
Apprende avec Mme Chantal (Teacher-Author) –
Awesome!
Aubrie J. –
My kids love these games. I have several that I’ve gotten. They request to play “the dice drawing game” for every lesson we do now. Definitely recommend!
Ann Beard Etier –
This was a fun and effective way to teach them about art and artists.
Amy M. –
A wonderful resource which I have used both in class and remotely. Students of all abilities absolutely loved this. Thank you!
Art in a Sensible Tote Bag (Teacher-Author) –
My 2nd and 3rd graders loved this lesson! The wheels made it into a fun game.
Jennie V. –
The students loved using this resource. It can be as serious as you need it to be.
Lori D. –
I used this along with an Arcimboldo lesson I already have. We didn’t play it as a game – students used it as a resource for their assignment.
Dana The –
My students love the roll-and-draw games
Evla Studio (Teacher-Author) –
I love these games and have bought several! My students always love playing them! Great first day of class activity!
Leigh J. –
My class had fun supplementing our middle ages lesson with this simple art project.
Veronica C. –
This is an amazing resource. My students loved making their own portrait
McCraftyArt (Teacher-Author) –
Thanks so much! Love it!
Brenda B. –
Great material. Students really like it. Thanks!
Ashley M. –
Beautiful product! Can’t wait to use this resource with my students during my art history unit. Thank you!
Susan Vilar –
Fabulous resource for a veteran teacher that’s new to the art room. I’m excited to use this with the kids in different ways. What a GREAT way to introduce artists to the kids! I plan to show them a PowerPoint of the artist and some of their works, and then have them play this game. I just discovered this artist… what an original way to make art!
Managing the Mess (Teacher-Author) –
Great for a sub!