Do you teach art from a cart?
Or travel from school to school with your car packed with art supplies and resources?
Today’s guest Heidi O’Hanley has spent most of her career traveling from school to school and teaching from a cart. It sounds impossible and maybe even a bit scary, but Heidi is here to help you.
Heidi shares what art projects are best, what art supplies to use and ways to make teaching art with little storage or space to work for you.
IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:
– What to do when your classroom has no water source, and how your students can play an active role in the solution
– Why communication is crucial when teaching art from a cart
– How using Google Drive, Share Point and Pinterest can help with lesson planning
– Helpful tips for when you’re teaching at multiple schools
– What Heidi’s current blog is all about and how she came up with the name and concept
– How using removable bins to hold supplies, how-to-draw books, resources & lessons plans makes traveling easier
– The top questions Heidi gets asked by others about this type of art teaching
– How to make clay project prep work when you are teaching art from a cart
– The best part about teaching art from a cart
– Why you should be proactive and set parameters before even starting a project
– Easy cart projects to do, as well as the ones that you’ll find more challenging due to limitations
LISTEN TO THE SHOW
My best advice for teaching art to kids.
Do you teach art from a cart?
Or travel from school to school with your car packed with art supplies and resources?
Today’s guest Heidi O’Hanley has spent most of her career traveling from school to school and teaching from a cart. It sounds impossible and maybe even a bit scary, but Heidi is here to help you.
Heidi shares what art projects are best, what art supplies to use and ways to make teaching art with little storage or space to work for you.
IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:
– What to do when your classroom has no water source, and how your students can play an active role in the solution
– Why communication is crucial when teaching art from a cart
– How using Google Drive, Share Point and Pinterest can help with lesson planning
– Helpful tips for when you’re teaching at multiple schools
– What Heidi’s current blog is all about and how she came up with the name and concept
– How using removable bins to hold supplies, how-to-draw books, resources & lessons plans makes traveling easier
– The top questions Heidi gets asked by others about this type of art teaching
– How to make clay project prep work when you are teaching art from a cart
– The best part about teaching art from a cart
– Why you should be proactive and set parameters before even starting a project
– Easy cart projects to do, as well as the ones that you’ll find more challenging due to limitations
LISTEN TO THE SHOW
DOWNLOAD THIS FREE GUIDE
I created this guide for you to act as a checklist for things to consider when teaching from a cart, what supplies are great for cart use and what type of projects work really well.
Just click the yellow box below, enter your name and email and I will send you the free download to your email.
SHOW NOTES:
Deep Space Sparkle’s tips for teaching art from a cart
Vincent Van Gogh’s Cat
Camille and the Sunflowers
You Are My Work of Art
Why Is Blue Dog Blue?
Tar Beach
Tales from the Traveling Art Teacher
Monthly Mentor from NAEA https://www.arteducators.org
Heidi’s favorite brands of air dry clay: Amaco
Patty’s favorite air dry clay: Laguna air dry clay
Acrylic: Tricolor, Blick and Liquitex
NAEA
Donna Staten’s Pinterest Boards
Ezra Keats Books
CONNECT WITH HEIDI
You can reach out to Heidi on Facebook
DOWNLOAD THIS FREE GUIDE
I created this guide for you to act as a checklist for things to consider when teaching from a cart, what supplies are great for cart use and what type of projects work really well.
Just click the yellow box below, enter your name and email and I will send you the free download to your email.
SHOW NOTES:
Deep Space Sparkle’s tips for teaching art from a cart
Tales from the Traveling Art Teacher
Monthly Mentor from NAEA https://www.arteducators.org
Heidi’s favorite brands of air dry clay: Amaco
Patty’s favorite air dry clay: Laguna air dry clay
Acrylic: Tricolor, Blick and Liquitex
Donna Staten’s Pinterest Boards
Ezra Keats Books
CONNECT WITH HEIDI
You can reach out to Heidi on Facebook
My best advice for teaching art to kids.
Yes, the day has come!
After a long time deciding if, I finally said when.
Thank you SO much for your encouragement, show suggestions and help getting Art Made Easy off the ground.
Many of you were so pumped about this show but confessed that you had no idea what a podcast was. I love you guys for your unbridled enthusiasm.
Here’s a quick definition of a podcast & what to expect from Art Made Easy:
A podcast is a free radio show. The host (me!) interviews guests or talks about a favorite subject. You get to listen through your computer, laptop or smart phone. I like to listen to my favorite podcasts in my car during long travel days or on my walks via set of ear buds and my iPhone.
You can subscribe to the show via iTunes and Stitcher radio. The benefit is that your free podcast ap on your iPhone will automatically be updated with all the podcast episodes from any show you subscribe to.
Go ahead and give it a try!
To listen on your laptop or computer, just click the play button in the colored box below.
To listen via iTunes, click on the “play in iTunes” banner and click subscribe.
And now onto the show…
For my first show, I wanted to tell you my story of how I became an art teacher. We all have different paths and this one is mine. I’ll share advice to those who are just starting out as an art teacher and some of my best tips for teaching art to kids.
This episode is for anyone who thinks they may not have the qualifications to be an art teacher. Teaching art to kids doesn’t have to happen inside a classroom. You can teach art at home, at a summer camp and even as a volunteer (like I did).
If you are an art teacher just beginning your journey, I’m sharing my best advice to get you through that tough first year. Download my free handout and keep it in your teacher planner and refer to it when you have a tough day.
LISTEN TO THE SHOW
SHOW NOTES:
Drawing With Children: A Creative Method for Adult Beginners, Too
Art Lab for Kids: 52 Creative Adventures in Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Paper, and Mixed Media-For Budding Artists of All Ages (Lab Series)
National Art Convention
CreativeLive- free online classes
Art Teachers Facebook Group
Website: Painted Paper in the Art Room (Laura Lohmann)
Website: Art of Education
Book: Classroom Management for Art, Music, and PE Teachers
PS – Please leave a review on iTunes!
Art Made Easy is now live on iTunes! Subscribing to the show and leaving an honest review really helps the show gain visibility and allows me to tailor the show to your needs.
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Thank you so much for this podcast,since my first year as a teacher will probably be using a cart!
You’ll do great. Hope the podcast helped!
Love your lessons! I will be teaching from a cart next year after 6 yrs in an artroom. I am used to having students at tables working in groups and sharing materials. Sometimes I use a limited color selection of crayons or pastels and have a set for each table. How do you manage supplies at individual desks? What about desk clean up after pastels or paint? Any suggestions welcome!
Thanks for the questions….
I would keep a stack of 18″ x 24″ paper placemats on your cart to handout for placemats. These work really well. Then kids can use baby wipes to clean their hands plus reuse the wipe to clean the desk.
I would invest in creating 25 small tubs that include pencil, eraser, sharpie, crayons, oil pastels, scissors, etc. Then each kid can pick up an art box and go to their desk.
I wonder if that would work?
Thanks for the great podcast and newsletter topic on art from a cart. After 6 years, this is going to be my new reality next year. Would love to connect with Jeanne Alexander, who commented about being in the same situation as me. Jeanne, direct message me if you are on Twitter at @expshane and we can share feedback and suggestions on our new journey in teaching art!
Emilu
Glad you like the episode. You can do it!
That sounds like a possible solution worth giving a try! Thanks!!
I have been teaching art from a cart for 5 years now, in classrooms without running water. One of my biggest lifesavers has been baby wipes that I order from walmart by the case. When I started, I would send kids to the restroom to wash their hands and more times than not, it would turn into a party with them creating all kinds of havoc in there. Now I just toss a baby wipe at them at the end of class. The other thing that has made my life easier is purchasing a drying rack for each classroom. Being very organized is the key to success though.I have a supply list for eveeryproject
Aaacckkk, I wasn’t done! ….for every project which I check off as I load the cart. Relying on my memory has not worked out well for me!
Thank you so much! I just discovered you’re podcasts and really appreciate your helpful insights. I have taught in an after school program for 10 years now. I work in a gym bringing my own sink. I was just hired this year to rotate into the classrooms as an art specialist. I’m feeling overwhelmed with the prep and consumed by the planning for so many kids. I’ve gone from 36 kids a week to 156.! I think next year will be better as I develop my lesson plans, but it helps to know I’m not alone.
Wow. You deserve an award! It’s hard to do art without a sink but I’m so glad you persevered! Thanks so much for tuning in and telling me what you’re up to.
Patty
Hi Patty, I turned my volunteer work as an art appreciation co-chair at my kids’ elementary school into a lunchtime mobile art program and now have opened a brick and mortar space! So I work out of a studio and out of a cart.
My experience working out of a cart forces me to be more organized and efficient. I think the cart projects are better than the studio projects!
I also find that my studio, chock full of art supplies is an attractive nuisance to my kids…so I need to work on that!
This is awesome! I love how restrictions can actually make us more creative. Thanks for chiming in!
SO NEEDED NOW!!!! I USE TO HAVE A SCHOOL I DID ART ON A CART THAT WAS ON ONE LEVEL. WITH COVID IT LOOKS LIKE KIDS WILL ALL BE IN THEIR CLASSROOMS ALL DAY. TEACHERS WILL TRAVEL FROM ONE ROOM TO ANOTHER. NOW, I WILL HAVE ART ON A CART ON MULTIPLE LEVELS IN 3 SCHOOLS. MY ANXIETY LEVEL IS ON DREAD DREAD DREAD. SO OF THE ROOM HAVE WATER SOME DON’T.
I totally hear you! It’s not going to be easy next year but you know what? Being on a cart isn’t all that bad. I used a cart for a bit and I figured a few things out. If you are a Sparkler inside our membership, our August 2020 bundle is all about teaching art from a cart. It’s definitely worth looking into!
HI, As many of us will become art on the cart teachers this fall, could you share which cart you suggest works best? Thanks!
Hi Lauren!!
I invite you to join learn more about becoming a Sparkler (if you are* head to the member FB group we have some threads going on cart strategies HERE)
Our August lesson plan series is all about Art on a Cart resources!!
If you’re not already.. Follow us on instagram we’ll be sharing our Art on a Cart ideas very soon! (including cart brands & storage options)
AND, be sending out our Sparklers Club enrollment options & Art on a Cart advice to teachers through our waitlist!
https://deepspacesparkle.lpages.co/the-sparklers-club-waitlist/
-Hannah
‘Art on a Cart Podcast:’ Thank you, Heidi and Patty, it was filled with great ideas and suggestions! I am on a cart for the past 6-months due to the Covid-19 and in-school teaching, 8:00am-3:00pm, where I go to classrooms with Art On a Cart. I rush around to 3-attachment buildings, via an elevator, and only two-minute pass times. Three Tips: 1.) Clean water is kept in plastic 1/2 gallon milk containers, and I have a small bucket for dirty water. I empty (carefully) dirty water into passing water fountains, and refill with the new bottle refill stations at the fountains. Couldn’t do it any other way, and it’s easy & fast! I have received no complaints. 2.) Small student desktops call for small projects on 9″ X 12″ paper, only, or small 3-D activities. 3.) I rely on Read-Aloud-Books on YouTube so all students can see the story illustrations, (as students are distancing), & Remote Students can pick it up on Google Classroom & computers at home. One last thing, classroom teachers and students have been wonderful! I think the students still love having Art, and classroom teachers get their needed break.