Fall and Halloween are the perfect time to dive into some creative and engaging art lessons! Whether you’re an art teacher or a parent looking for exciting seasonal activities, these projects will spark students' imaginations and bring out their inner artist. From interactive haunted houses to cozy autumn scenes, here are 8 unique art lessons to try this fall.
1. Interactive Haunted House Art Lesson
What’s Halloween without a haunted house? This interactive art project lets students create their own spooky mansion with hidden surprises behind doors and windows. Students will design and cut out different parts of the house, layering details like ghosts, spiders, or bats behind interactive flaps. The 3D elements add depth, and the hidden creatures make it a thrilling experience for all ages. You can grab my drawing guide for the full tutorial here!
2. Autumn Landscape Art Lesson
Capture the beauty of the fall season with an autumn landscape project. This lesson focuses on perspective, color blending, and composition as students create a serene fall scene filled with trees, fallen leaves, and warm colors. Students can use oil pastels or watercolors to achieve soft gradients and dynamic skies, while focusing on the warm color palette that autumn offers. You can find the complete lesson here!
3. Ghost in This House Art Project
Inspired by the book There's a Ghost in This House, this art project gives students the chance to play with transparency and layers. In this lesson, students are provided a photo of an eerie, empty house and transparency film for painting. Students paint their own spooky details like floating ghosts, spiders, or bats, and layer the transparency over the house image. The effect is a haunting, yet playful, ghostly scene. You can find the full lesson here!
4. Pop Art Apple Printing Project
Add a seasonal twist to printmaking with this Pop Art-inspired apple print project! Students will cut apples in half, dip them in brightly colored paint, and stamp them on paper to create bold, repetitive apple shapes. To incorporate the Pop Art element, encourage students to explore different color combinations and patterns for their backgrounds. This is a playful introduction to printmaking and the Pop Art style. You can find the tutorial here!
5. Monster in my Closet Lesson
This was one of the first lessons I ever created while student teaching! It is all about what creepy monster might be hiding in the closet. Students will create their own “monster in the closet” scene, using a variety of drawing techniques to bring their creature to life. The closet doors can be made interactive with flaps, revealing the friendly (or spooky) monster hiding inside. This project blends storytelling with art, sparking creativity in every child. You can find the complete lesson here!
6. Cozy Autumn Drawing Guide
Perfect for a quiet, relaxing drawing session, this project teaches students or adults how to draw cozy autumn scenes. Think steaming mugs of hot cocoa, blankets, pumpkins, and books by the fire. You can grab the guide here.
7. Oversized Sugar Skull Printing Project
Celebrate Día de los Muertos with this oversized sugar skull printing lesson! Students will use tempera paint to paint and print an oversized sugar skull, focusing on intricate patterns and bold lines. After printing their skulls, they’ll use fluorescent paint to print their designs onto paper, creating vibrant, larger-than-life sugar skulls. You can find the tutorial here!
8. Doggy Disguises: How to Draw Dogs in Halloween Costumes
This video series on myYoutube channel is a fun, quick and easy way to do a drawing a day throughout the month of October. In this video series, students are taught how to draw a different adorable dog dressed in a Halloween costume each day. From superhero dogs to dogs dressed as ghosts, this project will have students using their imagination to come up with creative costumes for their furry friends. The focus here is on character design, expressions, and using color to bring their doggy disguises to life. You can find the videos here!
With these 8 fall and Halloween art lessons, your students will have a blast getting creative while learning new skills. Whether you’re designing spooky haunted houses, printing sugar skulls, or drawing cozy autumn scenes, these projects are sure to keep everyone excited about art during the fall season.
Happy Creating!
