Looking for engaging insect focused art lessons that develop art skills and engage students to produce beautiful artwork?

Insects are one of the most child focused themes to explore in the art room. They connect naturally to science, seasons, and observation, while giving students endless opportunities to explore pattern, colour, texture, and composition. Children are inherently curious about, and fascinated by bugs.

In this post, I’m sharing three of my go-to insect art projects for elementary students, lessons I use in my own classroom that are structured for high engagement, skill-building, and individual creativity. They are intended to work across multiple lessons for deep learning and exploration.

🐛 WHY TEACH ABOUT INSECTS IN ART?

Insects are more than just a fun theme, they’re a powerful teaching tool. They are a great context for students to:

Explore pattern and symmetry
Build skills in close observation and small details
Experiment with texture and surface design
Make cross-curricular links to science and seasonal learning

Whether you're teaching a Spring unit on life cycles or a Fall unit on habitats, insect-themed art lessons will fit seamlessly into your curriculum.

🌸 SPRING INSECTS & FLOWERS (with paint + collage)

We only recently finished this lesson with my K-first graders but this lesson will appeal even more to older students as they are able to focus for more extended periods.

Students will create a vibrant composition in which they combine their previously drawn insects and painted flowers, using collage techniques to build layered, textured artwork.

🎨 Why use this lesson:

Combine multiple media skills (paint + collage)
Teach composition and layering
Encourage creative choice and personal interpretation
Produce bold, display-ready results

This lesson works particularly well when students are inquiring into themes like:

Pollination
Gardens habitats
Earth Day
Seasonal cycles - Spring
Symbiosis + Mutualism

👉 Use this to extend your inquiry learning is a visible way and create feature artwork for your classroom displays.

📌 Find the step-by-step lesson guide HERE

☀️ SUMMER DRAGONFLY (with paint + oil pastels) video support

This is lesson will easily bridge from your Spring to your end-of-term or Summer art curriculum.

Students create a vibrant dragonfly artwork using mixed media techniques, combining paint and oil pastel with sgraffito and collage techniques. Students also get to explore transparency and texture.

🎨 Why use this lesson:

Combine paint and oil pastels for a multi media experience
Teach sgraffito and collage for rich, layered results
Teach texture, pattern, and colour blending
Encourage creative exploration and personal design choices

👉 And it also includes bonus video guidance I recorded, for making it even easier to teach. Use this when you want a low-stress, high-impact Summer lesson that builds real, curriculum based art skills. Dragonflies are a great subject for Summer learning, linking naturally to:

Insect habitats
Water environments
Life cycles and nature studies
Seasonal cycles - Summer

✏️ Why teachers love this one: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️"This is a great resource to go with a mixed media unit and especially for spring. I love the different versions with materials to use for the dragonfly for more creativity. The video tutorials are awesome as well to help with the steps of the lesson!"

Highly engaging for end-of-term energy levels
Works well as a standalone project or part of a unit
Produces bright, eye-catching display pieces
Ideal for third grade and up

📌 Find the step-by-step lesson guide HERE

🍁 AUTUMN LEAVES & INSECTS (with oil pastels + pencils) video support

This is another clearly structured, multi-lesson project that creates high-impact results. Students combine insects with autumn leaves, using oil pastels to explore fall colour, schemes, texture, and contrast.

🎨 What students learn:

Oil pastel blending and layering
Texture through mark-making
Layered compositions using natural forms
Observation and detail

This lesson is a standout because of it's strong connection to seasonal learning themes. Your students will build confidence with using oil pastel techniques and produce beautiful artwork.

And there is a fully comprehensive video guide to support your students, every step of the way.

📌 Find the step-by-step lesson guide HERE

🔗 BUILD A STRONGER ART PROGRAM

These insect projects now work beautifully across the year:

🌸 Spring → Insects & Flowers (paint + collage) - Early-mid Elementary
☀️ Summer → Dragonfly Mixed Media - Mid-upper Elementary
🍁 Fall (feature project) → Leaves & Insects (oil pastel) - Mid-upper Elementary

Insect-themed art lessons are a simple way to bring engagement, creativity, and cross-curricular learning into your classroom. With these well structured lessons that support learners step-by-step, you get the best of both worlds:

Students working more independently and confidently
Artwork created to a higher standard due to focused skill development

When you’re planning your curriculum, these lessons will be beneficial inclusions. They provide:

A balanced mix of media
A progression of skills
Consistent, high-quality outcomes

Looking for something smaller, cuter and fun for end of term / end of year learning? Try my COZY INSECTS drawing lesson

If you need something flexible for messy end-of term schedules, this is the way to go. This insect drawing lesson is designed to work as:

An early finisher activity
A sub plan
A low-prep drawing lesson
A bit if fun between big projects

Students create “cozy” insects applying their learning about the art element of line to create pattern and detail. This lesson is largely self guided, making it highly engaging while using basic supplies.

✏️ Teachers love this one because it's:

Minimal prep
Easy to run independently
Consolidates pattern and drawing skills
Engaging for a wide range of abilities

👉 Perfect for those moments when you need a reliable, no-stress lesson that still has strong learning outcomes. Cozy Insect Drawings is also flexible across seasons, based on the leaf colours and any inclusions students wish to use or add.

📌 Find the step-by-step lesson guide HERE

Save Time and Teach with Confidence

When you need lessons that are classroom-tested, clearly structured and designed for real teaching conditions across a range of elementary levels, you can explore my full range of lessons guides, here:

👉 Visual Art Resources

These are the same lessons that I use to keep my own students engaged, build strong technical skills, creative confidence and yield strong results for our art show displays.

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