Miniature Communities (Grades 1-6)
Collect the following ahead of time:

• cardboard panel for each child that is somewhere around 18-24 inches square
• 6-12 small boxes for each child to serve as buildings. Food boxes like cracker boxes work well (you may need to trim them so that they’re more like regular buildings as opposed to skyscrapers), as do jewelry boxes.

 

Have children create a miniature community by arranging the boxes on their cardboard panel. Next, sketch out roads, parking lots, or parks around each box. Once they have their layout determined, have them glue on the boxes and paint the cardboard panel accordingly. They can also paint the boxes or finish them by creating paper panels to glue onto the boxes.

Community Art
Set out a bunch of old magazines at your art table, along with scissors, glue, and either markers, colored pencils or crayons. Give your kids a piece of paper (an 8 1/2 by 14 inch paper turned sideways works best) and have kids create a community picture by cutting out the faces of people from the magazines, then pasting them onto the picture, drawing bodies and a scene around them.

Community Sketches (All Ages)
Gather either a sketchbook or 5 or 6 sheets of paper for every child in your class. You’ll also need plenty of pencils, including colored pencils, and something hard for each child to draw on if you’re not using a sketchbook, such as a book or clipboard.

Take either a walking or driving field trip around your community. Pick 4 or 5 areas to stop along the way. Pass out the pencils, and have children sketch something around them. Stay for 10 or 15 minutes while kids sketch their picture, then move on to another spot. (Kids can finish their artwork back in class, they only need to create the rough sketch out in the field. Younger kids whose pictures are more basic anyway can complete the whole thing right then and there.) It’s a fun experience for the kids, and you’ll end up with some pretty unique artwork.

Community Posters (Grades 1-6)
Have kids come up with a message they think would be good to spread to the community. Then have them create public service posters to spread this message. Give them a poster-size piece of butcher paper, along with pencils and rulers, and have them sketch out a picture with the message in pencil. Once they have things laid out the way they want it, have them finish the poster with crayons, markers, or colored pencils.