12 Art Integration Activities for Social Studies & Science

Inside: Fantastic activities you can use for art integration into other subjects in your classroom or homeschool.

These are my favorite strategies I use to integrate art when I teach social studies and science. Each art integration activity is a way for your students to show off their creativity and knowledge!

Pass Along Collage 

This is a note-taking strategy that is one of my favorite art integration activities for science or social studies lessons! Give each student a regular piece of paper and write their name at the bottom of the page. As you share information with your students they draw a picture and write 1-2 words about it. Then when you tell them to, they pass the paper to the next student. 

You will need to know how many pictures/information you want your students to include so that you can tell them how big to draw the pictures. Sometimes, I will have my students fold up their papers into sections (usually 9 squares) to give them an idea of the size of the picture to draw. 

At the end of the activity, you will have students return the notes to their owner, and then have your students write a summary in their own words. 

Design a Brochure 

Have your students design an informational brochure to share what they have learned at the end of a unit or as part of a research project. 

Something I love about this project is that it is easily adaptable for all ages and abilities. You can have more pictures and less writing for lower-level students or require more writing for higher-level students.

You can let students hand-draw everything or practice their graphic design skills by doing it on the computer. Do whatever works best for your students at their level! 

Write a Comic Strip

What kid doesn’t love comics? Your students will love designing their own comic strips to share what they have learned.

I love to use this for teaching about historical events. We study the event as a class then I ask my students to retell it in a cartoon strip. 

I think it really shows how well the students understand the event because they can condense it down to the main points in a simple cartoon. 

Superheroes

Have your students design a superhero based on a concept, like an idea, location, or object. Students design the superhero’s costume, give them a name and superhero powers that relate to whatever their assigned concept is. 

I’ve had my students design superheroes to represent the different geographical regions where we live and to represent the parts of a cell. I love that it works for social studies and science! 

I got this idea from a professional development class from Quinn Rollins. He has some fantastic superhero templates on his website.

Action figures

Another idea I got from that professional development is for students to design action figures (again from Quinn Rollins) based on people that they’ve studied. 

Students draw what the action figure will look like, complete with accessories. Then they write a short biography about the person. 

I use this every year when we talk about Mountain Men.  I’ve also used it to have students research a famous scientist. Kids are so creative! I love seeing what they come up with because it is different every time. 

Wife Teacher Mommy Social Studies and Science Research Units

These units are perfect for art integration activities for students who are learning how to use informational text and study various science and social studies topics. Great for a variety of classrooms and homeschool families! There are differentiated research journals to suit various ages of students, and students can read content and write their reports at their grade level expectations. 

Plus, to integrate art- each unit includes a fun and engaging hands-on art project at the end…. all planned for you! Art projects include making posters, salt dough sculptures, models of inventions or buildings, and even paper mache planets!

Current unit topics include animals and habitats, ancient civilizations, author study, Black history, dinosaurs, extreme weather & natural disasters, holidays around the world, landforms, life cycles, penguins, scientists and inventors, solar system, United States, United States presidents, volcanoes, and women in history. 

Compare and Contrast Artwork

The first strategy I use for integrating art into my social studies lessons is analyzing artwork to compare and contrast interpretations of different artists of one event. I like to use different types of media to do this.

To do this, find a piece of art related to a historical event and a text about the same event. Show both to your students. I’ve done this a couple of different ways. The first is that I look at both together as a class and walk through them together. I do this especially towards the beginning of the school year to help students learn how to do it. Later on, after I have trained my students, I will divide them into small groups to work through the pieces in groups. 

You could also divide your class in half and give one half the piece of art and the other half the reading then compare what they understood about the event from just one source. 

Use a graphic organizer to help your students analyze the pieces. Two of my favorite places to get graphic organizers for analyzing art (and lots of other types of documents and resources) are the National Archives and the Library of Congress: 

• Analyze Artwork | National Archives 
• Teacher’s Guides and Analysis Tool | Getting Started with Primary Sources | Teachers | Programs 

For example, if you are talking about the American Revolutionary War you could use the poem, Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I’m sure you are familiar with at least the beginning of it, “Listen, my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere..” Then compare it to  the painting by Grant Wood titled, “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.” 

Analyze political cartoons

This is my GO-TO for integrating art into social studies! Political cartoons are such a fun way to understand history. Kids can connect to them easily because of the pictures and humor. When given the right context and background to a political cartoon, they are easily accessible to students of all levels. 

Plus, they are so easy to find on the internet! A simple Google Image search for “name of the historical event political cartoon” can turn up some good results. Or websites like the National Archives or Library of Congress, again, have political cartoon collections already divided by historical events for you. 

Be a Part of the Picture

This is a good one to get your students up and moving around. In the front of the room, display a painting or picture. Tell your students that they are going to find a spot around the room and pose so that if you were to zoom out of the picture, they would be in it. Give your students some time to find a spot and decide how they would like to pose. Once everyone is in place, go around the room and ask them what they are doing in the picture and why they chose that pose. 

This activity leads to great conversations about historical events!

4 Square Photo Analysis

Give your students a copy of a photo & a piece of paper. Have them fold the paper into fourths and cut out ¼ so that when placed over the picture the paper covers ¾ of the picture. 

Then together, as a class, have students cover the photo with the picture and have them share what they see or ask questions.

Students really study and learn from the picture because they are looking closely at small parts of the picture at a time rather than trying to take in the whole picture all at once. They pull out a lot more details about what is happening.

Be the Artist

This one is so fun when you are studying the Renaissance! Study the great artists of the Renaissance, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello, and their works of art. 

Then, have your kids try it out. Tape paper to the bottom of their desks and have your students paint like Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel. Or have them create their own Vitruvian Man- this is a great way to tie in math too, and talk about proportions.

Use Music

I still remember a US Government lesson from high school that my teacher taught using the song “Popular” and “Wonderful.” Every time I hear those songs I think of that lesson my teacher taught us about running for political office. 

In my college methods class, my friend shared an activity that used “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel. We listened to it together and talked about all the events that it mentions. Then she had us, team, up and write a new verse highlighting events from the past decade. 

Music makes things stick in our minds. Have kids write their own songs or use popular songs to share a message, your students won’t forget it!

Which art integration activity are you going to start with? Don’t forget to save this post to Pinterest or share it with your friends!

Sources:

JHAT Bag O’Tricks – Social Studies & History

JHAT Bag of Tricks: Annotated