Art on a Cart: A Middle School Art Curriculum Without an Art Room
If you teach grades 6–8 art from a cart, this is a full year of planned lessons that work in borrowed classrooms. Art Complete – Middle School gives you 70+ ready-to-teach resources: worksheets, slides, activities and answer keys. Many lessons lean on looking, discussing and sketching, so a period with no sink and ten minutes of setup still turns into real art learning.
See the art curriculum →Art Complete – Middle School is a no-prep art curriculum for grades 6–8, starting at $149.90, with 70+ resources across visual literacy, art practice and art, culture and meaning. For a teacher on a cart, the useful part is the mix: analysis and design lessons that need only paper and a projector sit beside drawing, painting and mixed media projects you can schedule for the days you have a sink or a longer block.
The curriculum
Art Complete – Middle School, Grades 6–8
Start with the full curriculum. The other resources below are optional add-ons. Open any cover for the full contents and price.
Art Complete – Ready-to-Use Curriculum for Middle School Art
Complete Art Curriculum Bundle | 14 Hands-On Art Studios | Middle School Art | Grades 5–9
BUNDLE XXL: Complete Art Curriculum for Grades 5–9 – Workbook, Projects & Activities
Art Complete – Ready-to-Use Curriculum for High School Art (Grades 9–12)
Teach-Life-Balance: The Complete Time-Saving Course for Teachers (incl. Planner, Guides & Templates)
The real problem
What actually gets hard when your studio has wheels
The cart itself is not the problem. The clock is. You arrive after the bell, find a spot for your things in someone else's room, hand out materials, and need everything packed again before their next class walks in. That leaves a short working window, and wet work is the first thing to suffer. A tempera lesson that needs drying space is hard to justify when there is no rack and the host teacher wants the tables clean. Storage is the next issue. Half-finished pieces travel in folders or stay stacked on the cart, so a project that runs across five sessions has to survive being moved five times. Then there is planning. Most art lessons online assume a studio with a sink, shelves and a kiln room down the hall. You end up rewriting every plan to remove the mess, and the year becomes a string of coloring sheets. What a cart teacher needs is a curriculum with enough analysis, design and drawing work to carry the room-less days, plus clearly defined studio tasks you can save for when conditions allow. Students still deserve the full picture: elements of art, principles of design, artists from many cultures and real making.
Why it fits
How the curriculum fits a cart schedule
You decide which lesson goes on which day. The material gives you enough variety to match each lesson to the room you will be standing in.
- Visual literacy lessons on artworks from diverse cultures need a screen or printouts, not a sink.
- Elements of art and principles of design work turns any desk into a workspace.
- Design projects and drawing tasks can be paused and packed flat between visits.
- Sketch-to-finished-artwork structure lets students build a piece in short sessions across several weeks.
- Slides can be projected in a host room, so you carry fewer printed copies.
- Differentiated worksheets handle mixed groups when you meet each class only briefly.
Getting started
Your first two weeks on the cart
Here is one way to start. It is a suggestion for sequencing, not a calendar that comes inside the product.
- Sort lessons by mess levelGo through the included resources once and mark each as dry, low-mess or wet. That single sort tells you which lessons can go into any room and which need a booked space or a longer block.
- Open with looking, not makingStart the year with a visual literacy lesson. Project an artwork, use the worksheet to name elements and principles, and let students talk. You learn names and reading levels before anyone touches paint.
- Set up a folder systemGive every student a flat folder that lives on the cart. Sketches, worksheets and drafts go in it, so multi-session work survives the trip between rooms.
- Run a dry studio taskPick a drawing or design task from the practice strand. Students go from sketch toward a finished piece across two or three visits, and nothing needs drying space.
- Schedule one wet day deliberatelyLook ahead for a period in a room with a sink or a longer block, and place a painting or mixed media lesson there. Plan cleanup time into it.
Which version
Which version makes sense for a cart teacher
There are two options. The standard version at $149.90 includes the 70+ resources and is enough to teach the year. The $189.90 version adds Teach-Life-Balance, a separate digital course for teachers with a planner, guides and templates. It is about organizing your own time, not art content. If your week is spread over several buildings or rooms and planning time keeps getting eaten by transit, the planner may help. If your schedule is already under control, the standard version is the sensible buy.
Honest limits
What it does not do
It does not come with supplies, a cart or a list of what to stock it with. You decide materials based on what your school provides. It does not fix the room problem either: wet lessons still need a sink or a plan for cleanup, and you choose when to run them. Check the content against your own state or district art requirements. Using it with other teachers in your building is possible, but send Teach Lessons a short message first. If it turns out not to fit, you can exchange it for store credit of equal value within 7 days. That is store credit, not cash.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
Is this curriculum aligned to the National Core Arts Standards?
It is written for U.S. middle school art classrooms and covers elements of art, principles of design, art from many cultures and studio practice. It is not approved, endorsed or certified by any state, district or standards body, and it does not claim official alignment. Compare the content with your own state or district requirements before you build your scope and sequence around it.
Can I teach the whole year without a sink?
A large share of the work, such as art analysis, design tasks and drawing, needs no water at all. Painting and mixed media lessons are included as well, and those go better with a sink or a cleanup plan. Most cart teachers save them for the days or rooms where that works and teach the dry lessons in between.
How much do I need to carry to each class?
That depends on the lesson. Analysis lessons can run from projected slides and a set of worksheets. Studio lessons need whatever materials you choose. The curriculum does not tell you what to stock, so you can match lessons to what fits on your cart and what your school already provides.
What if I only see a class for 40 minutes?
The materials are designed for full units, short lessons, review or substitute teaching. You can split longer projects into sessions, starting with sketches one day and returning to the piece later. Keeping student work in flat folders on the cart makes this easier to manage between visits. A quick note at the top of each folder about where the student left off saves time at the start of the next visit.
Can a substitute use it if I am out?
Yes. The analysis and visual literacy lessons work well for a sub because they come with worksheets and answer keys and need no studio setup. Leave the slides and copies on the cart with a note about which room the class is in. Answer keys mean the sub does not need art training to check whether students understood the lesson.
Where can I see what is included?
The product page lists what the curriculum covers. Access is instant after purchase: you get a download link by email, and the files also stay in your customer account under Orders, so you can download them again on another device. If you plan in one building and teach in another, that makes it easy to pull up a lesson wherever you are.
Plan a year of art that travels with you
Open the product page, check the contents against your schedule and rooms, and decide which version fits.
See the art curriculum →