Educator Resources

a curator lectures in front of an elaborate chinese robe.

Consider this page your one-stop destination for curriculum guides, lesson plans, classroom posters, and more.

Email us at AsiaTeachers@si.edu to receive updates on Educator Resources.

Students looking at pictures

Field Trips

Plan your next visit with your class, online or in person.

Field Trips

Teaching Posters

Use these printable full-color images of artwork in your classroom. The images are accompanied by brief, lively commentary that provides context and avenues for further discovery.

Lesson Plans

Adapt these interdisciplinary lesson plans for your classroom.

Hokusai and Slow Looking

How is slow looking different from how you would usually observe a piece of art? Experience “slow looking,” an observation technique that encourages students to slow down, select one artwork, and observe it deeply for a prolonged period in order to gain appreciation and insights.
Content Areas: Visual Arts; English Language Arts

Tricks of Naturalism: Hokusai’s Landscape Paintings

How do artists create naturalism in landscape paintings? Students will understand that artists use techniques—“perspective tricks”—to create naturalism in landscape paintings.
Content Area: Visual Arts

detail from a Japanese painting showing a boy sitting on a branch with mt fuji rising, snow covered, in the background

Mosque Lamps: The Beauty of Light

How can works of art reflect and support religious beliefs? Incorporate patterns, letterforms, and calligraphy to create structures resembling Islamic mosque lamps.
Content Areas: Social Studies; Visual Arts

glass and enamel lamp with a high neck and bulbous body with six suspension handles on the sloping shoulders

Exploring Visual Narratives through Thangkas

What are some ways in which one can tell his/her life story? Express personal perspectives and visual narratives through the Tibetan art form of thangkas.
Content Areas: English Language Arts; Social Studies; Visual Arts