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When my family was first considering the homeschooling, one of my concerns was that my kids wouldn’t get a great art education. I gave this worry over to the Lord, and he has been so faithful to help our family find some really fun, high quality, and easy to use art resources. Today I’m sharing our favorites!
- The Usborne Book of Art Ideas– Usborne Books are really wonderful, and this book is packed full of fun, interesting projects that use all sorts of art media.
2. Animal Things to Make and Do– This book is whimsical and fun and our kids love to make things from it because they especially love animals. Do your kids love animals, too? A bonus is that it contains 300+ stickers.
3. Draw Write Now Books– These books are absolutely amazing. They give step-by-step instructions that children can follow by themselves. We use these along with our history lessons (for example, when we were studying the first Thanksgiving, we drew pilgrims, the Mayflower, Indians and Indian homes), and along with our science (we drew animals and insects during our zoology unit). These are also awesome to use when kids need to sit quietly for a long period of time (think church or a wedding!).
4. God and The History of Art– This is a complete art curriculum about which I cannot say enough good things. This amazing curriculum seamlessly combines art and art history. This curriculum teaches beginning drawing and painting, color theory, perspective, anatomy, fundamentals, and methods of old masters. I especially love that it includes postcards of some of the world’s most famous art pieces, so my kids (and I!) get introduced to some masterpieces (and the history of each piece).
5. Come Look with Me– I love gentle, family style learning, and the Come Look With Me art books fit the bill perfectly. These art appreciation books are experienced best when snuggled up on a couch with a kiddo. We take a few quiet minutes to look at a picture, and then I ask them the questions that accompany each art piece. We discuss things like color theory, perspective, and scale, but we also talk about the feelings that each piece evokes.
6. A Visit to the Art Museum An awesome way to learn about art is to….wait for it… experience art! Going to the art museum is so educational!
7. Art for Kids Hub – we discovered this amazing YouTube channel this winter. An artist, who is also a dad, explains each drawing project in an easy to follow way to his kids. This resource has kept our kids busy for hours during cold days! (WIN!) He offers TONS of drawing projects that range from cartoon characters to animals to holiday ideas. So much fun!
And just a couple other ideas:
- Use paper plates, disposable cups, and a plastic table cloth (I found mine for $2 on clearance at Target) to make clean-up quick and easy.
- Use old t-shirts and have boys paint with shirts off to relieve the pressure of NOT GETTING PAINT ON CLOTHES!
