If you give a child a blank piece of paper and some crayons, they might have a difficult time filling the page. Perhaps they will create something, but often it's the typical pictures of houses and animals, subjects close to mind for most children. Sometimes the easiest way to expand your child's creativity is to expose them to the works of famous artist. This provides inspiration and showcases the idea that art comes in many forms and styles.
For most children, realism is what they produce. These are pictures in which the art resembles an object or scene much as it does in real life. To move beyond realism, it is fun to step slightly out of these bounds into the works of impressionists and post-impressionists, such as Van Gogh and Seurat. For instance, you can download and print a PDF mural from a site such as ArtProjectsForKids.org and have your children create their own unique copy of a work such as Starry Night or Sunday in the Park. In this way, children learn about a famous artist as well as a new style of art, which showcases the idea that a specific scene doesn't have to look completely realistic in order to be a wonderful work of art.
Some painters wanted to encourage people to look at the world a little differently and painted dream-like works that fall under the art style of surrealism. Among the notable names in this category are Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte and Joan Miro. Miro provides a fun and easy opportunity for children's art. Take a look at some of his seemingly simple works that contain just straight lines and circles. Have children draw a stick figure with circles on a paper and color the circles and intersecting areas all different colors. For Magritte, recreate his famous his famous work "Son of Man," and have children create a person with a body and no face. Instead of a face, ask them to replace the body part with a food item or another significant object. This could even be the basis of a cool self portrait and kids can explain why they chose to replace the face with a certain food or item.
Abstract art projects can be a lot of fun and offer children a way to really express their emotions. Artists such as Delauney and Pollack fit into this category, and you can plan fun art projects around both of these painters. For Jackson Pollack, lay down a tarp outside, place a canvas or large paper down on the tarp and let children experiment with splashing, dripping and flinging paint onto the blank paper. This can be done on white paper or consider using very vivid colors on black or gray paper. They can also splatter and use their fingers to create squiggly lines or even place the paper in a box, dip marbles into paint and roll them around. For a project featuring Sonia Delauney, show children a few of her works and then let them experiment with painting different circles in multiple colors.
While we often think of art as something just for a museum wall, it is truly all around us. Have children look at advertisements in magazines, packages of food products and even comic books. All of these have been created and designed by someone, and all can serve as objects of art. Pop artists such as David Hockney and Andy Warhol certainly thought so, as did Roy Lichtenstein. A fun Pop art project could include a combination of Warhol and Hockney. Have children find a full-page advertisement from a magazine. Tear out this page and cut into pieces, strips or squares. Glue the pieces onto a paper or canvas in the original order, but move them so that they overlap a bit or tilt a tiny bit to give a slightly odd view.
No matter what type of project you decide to do, the main goals are always to have fun and also to learn about many types of art. By exposing your children to many styles, they see that the only limit to art is the limit of their imagination.
For most children, realism is what they produce. These are pictures in which the art resembles an object or scene much as it does in real life. To move beyond realism, it is fun to step slightly out of these bounds into the works of impressionists and post-impressionists, such as Van Gogh and Seurat. For instance, you can download and print a PDF mural from a site such as ArtProjectsForKids.org and have your children create their own unique copy of a work such as Starry Night or Sunday in the Park. In this way, children learn about a famous artist as well as a new style of art, which showcases the idea that a specific scene doesn't have to look completely realistic in order to be a wonderful work of art.
Some painters wanted to encourage people to look at the world a little differently and painted dream-like works that fall under the art style of surrealism. Among the notable names in this category are Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte and Joan Miro. Miro provides a fun and easy opportunity for children's art. Take a look at some of his seemingly simple works that contain just straight lines and circles. Have children draw a stick figure with circles on a paper and color the circles and intersecting areas all different colors. For Magritte, recreate his famous his famous work "Son of Man," and have children create a person with a body and no face. Instead of a face, ask them to replace the body part with a food item or another significant object. This could even be the basis of a cool self portrait and kids can explain why they chose to replace the face with a certain food or item.
Abstract art projects can be a lot of fun and offer children a way to really express their emotions. Artists such as Delauney and Pollack fit into this category, and you can plan fun art projects around both of these painters. For Jackson Pollack, lay down a tarp outside, place a canvas or large paper down on the tarp and let children experiment with splashing, dripping and flinging paint onto the blank paper. This can be done on white paper or consider using very vivid colors on black or gray paper. They can also splatter and use their fingers to create squiggly lines or even place the paper in a box, dip marbles into paint and roll them around. For a project featuring Sonia Delauney, show children a few of her works and then let them experiment with painting different circles in multiple colors.
While we often think of art as something just for a museum wall, it is truly all around us. Have children look at advertisements in magazines, packages of food products and even comic books. All of these have been created and designed by someone, and all can serve as objects of art. Pop artists such as David Hockney and Andy Warhol certainly thought so, as did Roy Lichtenstein. A fun Pop art project could include a combination of Warhol and Hockney. Have children find a full-page advertisement from a magazine. Tear out this page and cut into pieces, strips or squares. Glue the pieces onto a paper or canvas in the original order, but move them so that they overlap a bit or tilt a tiny bit to give a slightly odd view.
No matter what type of project you decide to do, the main goals are always to have fun and also to learn about many types of art. By exposing your children to many styles, they see that the only limit to art is the limit of their imagination.
About the Author:
Kate Halfey loves blogging about art projects for kids. For additional info about different styles of arts such as Joan Miro for kids art projects or to find Kandinsky circle painting projects, please go to the ArtProjectsForKids.org site today.