Any time that you can combine fun with learning, you have really set the stage for something meaningful for your children. Teaching children about artists might involve looking at books about a particular artist or visiting an art gallery or museum. An even better way to get your kids excited about discovering an artist's work is by having them complete an art project mimicking the style of that artist.
One exciting artist that young people easily respond to is Spanish Surrealist Joan Miro. His works are vivid and engaging, filled with color and whimsy, all of which appeals to children. Consider creating a children's art project that is similar to a work such as "Daybreak" or "People and Dog in the Sun." Begin by showing children a picture of the original work and showing them that Miro often used simple circles, stick figures and stars in his work. The children can create their own Miro-style work by drawing a stick figure or two on a paper and adding circles and some stars and then painting the work with water colors or even crayon.
Surrealism and abstract art are similar, but with abstract art, you tend to see art that is not representational, such as works by Jackson Pollack or Robert Delaunay. Many works by Wassily Kandinsky fall into the category of abstract art, and a children's project based on Kandinsky offers an excellence way for children to explore both color and shape. Consider copying a painting such as "Color Studies," which is basically a beautiful, colorful diamond. Children can copy this work using a variety of colors and in whatever medium they wish, such as watercolor, crayon or oil pastel. Other options include getting large pieces of black paper and having children create works based on "Several Circles" or "Composition X." The latter features a variety of intersecting shapes, which might be better for older artists, while "Several Circles" could be fun for all ages.
The works of Paul Klee are extremely striking, and there are many art projects you can consider based on his paintings which display elements of expressionism, surrealism and cubism. A work such as "Senecio," is an excellent starting point for an art project. Have children copy the basic design of the head, neck, eyes and mouth featured in the painting. They will need to trace the lines with a Sharpie or permanent marker and then color each section with oil pastels, taking care to color very heavily. Then paint over the picture with acrylic paint and when this is dry, gently scrape away much of the paint to reveal the picture underneath.
Children also can create an amazing photo collage in the style of David Hockney. You can look through a variety of magazines and find a nature scene, a portrait or just about any image. Have the children cut the picture into rectangles and squares and then re-paste the image together on paper, taking care to overlap pieces slightly and also rotate pieces here and there. It can be fun to have children work separately on the same image and see how each picture turns out differently.
Some works of art, such as Van Gogh's "Irises," or "Starry Night," and Seurat's "Sunday in the Park," are harder to imitate. However, buying a downloadable PDF mural of these works allows your child to recreate a piece of art and put their own spin on it. You can download the aforementioned works and many more from ArtProjectsForKids.org and you will see that they are divided into squares. Have your child or children decorate each square and then return the pieces to the original order. The resulting image is striking, and something you could easily paste onto a canvas and hang in your home.
One exciting artist that young people easily respond to is Spanish Surrealist Joan Miro. His works are vivid and engaging, filled with color and whimsy, all of which appeals to children. Consider creating a children's art project that is similar to a work such as "Daybreak" or "People and Dog in the Sun." Begin by showing children a picture of the original work and showing them that Miro often used simple circles, stick figures and stars in his work. The children can create their own Miro-style work by drawing a stick figure or two on a paper and adding circles and some stars and then painting the work with water colors or even crayon.
Surrealism and abstract art are similar, but with abstract art, you tend to see art that is not representational, such as works by Jackson Pollack or Robert Delaunay. Many works by Wassily Kandinsky fall into the category of abstract art, and a children's project based on Kandinsky offers an excellence way for children to explore both color and shape. Consider copying a painting such as "Color Studies," which is basically a beautiful, colorful diamond. Children can copy this work using a variety of colors and in whatever medium they wish, such as watercolor, crayon or oil pastel. Other options include getting large pieces of black paper and having children create works based on "Several Circles" or "Composition X." The latter features a variety of intersecting shapes, which might be better for older artists, while "Several Circles" could be fun for all ages.
The works of Paul Klee are extremely striking, and there are many art projects you can consider based on his paintings which display elements of expressionism, surrealism and cubism. A work such as "Senecio," is an excellent starting point for an art project. Have children copy the basic design of the head, neck, eyes and mouth featured in the painting. They will need to trace the lines with a Sharpie or permanent marker and then color each section with oil pastels, taking care to color very heavily. Then paint over the picture with acrylic paint and when this is dry, gently scrape away much of the paint to reveal the picture underneath.
Children also can create an amazing photo collage in the style of David Hockney. You can look through a variety of magazines and find a nature scene, a portrait or just about any image. Have the children cut the picture into rectangles and squares and then re-paste the image together on paper, taking care to overlap pieces slightly and also rotate pieces here and there. It can be fun to have children work separately on the same image and see how each picture turns out differently.
Some works of art, such as Van Gogh's "Irises," or "Starry Night," and Seurat's "Sunday in the Park," are harder to imitate. However, buying a downloadable PDF mural of these works allows your child to recreate a piece of art and put their own spin on it. You can download the aforementioned works and many more from ArtProjectsForKids.org and you will see that they are divided into squares. Have your child or children decorate each square and then return the pieces to the original order. The resulting image is striking, and something you could easily paste onto a canvas and hang in your home.
About the Author:
Kate Halfey enjoys writing about art projects for kids. For further information about awesome art projects for kids or to find flower art projects for kids, please visit the ArtProjectsForKids.org site now.
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