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.
Surrealism lends itself well to a children's project because one is not expected to create a picture of something exactly the way it appears to the human eye. Joan Miro is an excellent artist to copy for an art project because his works are colorful and whimsical which appeals to children. Start your project by looking at a few of his works, including "People and Dog in the Sun," "Daybreak" or "Nocturne." You will see that at their essence, these are simple pieces with lines and basic shapes. Consider having children begin by drawing one or two stick figures on a paper and then adding stars that are created with dots and lines, as well as circles. Have a few of the shapes intersect and then color the piece, taking care to color the intersecting portions different colors from the rest of the shapes.
Another artist that children will enjoy learning about is Russian abstract painter Wassily Kandinsky. Several of his works can be used for a great children's art project, including "Squares with Concentric Circles," or "Color Studies." Both of these can be easily copied because they are basic shapes. Because the picture itself is easy to do, this is an excellent way to use unique art mediums, such as oil pastels, chalk or watercolor rather than crayons, colored pencils and markers. For a slightly more advanced project, consider taking a look at Kandinsky's "Composition X," and consider having children begin by drawing intersecting shapes and coloring each section individually with crayon and then finish with a black watercolor wash. Or, for a different application, draw with chalk, crayon or oil pastel on black paper.
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.
If you would like to try something that doesn't involve painting or drawing, consider looking at some of the photographic work of David Hockney. His collage style is quite fun for children to imitate. Simply look through a magazine and find a photo that looks interesting and images of nature that look quite striking. Take the picture and cut into squares and rectangles, ensuring that you still have them in order. Then glue them down on paper in order, but overlapping the pieces a bit and rotating them slightly.
While surrealism and abstract art can be easier to imitate, it is fun to introduce your child to artwork that would be a bit more difficult to imitate. One way to make this easy is to purchase a PDF collage of a famous painting online. These collages, such as those at ArtProjectsForKids.org, take a famous work and divide it into manageable squares. Children need only color each square and then arrange the squares back into the original image. There are PDFs of works by Van Gogh, Klimt, Cezanne, Gauguin, O'Keefe and many more artists.
Surrealism lends itself well to a children's project because one is not expected to create a picture of something exactly the way it appears to the human eye. Joan Miro is an excellent artist to copy for an art project because his works are colorful and whimsical which appeals to children. Start your project by looking at a few of his works, including "People and Dog in the Sun," "Daybreak" or "Nocturne." You will see that at their essence, these are simple pieces with lines and basic shapes. Consider having children begin by drawing one or two stick figures on a paper and then adding stars that are created with dots and lines, as well as circles. Have a few of the shapes intersect and then color the piece, taking care to color the intersecting portions different colors from the rest of the shapes.
Another artist that children will enjoy learning about is Russian abstract painter Wassily Kandinsky. Several of his works can be used for a great children's art project, including "Squares with Concentric Circles," or "Color Studies." Both of these can be easily copied because they are basic shapes. Because the picture itself is easy to do, this is an excellent way to use unique art mediums, such as oil pastels, chalk or watercolor rather than crayons, colored pencils and markers. For a slightly more advanced project, consider taking a look at Kandinsky's "Composition X," and consider having children begin by drawing intersecting shapes and coloring each section individually with crayon and then finish with a black watercolor wash. Or, for a different application, draw with chalk, crayon or oil pastel on black paper.
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.
If you would like to try something that doesn't involve painting or drawing, consider looking at some of the photographic work of David Hockney. His collage style is quite fun for children to imitate. Simply look through a magazine and find a photo that looks interesting and images of nature that look quite striking. Take the picture and cut into squares and rectangles, ensuring that you still have them in order. Then glue them down on paper in order, but overlapping the pieces a bit and rotating them slightly.
While surrealism and abstract art can be easier to imitate, it is fun to introduce your child to artwork that would be a bit more difficult to imitate. One way to make this easy is to purchase a PDF collage of a famous painting online. These collages, such as those at ArtProjectsForKids.org, take a famous work and divide it into manageable squares. Children need only color each square and then arrange the squares back into the original image. There are PDFs of works by Van Gogh, Klimt, Cezanne, Gauguin, O'Keefe and many more artists.
About the Author:
Kate Halfey likes writing about art projects for kids. To get further information about awesome art projects for kids or to find flower art projects for kids, please visit the ArtProjectsForKids site now.