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Kids Get Arty: Paul Klee for Kids

May 15, 2013

Kids Get Arty Well, this Kids Get Arty project, was driven by Red Ted’s homework – he was “doing” Paul Klee at school, which came in rather handy for our Kids Get Arty session. I love Paul Klee myself (his Red and White Domes where one of the first “Art posters” I owned as a Teenager),  I thought that all the patterns and colours he uses would really appeal to the children – Red Ted in particularly. I also thought it would be a great opportunity to try out different mediums and bring them together. This arty session ended up as a session of exploration and we tried out different things as we went along.

To start off with, we looked at some artwork of Paul Klee’s online:

twittering machine Twittering Machine

Watercolour & Pen & Ink Oil Transfer on Paper

(I thought this my appeal to Red Ted, as he likes to draw with pencils)

paul klee sinbad the sailor
Sinbad the Sailor – Paul Klee

(I thought Red Ted may enjoy the excitement of this picture and that it could possibly translate well into creating a creature of his imagination in patterns and colours)

Paul Klee Faces Senecio – Oil on Gauze

(Red Ted mentioned that they had looked at this one in school… and it is a favourite in school cubism teachings)

As per our other Kids Get Arty projects, I asked Red Ted lots of questions – about the picture – what do you think it is about? What do you think it means? What do you like about it? What can you find? What can you see? What shapes are there? What colours? Which picture do you like best? How does it make you feel?

I confess, that compared to some or our previous projects, he was less than enthusiastic – maybe because this time it was part of his homework? I am not sure! We persevered and I think it was Pip Squeak who really enjoyed this art session.

I talked to the children about how Paul Klee:

Paul Klee (1879-1940) was a Swiss-German. He created many of his paintings at home on his kitchen table, which is why they are all relatively small. He is now considered one of the most inventive artist of the 20th Century. Paul Klee loved experimenting and exploring colours and loved using colour to express how he felt or tell a story in his paintings. He loved using watercolours, but tried out all sorts of different mediums – oil paints, ink, pastels, pen, etching – often combining them to see how they worked together. He love to experiment and was very inventive in his work (this bit rather appealed to Red Ted!). Paul Klee was also very musical.

As Paul Klee really enjoyed exploring colour – and how colours mix and blend into each other, as well as watercolours, I thought a simple “watercolour colour wheel” project was a good place to start – this would give the children a chance to use watercolours, see how they can mix and blend ON the paper, as well as experience the wonders of colour theory (one my favourite things ever):

Colour theory with preschoolers

Colour Theory detail

I helped Pip Squeak with her circles, Red Ted did his own.

Then I wet the paper for them to help the water colours mix.

The children ONLY used red, yellow and blue from their water colour pallet.

I did have to help Pip Squeak a little to get the colours blending a little on paper. She then wanted to do a “black center” and also added a little man at the bottom of her work!

Colour Theory with kids

It was great practice in using watercolours too – we do get them out every so often, but the children had to practice to load the brush properly with pigments and were still learning that “adding lots of pressure” to the brush to do so, wasn’t necessarily the best way of doing it.

Colour Theory preschoolers

Don’t you just love how the same art activity results in such different results?!

We then looked at Paul Klee’s pictures again. And had several different goes at them. My favourite by far (mainly because of Pip Squeak’s enthusiams) was her go at “faces” (or Senecio shared above). We used tempera paint, instead of watercolours, as the “large sheet of paper” was intimidating to Red Ted. A shame though, as the effect of oil pastels and water colours are far more striking than oil pastels and tempera paints!

Paul Klee with preschoolers

Pip Squeak ADORED having a go. She even stood up on her chair for a lot of her painting to really reach out. I think it was a great experience for her and Paul Klee’s “child like” art really appealed to her. She had great fun with this session and it was wonderful to paint and draw and use large pieces of good quality paper.

Paul Klee

Red Ted, worked on his more reluctantly. But interestingly incorporated details from different pieces of Paul Klee art – on the right you have one of the fish, whilst on the left a “Paul Klee Face”. I think Red Ted’s art would have benefited from focusing on water colours, as they would have worked better with the oil pastels, but he was frustrated by the “slow progress” of water colour on such a large sheet of paper. I still think it was a valuable experience in different mediums and it has made me think about using “big pieces of paper” more with him.

Art for kids So.. now it is your chance! We would love to see what Great Artists you have been exploring with your kids and how you approached your arty projects! Come link up. Kids Get Arty is co-hosted with Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas.


Disclaimer: by joining the Kids Get Arty linky – you give us permission to highlight any projects on Red Ted Art or share your art ideas on Pintrest – we will always link to your site! If you have been arty with your kid’s please link up!

I can’t wait to see what Art Projects for Kids you did!

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Filed Under: Art with Kids, Daily Creativity, Kids Get Arty 14 Comments

Comments

  1. Eddie - The Usual Mayhem says

    May 15, 2013 at 11:35 am

    I love how the colour wheels in particular came out. I’m impressed at how clear their colour blending is!

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      May 15, 2013 at 12:03 pm

      I know, I think it was a great lesson for them to see that you can really create new colours on paper. We did need lots of water though and repeated adding of water colour to get to it!

      Reply
  2. Cerys @ Rainy Day Mum says

    May 15, 2013 at 7:56 pm

    This is fantastic – I love the colour wheels – wet and wet colouring is on my list when I discover where I have hidden our water colours when I “Sorted” out my art stuff recently. I’m adding him to our list of artists we want to have a look at

    Reply
  3. Lyndsay says

    May 16, 2013 at 6:36 pm

    Love this post – and love what your little created using Klee as inspiration. Thanks for hosting the linky.

    Reply
  4. Rebecca says

    May 16, 2013 at 8:39 pm

    I hadn’t thought to start colour wheels so young but they look really great.

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      May 17, 2013 at 7:20 am

      It is the first time we have actually done a colour “wheel”… but we have been doing colour theory for ever – every time we mix colours, I ask them how you get new ones. And we loved mixing colours to make our Rainbow Cookies. Never too early!!

      Reply
  5. Sian says

    May 17, 2013 at 9:57 am

    I love this series : ) I have to confess to a big soft spot still for the Animal Hand Prints though! Waiting for the animal foot prints?????

    Reply
    • Red Ted Art says

      May 17, 2013 at 11:21 am

      Hehehe I need to muster the energy for the footprints!!

      Reply
  6. Cassidy @ Freshly Planted says

    May 17, 2013 at 8:03 pm

    I love how they each interpreted him in their own way. Those Klee-like faces are just precious!

    Reply
  7. Jennifer says

    May 20, 2013 at 5:41 pm

    In addition to Monday Kid Corner Weekly Linky Party, this week’s theme is MUD. Brush off those archives and link them up at thejennyevolution.com. See you there! Jennifer

    Reply
  8. Rebecca says

    May 21, 2013 at 3:50 am

    I have tons of art experiments, but I’ve never thought of actually teaching about fine art while doing free time art! What a great idea. Thanks for the post!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Starry Starry Night – Kids Art Project says:
    March 14, 2014 at 7:28 pm

    […] decided to participate in Kids Get Arty, hosted by Red Ted Art and Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas. The idea is to get your kids to look at the […]

    Reply
  2. Kandinsky for Kids: Jello Art Project says:
    July 10, 2014 at 1:35 pm

    […] is a fabulous monthly series over on Red Ted Art called Kids Get Arty where you are encouraged to view the works of great artists with your kids and find an activity […]

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  3. Modern & Contemporary Artist inspired Art Projects for Kids - Little Worlds says:
    February 1, 2018 at 9:25 am

    […] Paul Klee by Red Ted Art […]

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