Welcome to Kids Get Arty! This section of the blog is dedicated to Art (vs crafts) and is all about getting kids exploring Art in general, as well as exploring The Great Artists.
Originally, this was a “series” that I did many moons ago and encouraged other creative bloggers to join in with. We had a simple formular…
- Take an Artist – any artist – be it contemporary or not.
- Look at a piece of art by them with your children. Be it at a museum, in print or wherever!
- Then let that piece of art inspire you to get creative.
Kids Get Arty, is all about exploring together, having fun and having a go! There is no “right or wrong”, but just having ago. And the theory is that any exposure to real art is good! It is also a great opportunity to learn with your children and rediscover art again for yourself!
Our Art for Kids Projects to Date:
Here is our collection of kids art projects that we created over the years. The majority of these projects where created when my kids where 4-5yrs and 2-3yrs old. So very much in the (UK) preschooler and early years era, though with lots of applications to kids of all ages groups.
Klimt – exploring shapes, golds, silvers and bronzes and layering your art with felt tip pens
David Hockney, Holiday memories, captured in a David Hockney inspired Photo Montage
Banksy, Street Art – Stencils and Spray Paint
Andy Goldsworthy – Exploring Land Art or NATURE Art with a simple Autumn Leaf mandala. This can be replicated anywhere, any season with working with nature materials to hand
Andy Warhol’s Flowers – a wonderful exploration of collaborative art AND pop art. Super simple and a great way to involve extended family!
Karel Appel for Kids– Karel Appel is a wonderful artist to explore with students, as his work is intentially child like. It also explore junk modelling and using recycling elements in his art work, making it very relevant artist today.
Paul Klee – is a great way to explore and discuss colours, colour theory and the colour wheel!
Lichtenstein – we revisited our Pop Art Tracing technique to make this wonderful Lichtenstein inspired cartoon art project.
Miro Sculptures – a lovely forage into working with air drying clay. A museum visit on holiday inspired these cute little Miro Sculptures.
Mike Kelley – similar to Karel Appel, but different.. exploring Junk in art!
Frida Kahlo Mini Pinatas – this is a little different, as this is a craft “about” an artist, rather than a project inspired by here. But we still LOVE it. (many more wonderful Frida Kahlo activities here).
Collaborative Jasper Johns Flag Art Project!
Turner – Sunrise with Sea Monsters – a day out at the very child friendly Tate Britain.
And now some top tips to creating Art with Kids!
Lesley from Child Art Retrospective kindly shares some brilliant tips with us to help you get Arty with your child!
Mediums:
* Always use good materials – for instant tempera – you will know the tempera is good as it will stain (huge smile – embrace the mess!)
* When you teach children about oil pastels, tell them it must feel like velvet when you are done. This speaks to children and makes sense to them
* We rarely use crayons except for these fabulous soy crayons that look like pebbles
Brushes:
* Have a variety of brushes and talk about the different lines each will make – have at least fourkinds – a fine round, a larger round, a flat, and a bright.
Paper:
Paper does not make a difference. We use mostly donated paper from print shops though I do use construction paper to mount work. I never write on children’s work ({ah! good point.. I have done in the past.. eek!})
Lastly ({my FAVOURITE tip, as it makes such a difference to the artwork AND it really helps reinforce what you have been doing}):
Work in layers. Let things dry. Put them away and come back later. It takes us WEEKS to finish many of the studies we do.
Feeling inspired? Looking for more resources? This collection of over 20 Art Books for Kids – be it picture books or artbooks. I am sure you will find something that suits you and your kids!
A round up of over 30 Kids’ Art Projects from a combination of teachers, non teachers, artists and non artists – showing you that there are many different ways of approaching The Great Artist with children.
