In my house, our refrigerator is full of child made art. . .as is our entry way, our hallway, our parents’ refrigerators, some of their walls. . .and believe it or not we even throw stuff away–lots of stuff. My children are prolific in the amount of art work they produce and so my first “Favorite Things” blog is dedicated to the area of art supplies, art curriculum, art websites and other art “stuff”.
I must mention that this is not the end all of lists to look at when selecting art supplies and other art things for your curriculum. But these are my favorites. I have either used it or know someone who does. . .or I won’t write about it. If you have something that you feel like I should look at and mention in a future blog please let me know. I would love to check it out!
Smart Start Art
This is really a “curriculum” but I’ve listed it under supplies because the reason I like the curriculum is for the supplies it comes with. Smart Start tries to teach young kids about the use of shading and color in their art work. I was not crazy about the “coloring projects” and monotonous repetition. What I love is how their art supplies come organized. Each kit comes with a set of supplies (crayons, colored pencils, water colors, or markers). They are organized chromatically–from lightest to darkest. So for example, the greens come as dark green, medium green, and light green. As a result, when my daughter uses these, she can come up with fairly realistic drawings. The kits are fairly inexpensive and are worth the money for the art supplies they provide. In my mind, these supplies are the step between crayola, and the expensive stuff you might buy at Michael’s or A.C. Moore.
Grade: 2nd or older
Art Adventures at Home
This is written by two very qualified home schooling moms (one has a master‘s degree in Education and the other is a certified art teacher). It provides 3 years of art lessons (one lesson per week) and includes a variety of media and techniques. We know someone who uses it as their art curriculum and has found it to be a very well-rounded, easy to use program.
Grade: K-2
Drawing with Children by Mona Brookes
I really enjoyed this book. It is easy to do with your children and she has a great way of teaching kids (and adults) to see things so that it is easier to draw them. I used this with my 4 year old daughter and if you have an art enthusiast, it will certainly work for a child that young. But unless your kids really want to learn how to draw, I don’t recommend it until your child is about 2nd/3rd grade. It does take a certain amount of concentration that I’m not convinced all preschoolers possess!
Grade: PK-Adult (see note above)
Kinder Art
I love this website because it is super user-friendly! I get at least half of my art ideas from here. If you wanted, you could get all of your art curriculum from here and did I mention it’s free?
Crayola
There are two great things about crayola.com–they have a great searchable database and you can sign up for a newsletter to be delivered directly to your inbox that has lots of creative ideas for the month! And the most endearing quality of all? It’s free.
ABC’s of Art by Baby Einstein
I like Baby Einstein for their ability to introduce classics in a fun way that appeals to babies. While I haven’t read this specific book we own lots of Baby Einstein stuff. It appeals to babies, amazingly well, and it revives an appreciation for classical art and music.
Grade: PK-3
Come Look With Me Series
We own several of the books in this series. I like the questions that come with each picture. It makes my kids think. My kids have taken to making up stories from the art presented. It is art appreciation but it could easily be used for critical thinking skills.
Grade: PK-6
Usborne Artist’s Pocket Guide
What I love about this book is that it presents art techniques and projects so clearly that there is very little instruction required on my part. I only recommend it for kids who really love art and/or want to learn more technique though. It would be a good addition to an art curriculum.