Why teach art appreciation? Just as a young writer can gain experience and style by studying and copying the masterpieces of great literature, a fledging artist will learn an amazing amount by examining and experimenting with the styles and mediums of great artists. Studying great art is a refining experience. Being culturally literate includes being able to identify great works of art. If you don’t know what the Mona Lisa looks like, you miss out on many references and innuendos in reading, writing and conversation.
Teaching Your Kids to Appreciate Art
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Easy Breezy Kids’ Gifts
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Make a super easy and much enjoyed Christmas gift for little ones this year! Here’s the instructions for a trio of delightful presents!
1) Oooh Foamy!
Buy a can of unscented shaving cream and a large plastic serving tray from the dollar store. Add plastic utensils, comb, little plastic cups and scoops, popsicle sticks or other “tools” for sculpting and scooping fun. Add a little bottle of food coloring (for mom to add drop by drop, to the enjoyment of the kids).
Project: Paper Mache
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Here’s an art project that’s easy and such fun! You make one too, Mom. A lot of the fun for your kids is working side-by-side and watching Mommy create!
Paper Mache Bowl
This lightweight bowl can hold napkins, hair scrunchies, paper clips, candies for a gift, dinner rolls, and more. It can’t get wet, and it can’t carry a very heavy load.
Project: Feel-Good Place Cards
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Make your Thanksgiving table extra “feel-good” this holiday by tucking a heart-warming surprise inside each guest’s place card!
Make homemade place cards by folding an unlined 3 x 5″ index card in half (or cut your own from colored cardstock). Write each guest’s name on the front and decorate with stickers or drawings, front and back. Pile these into a basket with some pens, so that incoming guests can draw one card out and discover the name. Then inside the place card, they can write an anonymous compliment to the person, telling about one trait that they are personally grateful for.
Project: Autumn’s Glory Wreath
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Autumn’s beauty is pretty overwhelming where I live. As I drive up my little lane, it seems to have turned all gold!
This is the time of year that my kids start asking when we are going to make our fall wreaths—a very easy craft for little ones that helps them enjoy autumn’s glories. Here are the simple instructions: [Read more…]
Feed Creativity!
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Summer time—the academic pressure is off! Whew! Now some really important learning can happen: creativity! From a monetary standpoint, the value of a creative mind is priceless. Every businessman and inventor yearns for more of this precious element! It is not something that can really be taught in school, either—but you can foster creativity in your home.
Here are some ideas to feed your family’s creativity:
My son Ammon (15)
Project: Heart Zoo
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If you kids can cut out a heart, they can make a whole zoo of fun Valentine creatures!
Teach children to cut a heart by folding a piece of paper in half and drawing an “ice cream cone” on it’s fold:
Now just a little imagination and a glue stick can turn out fun animal Valentines!
Elephants…
