My kids attend public school and so far I’ve been pretty pleased with their art education. Art is something that is very important to me, and my children are all naturally quite creative and interested.
To help my oldest son with his reading (as well as his art education) I have been having him study one artist each night with the help of the book 13 Artists Children Should Know. I picked this one up when visiting the Grand Rapids Art Museum last year but you can find it at most book stores. They also have more books in the series like 13 Sculptures Children Should Know, 13 Paintings, 13 Modern Artists, 13 American Artists, and so on.
At just a couple pages per artist, it’s a super easy read but also gives a good introduction simple enough for young readers to understand. Usually we’ll hop on the Internet to look at more images of the artist’s work or check to see if our local art museum houses their pieces.
I also try to always have the materials on hand to encourage creativity- from chalk to paint to origami.
My dream is to someday soon make more frequent visits to the Art Institute and even the small art museum at the college just down the road, which has some big names as well as local artists. There’s so many opportunities especially with summer coming up for art festivals as well.
How do you teach your kids about art?
