In sketch journals, kids practice drawing everyday objects.
Children can start exploring the arts from a very young age through creative activities and projects. By making simple projects using different artistic media, children learn technical and aesthetic skills while gaining an appreciation for the work that goes into the art they see in museums. These projects also let children express themselves in a creative way, translating ideas into visuals instead of words.
Painting: Make a Mural
Even the youngest children have probably seen the works of the most famous painters, such as Van Gogh or Da Vinci, in books or on television. Let kids explore paint as a medium by having them work on their own large-scale painting project: a mural for a wall at school or home. They can paint murals freehand, or younger children can use a projector to project images on a wall and trace them. If you don't want to give up a wall permanently, you can have them paint murals on large sheets of paper and hang them up temporarily.
Drawing: Keep a Sketching Journal
Keeping a sketch journal will let children practice basic drawing techniques while keeping a visual record of the things they see every day. Children keeping a sketch journal fill one blank page a day with sketches of objects, scenery or people they meet. They can then refer back to the journal when coming up with ideas for more polished art projects. For extra fun, kids can make their own sketch journals by sewing folded sheets of blank paper together at the seam and binding them with colorful scrapbook paper.
Sculpture: Play with Clay
Children can play with clay to gain an understanding and appreciation of sculptural art. Simple, cartoonish animals make a fun introduction to how they can combine shapes to make more complicated figures: a simple cat, for example, can be made from triangles, spheres and a tube for the tail. There are many varieties of clay, and kids can even make their own clay with flour and a few other household ingredients.
Digital Art: Explore Graphic Design Software
Digital art is a relatively new medium that is nonetheless making its mark on the art scene. Kids can learn the basics of graphic design software fairly quickly and create graphics and digital art with just a few clicks of a mouse. One simple way to show kids the power of graphic design software is to give them photos of celebrities, friends, or themselves and let them play with the graphic program's warp tool to give the person alien eyes or change the shape of their face to something silly.
