KidsArt Lessons

Free Lessons from Great American Artists for Kids

There’s no doubt about it – Great American Artists for Kids is a wonderful book and a fantastic resource for your art teaching library.  You can buy the book here at KidsArt, but if you want to try out a few of the projects first, visit Bright Ring Publishing for several free sample art activities.

brightring.com/greatamericanartists.html

The sample pages feature hands on art projects for

• Colonial American painter Gilbert Stuart
• Native American sculptor Jewell Praying Wolf James
• Architect Maya Lin, designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC
• and Abstract Expressionist artist Hans Hofmann

These projects will inspire hours of art history, appreciation and creativity with your young artists.  Please send us examples of the artwork your talented youngsters come up with, and we’ll include these in a special Great American Artists for Kids gallery at kidsart.com!

But wait – there’s MORE! Scroll down a bit further on the Bright Ring Publishing page, and discover links to 5 more free art activities – bonus lessons on Mary Corita Kent, Robert Arneson, Duane Hanson, Thomas Eakins and Robert Rauschenberg.  The fun never ends!  Thanks, MaryAnn and Bright Ring for the great art teaching resources!

If you are “sold” on this book after your free samples, just click here to purchase Great American Artists for Kids!

Trees Through the Seasons

There are over 1000 different kinds of trees in North America. How many can you name in one minute?

An apple tree in the fall, drawn by Ivan Smith-Garcia when he was 6.

Make four pictures of the same tree through the seasons. Start with a drawing of the bare branches. Then cover the branches with snow for a wintertime picture. Draw the same tree trunk and branches again, and cover them with pretty blossoms for springtime. Draw the trunk and branches with thick green leaves for summerime, and a last picture with gold and orange fall leaves.

To make your task easier, just start with the first wintertime bare branches drawing and photocopy it onto four sheets of heavy white paper.

For more unusual and creative art projects with drawing, see the book Drawing With Children in the KidsArt On-Line Catalog.

Paint a Rainbow

Take the kids outside on a misty morning, when the grass is wet and the sun is just peeking through the clouds.  You might be lucky enough to see a rainbow arching high through the sky.  They say there’s a pot of gold where the rainbow touches the ground, but no one has ever found this treasure.

But young artists can create a rainbow treasure with paints and white paper.  This is a great project for learning how to mix colors too.  Use just the red, yellow and blue paints in a watercolor set.  Show young kids how these primary colors mix together on a mixing tray or plate to make green, orange and violet.

Paint a picture with a rainbow in it, then paint the sky blue and the rainbow colors in the right order: violet at the bottom of the arch, then blue, green, yellow, orange and red at the top.  Look at photos of rainbows from books or on the Internet, and learn more about the science of rainbows at Science Kids.

Materials: red, yellow and blue watercolor paints, heavy white paper, paintbrushes, a jar of water, a plate or tray for mixing colors, a pencil and a couple paper towels.

Time: 30 minutes

KidsArt Resource: A plastic Palette has small and large wells for squeezing out watercolors that come in tubes, as well as larger areas for mixing different colors and washes of color. Handy tool for young artists!

Athletes in Action

A project excerpt from the book Great American Artists for Kids.

Action painting in the style of American artist Leroy Neiman is perfect for sports figures. Leroy Neiman is known for his brightly colored, semi-abstract action paintings. Most of Neiman’s work focuses on sports, such as, football, baseball, boxing, even chess tournaments.

In this activity, young artists work from a photograph placed beneath clear acrylic. The focus is on dynamic brushstrokes and vibrant color in the style of Neiman!  Kids begin by choosing a photo from a sports magazine. There will be a sport to please everyone! Young artists may select from gymnastics, football, horse racing, Nascar, baseball, track and field, bull riding, tennis, and much more.  Encourage kids to pick a large photo with a closeup of action.

Leroy Neiman’s artwork is colorful and dynamic.  The ideal paints for kids exploring Neiman’s style are tube acrylics…more costly than tempera, but a little goes a long way. Each young artist should have a palette: a white dish or tray with a small squeeze of several bright acrylic paint colors. Include the primary colors, red, blue and yellow, as well as white and black. If possible, add purple, green and orange. The paints mix together easily to create every color imaginable.

Tape the sports photo onto a board or washable tabletop. Then tape a sheet of clear plastic over the sports image. Mix the thick paint with a bit of water on the brush. Paint “Leroy Neiman” style directly on the plastic with strong bold brushstrokes, and colors brighter than real life. Paint the main figures in the photo, following the shapes and details visible through the plastic. Paint the background – all the spaces around and behind the main figures – with bright colors. Don’t stick to reality – use fantastic background colors like red, white and blue, or bright purple and gold!
Eventually, the painted picture will cover up the photo beneath. At this point, the painting can be carefully removed from under the plastic so it is again visible as a model for finishing the painting.  Young artists can then add final special effects in the style of Neiman are action lines — small vibrating outlines to show movement and excitement!

Materials: sports magazines, clear plastic sheets (available at an office supply store), masking tape, acrylic paints, a white dish or tray to use as a palette, small paintbrushes, rinse water.

Time: 45 minutes

KidsArt Resource: Of course, our book Great American Artists for Kids, with hands-on art projects in the style of 75 American artists from colonial era to contemporary art, written by Kim Solga and Maryann Kohl, published by Bright Ring Books.

Tropical Tempera Landscapes

Tempera is the paint of choice for teaching young artists a wide variety of painting skills.  It’s inexpensive, safe for all ages, cleans up easily with water, mixes well to create many different colors, and is fun to use.  Tempera is also called poster paint.  It comes in liquid, jelly and powdered form.  For this project, mix the paint with water to make a thick liquid.

Tropical landscapes are an excellent subject for teaching kids to fill the entire picture with paint. Children can invent a wide variety of leaf shapes, palm trees and fantastic flowers.  Share photographs of tropical plants for inspiration.  Kids can jump directly into painting, or start with with a light pencil sketch…a BIG drawing that fills the entire paper…working on pieces of white matboard if possible, or heavy white drawing paper.

Let children explore the medium. Young artists should have small containers of liquid tempera paint in primary colors (red, blue and yellow) and white.  Small jars, muffin tins or foam egg cartons ake great paint holders. Pour a small quantity of paint in different wells.  Don’t include black, as it just tends to mussy up the other colors.  Each child should also have a larger container of fresh water for rinsing brushes, a plate for mixing colors, a wide flat paintbrush (1 inch), 1 or 2 smaller paintbrushes, and a couple paper towels.

The main point of this lesson: for kids to paint the entire area of their painting.  None of the paper sould be left unpainted. Painting the background areas will be challenging. Some children may wish to paint their picture over several sessions, while others will finish quickly.

Materials: matboard pieces (ask for scraps from framing shops) or pieces of cardboard boxes (recycled corrugated cardboard will do), sturdy flat 1 inch brushes, assorted smaller paintbrushes, liquid tempera paint, containers for paint, plates for mixing colors, pencils.
Time: One or more 40 minute sessions.

KidsArt Resource: At KidsArt, we sell a set of high-quality, washable, opaque Dry Tempera Paint manufactured in the USA by Sargent Art.