Teaching Kids Art Through Picture Books

At the end of January, my husband and I had the opportunity to spend a few days in Miami for his work. (Thank You, Lord!) Yes, you wonderful, hardworking, under-appreciated mamas, you, too, will get to do this someday.  I hope that for you. 

After his work meetings, he shared a powerful principle with me that he was learning. The principle was this: Most people have more fear of messing up than the fear of missing out. In other words, FOMU is stronger than FOMO. We are all insecure, and we are all afraid of messing up. When faced with hard decisions, we freeze--because none of us wants to mess up.

This applies powerfully to our kids and to us when faced with something like creating art.

Fun story-while in Miami I got to see an unusual art museum called Wynwood Walls. It celebrates street art: large, spray painted murals as well as street sculptures. I got to have 3 minutes to spray paint a wall as part of the experience. This is what went through my head: "Yikes! 3 minutes! I don't ...

How in the world do you get your kids excited about learning? I know a secret to doing this! I got interested in history when I started reading aloud to my kids when I was teaching them. What was the difference between reading paragraphs from a textbook and reading real stories from picture and chapter books? Quite simply, reading stories aloud. People and their stories are captivating when told in a well written book. Suddenly, history came to life with the fascinating, wonderful, and terrible adventures of people throughout the ages. I was hooked. When teaching my kids at home, I could see the benefits of reading aloud because of the way my own children were soaking up and remembering the stories--and often begging for more time reading.

Reading aloud can integrate so well with several areas of learning at once, even when you aren’t consciously trying to teach anything beyond enjoying a good story. Language arts is all about reading, writing, talking, and listening. Think of how you...

As I write this in Indiana, it is January, it is cold, and it is snowing. I love that! I much prefer the beauty of snow to the gray and colorlessness of no snow in winter. How about you? Do you like snowy weather? Do you get excited and take your kids sledding? Or do you prefer to stay inside with a good book? Or both?When it snowed after Christmas, I had fun watching my kids drag their kids around the yard in the snow.
Award winning Illustrator Susan Jeffers says, “There is only one thing more majestic than a Robert Frost poem about snow--a snowstorm itself.” His poem Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening captures a feeling all parents can relate to: that of the tension of wanting to slow down and appreciate the beauty in front of us, and at the same time needing to do urgent tasks that are also in front of us. 

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep, 

But I have promises to keep, 

And miles to go before I sleep, 

And miles to go before I sleep."

Doesn’t that just sum up the way we f...

There’s nothing more magical than making snowflakes with kids. And if you are a parent who likes to connect art to science, today I'm sharing a great book/art combo that makes learning fun and effortless during the cold winter months! Simply read this story and do an art project-it’s that simple! 

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Snowflake Bentley, by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and Mary Azarian, is a Caldecott Award winning picture book that tells the story of Wilson Bentley. Wilson was a child fascinated by snow who grew up to study the little miracles we call snowflakes. It is his research that gives us what we know about snowflakes today. 
After reading this picture book together, try this art project with your kids:

Cut a flurry of paper snowflakes. Fold, fold, fold, and cut. Unfold your papers and witness the magic and wonder-making snowflakes never fails to delight kids of all ages! 

Want to extend the snowflake art fun? Try these art ideas:

• Hang your snowflakes on a window with tape.
•  P...

Are you looking for fresh inspiration to brighten your winter days with your kids? I love sharing favorite winter books and art ideas for your elementary aged kids--but I hope you or your older kids will have fun doing them, too! They need only simple supplies and will be a fun activity for kids to look forward to on these sometimes too-cold-to-be-outside days. These projects can stretch to kids from age 3 to older kids, too. Each of the next few weeks I’ll be sharing a new winter art and book idea for you. 

Recently, I had the joy of being with three of our granddaughters ages 3, 4, and 5. We read many winter and snow books and had fun creating together. The girls liked choosing different elements to add to their snow people. Our oldest granddaughter, age 5, created a whole snow family while she dictated to me who was who and the relationships between the snowy people. Her 4 year old sister enjoyed carefully gluing shapes and took a minimalistic approach. Their 3 year old cousin was ...

Do you have those special Christmas cards or ornaments that either you made as a child, or your own children have made? It’s not the actual artistic merit that makes those so valuable and priceless to us. Few of us are Michelangelo, nor are our children Leonardo daVinci. The attribute that makes us hang onto popsicle glitter stars and play dough Christmas trees is this: they represent a memory and a relationship. We remember the moment we made that thing and the joy and pride we felt creating it. Or we remember the shining smiles on our kids’ faces as they presented that creation to us--perhaps wrapped up for us under the Christmas tree.

Making a tradition of creating Christmas art with children is an act of building and has three important benefits you don’t want to miss as you journey this road to your Christmas celebration. You don’t want to waste this opportunity to create together, because you are investing in the relationship you want to have with your kids in the future. That’s...

It's that time of year when we start to look for good gift ideas for our elementary kids and grandkids. We want to gift them something meaningful, long lasting, and helpful to them as they grow in their interests. But also we want the gifts to be fun!

Here are a few of my favorite things for gift ideas related to art and reading for elementary aged kids:

Online Art Classes: (🎁20%off with code 20GIFT)

Save time and money and give a gift your whole family can enjoy! Get 20% off either of the digital art products using the code 20GIFT until Dec. 6, 2024. 

Drawing for Kids-a digital art class for your kids to help them become better at drawing all in an easy to follow seven step course (🎁20%off with code 20GIFT)

Art Club-a monthly art class to keep kids drawing and being creative at home (🎁20%off with code 20GIFT)

Picture Books worth buying, reading over and over, and owning:

Obviously, there are a million more we love. But here are a few I’ve chosen for variety and unique appeal. 

Does your family have a tradition of picking out pumpkins? From the grocery store to the pumpkin patch to the U-pick farm, it is so fun to look at all the pumpkins and let your kids pick out just the right one for your home. 

You can use this experience to build your kids' artistic imaginations with these ideas:

1. Questioning-While your kids are scouting out your personal favorites, ask your kids questions to engage their imaginations and spur their vocabulary usage. Here are some ideas:

• Can you name 3 specific color(s) you like without using the word orange?
• Which shape do you think is best for our decorations this year?
• Do you remember what kind of pumpkin you picked/face you carved/painted last year?
• Do you find that you always pick the same shape or color, or do you like to change it each year?
• If this pumpkin had a face or a personality, what would it's personality be like? 

2. Writing-After your pumpkin-picking out experience, write about it. If your kids are not yet...

Are you looking for a quick, no/low mess activity to do with your kids this fall that will add to the fun of the season? You know, for that moment when you're tired, or they are tired, but maybe it's not good weather to play outside? Maybe they haven't had enough art time this week and need a new idea? Here's an easy activity for you! This is a great clay pumpkin project with air dry Model Magic clay for kids, so they can make some pumpkins to add to the fall decorations at home.

This one can also be done with Sculpey clay and baked in the oven. Years ago, I had Sculpey out for the kids to create with, and my husband Mike made the "see-through" pumpkin design, which we baked in the oven and used for years for our fall decor. 

I've made a 2 min. video showing you and your family how to do this--all you need is about 15 minutes, a small balloon, and some Model Magic.  Make a whole pumpkin patch! You can add twinkle lights inside these for extra sparkle for your table. 

Here's how to m...

It is the time of year when lots of us are looking at more pumpkin everything! Even this local church, where last week I was honored to be invited to a sweet Storygalorey friend's birthday party, got in the pumpkin spirit. The party was at her church and this sign outside caught my eye as I parked: 😂

Of course, I hope you have lots of pumpkin books to read (Grab the fall picture book list here)

and lots of pumpkin art to do with your kids and grandkids! 

This month I've got 1 pumpkin art idea for you each week-and all you need is Model Magic clay in red and yellow. I'll teach you how to make 3 art-y pumpkins 🎃 🎃 🎃 with the whole family. You could also get this multicolor Model Magic set containing 15 different colors. One advantage to this type of clay is that it is air dry clay-when you are done, just let it dry naturally-nothing more for you to do.

There are many air dry clays out there; I have only used Model Magic and it works well; so I have not experimented with other types...