Teaching Kids Art Through Picture Books

As  a follower of Jesus, I love thinking about how to incorporate our faith into everything we do as parents and grandparents. Since children are always watching and catching and observing, it's important to take every opportunity to share the wonderful truths we believe with them. Today in keeping with the "Space" theme,  I wanted to reflect on what a peek into the heavens taught me this month.

As I observed that amazing total solar eclipse--the moon covering the sun completely--for 4 rare minutes in Indianapolis on April 8, I was overwhelmed with awe at our Creator and His creation. One of my takeaways from this experience was that I could actually see the sun gradually disappearing behind the moon, and yet...it was still mostly light outside!

Here the sun is almost covered by the moon--but--look how light is still is!:
On the left below, the sky is still blue but the sun is mostly covered (my camera didn't capture well) and on the right, the sky got...

I am interested in Space...but my husband, kids, and granddaughter are REALLY interested in Space! Since my granddaughter was visiting, it was fun to think about doing some glow in the dark Space art to share with her and other children this past weekend. If you want to take your kids' art out of this world, try this with us. 

You will need scissors and glue and about 30 min. to do this project.

Grab your glow in the dark art supplies. If you don't have any, just grab any art supplies you have. Kids will still get to make a fun space picture, it just won't be glow in the dark. Not sure what I'm talking about? Read what glow in the dark art supplies I recommend here. Here's one more recommended by reader Debbie R: Elmer's Glow in the dark glue!

You'll also need a piece of black or purple paper and a piece of any other color of paper, plus some different sized circles to trace. I used a canning lid, a plastic tub, and a spray can lid. Use a variety...

Solar Eclipse Day is here, and with it comes a great opportunity for kids to read about Space and practice some fun drawing techniques. But as much as you want to help kids to draw and to be creative--and Space is such a fascinating subject--it can be hard to know where to start. 

Start with a good picture book. When you read with a child, you strengthen the adult-child bond, you introduce them to lots of new vocabulary, you model expression and fluent reading, and you bolster reading comprehension. AND you help kids learn, in this case, about a solar eclipse. 

Encourage your kids to love art and reading by pairing drawing an eclipse with a great picture book! Here is one to get you started: 

A Few Beautiful Minutes, by Kate Allen Fox, is filled with beautiful illustrations and poetic writing that is a quiet invitation to wonder at the amazing phenomenon that is an eclipse. 

Do your kids love creating? Here is a quick way for kids...