Teaching Kids Art Through Picture Books

This is a great week to pile up the Thanksgiving books, read with your kids, and discuss gratitude and the history of the holiday. (Hint: it's not about football!)
Here are some of my Favorite Thanksgiving Books to get you started. 
Here is one book that you could look at every day up to Thanksgiving break and incorporate an art study with history. You want to do that because:

a.) It's an effortless way to teach art appreciation and art history to your kids, making them more art literate and well rounded

b.) You can read one book to accomplish 4 things: teaching art, creative expression, history, and fluency/listening comprehension--all with one read aloud. 

The book is N.C. Wyeth's Pilgrims, with text by Robert San Souci. I love the book for pointing out the glorious colors N.C. Wyeth uses. He was a famous American painter and illustrator. Reading this book is like taking a short trip to an art museum without leaving your home! 

Rather than describing this book in my own words, I fo...

When my kids were little, I was always trying to introduce them to compelling stories that would shape their characters. I wanted to find good books to read with them that would ignite their curiosity and form them into leaders with character. 

Enter the picture book biography. Sometimes these books are overviews of people and what they accomplished; sometimes these are a short story of something interesting about their lives, but always the writing and the illustrations draw a child into meeting someone new they may or may not have encountered before. Reading these books together helps stimulate new thoughts and discussions between you and your kids. After reading about these interesting people, ask your kids:

• Why did the person make the decisions they did?
• When did they have to show perseverance?
• How did growing up the way they did influence their later life?
• How have their lives changed the world?
• What do YOU want to do to change the world?

Want some new reading ideas ...