Teaching Kids Art Through Picture Books

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...

“Help! What do I do with All. This. Artwork????” 

“My child is prolific! Our house is overrun with art! I don’t want to throw it away, but how do I deal with the paper mess?” 

I understand, and I’ve been there. Before there was Facebook, the internet, or Etsy, there were bulletin boards, binders, and magnetic refrigerators. And walls. So there I lived during the 90’s when my little ones were busy coloring every available surface they were allowed with a marker or a crayon.

Thankfully, I have more options for you today than I had for myself when I was a young mom, and I’m happy to share these artwork display ideas from my own recent research and some help from Storygalorey mom Cara Lewis, who shared her ideas with me-thank you! 

Here are 13 ways to keep (at least some of) your kid’s art without too much overwhelm:

1. Bulletin Board: You can easily find bulletin boards or cork squares at Walmart, Amazon, or even Goodwill. Let your kid have an ever changing artwork display that chan...