7 ways to make art with your child

Creating Preschool Memories with Art & Alphabet Smash

Alphabet Smash is a fun, hands-on, relationship building Christian curriculum for your preschooler or kindergartener that encourages play.  It is an alphabet adventure that is engaging, simple to do and builds a relationship with your kids.  It is homeschooling intentionally.

I recently shared the inspiration for Alphabet Smash and mentioned some memories of fun and easy activities we did together.  Memories and relationship building are the biggest take aways of this curriculum.

Making art is another engaging learning experience.

7 ways to make art with your child:

1. Changing your perspective of making art is key.  We are all artists.  Even when you don’t believe you are ‘crafty’ or capable of making art.  Even if you are embarrassed.  God is an artist.  And since He made us in His image, then we are artists too. “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27
2.  NOTHING engages a child more when doing art than when YOU do it with them.  If you are a perfectionist, they will be too.
3. Consider everything art.  Leaves outside, God’s flower handiwork, coloring Easter eggs, whatever.  It doesn’t always have to involve paint. Get outside and notice God’s art.
4. Encourage your child with specific examples of why their work is good.  Rather than saying, “I love your art!” or “That is really good!”, think about why it is good.  There is always a reason; the way they used the colors, the way they placed the art on the paper, or even their perspective. Really look.
5. Talk about art.  Look at art books for free from your library.  Find out what your child likes.  If you listen, you will find a common theme.
6. Have your child give an oral narration of a piece of art (picture study).  Have them look at it for several minutes and then cover it up and ask them what they remember about the artwork.  It is like bicep building for the brain.  Children will get better and look at details more closely, even in preschool. (Recently after a picture study of Mary Cassatt, we were in a nursing home and my oldest noticed a Mary Cassatt painting in a residents room. She knew her style so well, she knew it’s maker.)
7. Copy great artists.  Go to the museum and study art together.  Buy artist calendars or print 8X10 prints of great artists or artists you and your child like.  Sit with a pad and paper and copy it the best you can.  For young children, this may only be 10 minutes.  Don’t expect too much.  Did you know most great artists studied by copying great works of art? You understand a piece of art better when you try to copy it; the light, the shadows, the colors.

“Start copying what you love. Copy copy copy copy. At the end of the copy you will find your self.” ― Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

Alphabet Smash has many easy ideas for simple art to do with your kiddos.

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Here are some of the things we did:

Keepers at home, learning tole painting.

Being Michelangelo for A week.

Crazy Quilting for Q week:

Copying Pablo Picasso for P week.

Painting with water colors for W week.

Making a wand for W week.

Making a necklace for N week.

Painting for P week.

Picture Study: Copying a Dorothea Lange photograph.

Making a gingerbread house for G week.

Coloring eggs for E week.  It doesn’t have to be Easter to dye eggs!

Putting yarn in Y Block Letters for Y week.  (Get Free Block Letters when you sign up for 6 Free letters of Alphabet Smash!)

Each letter of Alphabet Smash includes:

• Art
• Bible
• Character Traits
• Books
• Food
• Field trips
• Fun Alphabet Activities
• Math
• Missionaries
• Music
• Movies
• Poetry
• Science
• Social Studies

and more!

There are also free resources on my website for you to use with each letter:

1- Handwriting practice worksheets for each letter of the alphabet.

2- Bible verse copy work for each letter of the alphabet

3- Clip art for your child to learn to cut and paste for each letter of the alphabet.

4- Block letters for your child to decorate alphabetically.

5- A 5-day weekly planning sheet to pick and do only what you want to do, from a smorgasbord of possibilities, in your homeschool pre-school.

All for [symple_highlight color=”yellow”]FREE![/symple_highlight]

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If you like what you see, buy the book!

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“When we treat children’s play as seriously as it deserves, we are helping them feel the joy that’s to be found in the creative spirit. It’s the things we play with and the people who help us play that make a great difference in our lives.” ― Fred Rogers