4. You will begin to thread your leaves together by poking the cut stem through the back of the leaf, over the front and back out again. Think: basic straight stitch. Continue to thread your leaves together with this in and out stitch until you have achieved the desired crown size. If you want to make sure that your leaves are fastened securely, you can add a dab of hot glue to the tips of the stems after you stitch to ensure that they don’t slip out. Add some finishing touches by gluing smaller leaves and/or feathers on top of your crown base.
Art Projects for Kids: Learning That Matters
Ability to produce and communicate original ideas and to appreciate the nature of beauty.
Aesthetics
Humor
Imagination
Ingenuity
Inspiration
Inventiveness
Originality
Playfulness
With summer around the corner, it’s time to begin thinking about the wonderful art projects for kids that make learning fun! While engaging in kid’s arts and crafts should not be limited by season, summer is a great time to dive into projects without lots of homework on the back burner.
When I think about art projects for kids, I recall the time my 4-year-old daughter spilled a plastic container of paint over the head of our new Jack Russell Terrier puppy. The painting project I had carefully planned and organized evolved into a very long afternoon of complicated cleanup. Needless to say, neither I nor the puppy was amused.
Most parents can recall these kinds of stories about their young children’s messy and often chaotic home art projects. For kids, the temporary mess and disorder are only a small part of the story. Developmentally, art projects open windows to kids’ lifelong learning and creativity. Even if children don’t display extraordinary artistic talent, art projects for kids at all stages of ability have been shown to contribute to their sense of aesthetics, imagination, ingenuity, inventiveness, and originality. Messiness is the mother of creativity!
6 Ways Parents Nurture Creativity Through Kids’ Art
Parents nurture their child’s creativity in a number of important ways. Engaging children in art projects is one of them. Here are a few research-based tips that will enhance your child’s artistic experience and lifelong learning:
- Let your child get messy. Creativity evolves from chaos and disorder. So be ready for the cleanup and consider it an important part of the process.
- Think of art projects for kids as play opportunities. When art is experienced as a creative and playful process, children feel internal rewards from the doing, not just from the end results. The benefits of play include 1) Creativity, 2) Stronger relationships, 3) Stress relief, and 4) Empathy. Help children take pleasure in the creation of art by praising them for their hard work, perseverance, and ingenuity. When parents emphasize the product over the process, kids’ interest in art quickly diminishes.
- Help kids see art in nature. Art is all around us, and many would say Mother Nature is the ultimate artist. The benefits of nature have been shown in numerous research studies, including that nature is linked to a child’s lifelong happiness. When pondering art projects for kids, consider using natural materials that your child has gathered outdoors and can manipulate in creative ways.
- Celebrate your child’s differences. The beauty of art and aesthetics is in the eye of the beholder. Art allows us to experience people who see, feel, and understand differently from others. Encourage children to express their differences through art and praise them for their self-expression.
- Create a relaxing and reflective environment. Think of art projects for kids as food for their souls. Create a relaxed, no-pressure environment for them to soar. Help kids connect artistic experiences with their feelings by asking questions like, “How does what you just created make you feel?” These types of questions nurture self-awareness.
- Squelch perfectionism. Art is a medium where children should be free to make mistakes and take risks. Art projects are learning laboratories, where kids grow from inadvertent slip-ups and inaccuracies. They learn how to grow from mistakes! I love the children’s book Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg. Check out a video from this book to get a glimpse of how the best learning can happen through art:
Discovering Creative Art Projects for Kids
The very best art projects are the ones that appeal most to your child. When children take part in choosing the project, they are more internally invested in the process. The Internet is full of great arts and crafts ideas for children. Here are a few of our favorite places to start exploring:
- The Artful Parent – This is a wonderful blog with over 500 ideas for art projects for kids. The activities are searchable by category and range from painting to sculpture ideas to stained glass.
- Education.com – These art and craft activities cover a wide range of subjects for young artists, future sculptors, potential puppeteers, and all things creative.
- Enchanted Learning – Extensive crafting options that include materials found around the house, like egg cartons, cardboard, paper, boxes, string, crayons, paint, glue, etc. Also includes holiday themes.
- Family Education – Discover dozens of creative arts and crafts ideas you can do with your kids, including homemade gifts, holiday ornaments, home decorations, and more.
- Kid Crafts – Compiled by Parents.com, this site has craft ideas and art projects for kids that use inexpensive supplies, including paper and cardboard.
- The Best Ideas for Kids – This website has a great collection of kids crafts and creative activities, including holiday and special occasion projects. It also has projects with slime!
Monet Art Project for Kids
Claude Monet is well known for his beautiful water scenes! This is a fun (and messy) finger painting craft that will leave children with beautiful results. Students of all ages can participate in this impressionist art project which is a fantastic introduction to process art.
Van Gogh Art Project for Kids
Van Gogh is the name every young child knows, and Starry Night is the title they remember! Uses this fun technique to create movement on your canvas! This project requires a little bit of glue and some oil pastels so be sure to plan enough time for the glue to try. Your students will be thrilled to present their starry night art projects to their friends and family.
Warhol Art Projects for Kids
Learn about POP Art with this fun and free Andy Warhol art project for kids. These activities are great for students of all ages, with multiple levels and adaptations you can adjust for your teaching style. Students will work on process art and can color in our free printable Warhol art templates or design their own graphics with this simple technique.
stitch folk art plates
Handmade beauties! This festive folk art invitation is a very fun intro to sewing for little ones and an easy, breezy creative project for the bigs. and it only requires a few materials! Read the full DIY post here.
Build a 3D Cardboard Collage turkey!
If you love your turkeys on the wild and colorful side, (like we do) you will LOVE this mixed media project. Find the full post and FREE turkey template here.
make mark-making brushes!
Create your own mark-making tools using items found in nature! A good stick or thick twig make great brush handles. Bristles can be made from things like:
- Pine needles
- Flowers
- Buds
- Feathers
- Dried grass
- Pinecones
This is an invitation to get really creative with natural elements! Read more about these fantastic handmade brushes from Rag Tag Magpie by clicking here.
