November 27, 2008

Check out Kinder Art, which has one of the largest collections of FREE art lessons on the internet!  This mother-daughter team love art and have spent the last 10 years developing this awesome resource to share with all of us. 

The site has art lessons, crafts, teaching kits, printables, preschool art, holiday activities, and much more. For a sample, check out this whole page of fun Thanksgiving Art Activities:

Here are a few of them:

• Make a blessing box to give thanks.
• Teach some symmetry and printmaking techniques with this cool ‘Fall Reflections’ craft.
• Make a few turkey centerpieces for the table with apples, toothpicks, gumdrops, and construction paper.

Other great pages on the site:

• Kinder Littles – a whole section devoted to early childhood art education.
• Drawing – Do you know someone who thinks he or she can’t draw?  Start here and enjoy!
• Printables – Find lots of coloring pages and printable activities here.

Enjoy exploring Kinder Art’s website.  I sure have.

Posted under Art Websites

November 20, 2008

Of course they can be taught.  Still, how many time have you heard kids and adults say, “I’m not an artist,” or “I can’t draw.” 

(And for the grammar teachers out there, where does the “?” go in the previous sentence?)

Well, I think much of artistic ability is a learned skill, like anything else.  I can at least progress past the boxy stick figures of my childhood, even if I’ll never be a Michelangelo.

Here’s a really fun starter website for the kids:  Learn to Draw with Billy Bear.

There are drawing sheets and step-by-step drawing lessons for lots of kid friendly characters.  And the drawing lessons even include instructions to draw the images in popular paint computer programs for the kids who want to dip their toes into beginning computer graphics.

Try a lesson on drawing cartoon faces, one on how to draw eyes using Paint Shop Pro, or the weekly Grid Art showcasing a black and white drawing with an overlying grid to help the novice artists.

The pros?  It’s full of resources that are once again, free   Enjoy! 

The cons?  The site is a bit advertising heavy with pop-ups (my browser is set to block those, so I don’t notice so much.

Do you have some favorite art and drawing sites?  Please share in the comment section.  Thanks!

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Posted under Art Websites