by Angie McFarren
Alas, the middle school years. The time when children become teens, experience physical changes, and develop significant attitude shifts. Everything becomes a big deal. Those who dislike art can treat it as if it is a death sentence. Moms must dig deep to find ways for their children to participate in art activities without causing their children to have dramatic outbursts. Today’s post, Kids Can Learn about Art and Have Fun Doing It, Part 2, will help by giving you additional reasons for teaching art, more ideas and resources, and a different way of teaching art.
If you have not read Part 1, I encourage you to do so before continuing with this post.
More Reasons for Teaching Art
Art boosts students’ confidence as they see their progress in their artistic ability. They learn small differences make a big impact in their artwork.
Students often become more expressive, which carries over into other subjects such as language arts.
Interactive Games
In part 1 of this series, I gave you a long list of interactive games for youngsters. Here is a different list of online games more suitable for middle school students.
Arts Games for Kids (of all ages) by Artsology
Knowitall – storyboard
Resources for Studying Art
Garden of Praise has numerous art resources.
Here is an opportunity to learn about art (and work on research skills) with an Internet scavenger hunt. The Renaissance Art Scavenger Hunt
Sometimes students need to watch videos to understand art concepts, such as How to Look at Art – The Elements of Art Part 1.
Take a tour inside a painting with Claude Monet, 3-D Animation – Luca Agnani Studio.
Music playing in the background while viewing pieces of art is more engaging for some than just looking at pictures in a book. The YouTube video on The Art of Claude Monet in Motion is one example.
The video, Georgia O’Keeffe: A Brief History, is a good introduction to a study of the artist and her work.
Art History School on YouTube
Art Authority K-12 for iPad app
ArtRage app
Display their Artwork.
Do your children participate in 4-H? If so, see if you can coerce them to enter their best artwork for one of their projects. The experience of having others see their artwork displayed will be a confidence booster.
The image above is my daughter’s project she entered in the fine arts category. She used the Art Project: Sunflowers from See the Light Art. She received an honor ribbon at our county fair.
You might also want to frame your child’s best artwork and hang it on the wall for all to see.
Field Trips
Attending field trips in Jr. High may not be as much fun as it once was. You might even have to drag your reluctant child to an art museum. Still, it is a good experience to see famous artwork in person. Some museums offer student/kids activities. You may want to see what is offered at your local museum before visiting.
Lapbooking
Sometimes changing the method of learning can make a big difference in children’s attitudes. Hopefully, for the better. If you have not tried lapbooking, you might want to give it a try for learning about artists.
Study Any Great Painter from In the Hands of a Child
The Artists Activity-Pak from Homeschool in the Woods is another fun project using the lapbooking method.
Use Art Curriculum That Does the Teaching for You
In the previous post, I mentioned the Art Class DVDs from See the Light Art. The Art Class set contains 9 DVDs and will provide you with a school year’s-worth of lessons. I looked at some community art classes in my area when I was homeschooling. Classes lasting 4 to 8 weeks cost between $125 to $200. Some art classes taught in co-ops can be quite expensive as well. The Art Class boxed set from See the Light Art costs only $99.99 and is much more economical.
The DVDs start out teaching the basic skills and become more advanced in the latter DVDs.
Here are the topics covered in each DVD:
- Volume 1: The Basics
- Volume 2: Shape & Space
- Volume 3: Value & Color
- Volume 4: Color Blending Techniques
- Volume 5: Proportions for Composition
- Volume 6: Texture & Form
- Volume 7: Perspective for The Landscape
- Volume 8: Balancing & Foreshortening
- Volume 9: The Portrait
Bonus: Art Project for Middle Schoolers
Discover why others are excited over these free lessons from the Art Class.
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