Drawing and Painting With Children-Resources and Ideas
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Learn to Draw and Paint Ideas for Homeschooling Families
I will offer some ideas for your family to learn how to draw and paint together. We have used all these books and products in our family with great success.
Many times parents ask me for ideas on getting started and the books I share in this lens are not only inexpensive but they can be the foundation of your grammar stage art instruction. Learning to draw has such great benefits - long lasting benefits for our children.
You do not need any special skills to get started except for the desire to have fun and learn alongside your children. This is a fun family activity that you can share with your children, modeling how to learn and to make mistakes. A positive attitude is the key to helping our children learn to draw as well as they wish to.
Many times parents ask me for ideas on getting started and the books I share in this lens are not only inexpensive but they can be the foundation of your grammar stage art instruction. Learning to draw has such great benefits - long lasting benefits for our children.
You do not need any special skills to get started except for the desire to have fun and learn alongside your children. This is a fun family activity that you can share with your children, modeling how to learn and to make mistakes. A positive attitude is the key to helping our children learn to draw as well as they wish to.
Learn to Draw - Mark Kistler Resources
Learn to Watercolor Resources
Drawing Instruction Books
These two books are the foundation of our learning to draw plan.
The only supplies you will need are a steady supply of paper and pencils. We use plain old number two pencils for these lessons.
Mark Kistler Online
Try out some of his free online lessons to get started.
- Mark Kistler Website
- This is a treasure of a website for learning to draw. You also might check out his summer camps and school assembly program pages. We happened upon a summer camp near our home three years ago and it was a wonderful experience.
- Try out his free lessons.
- Click on the pencil that says "lessons" and you will be able to complete a few lessons for free.
Mark Kistler on YouTube.com
This will give you a taste of Mark Kistler's style of teaching. My boys love these videos and after watching them they can do the projects easily. They take the concept and apply it to so many things that they want to draw.
curated content from YouTube
Lessons Help You Get Started
How to Use The Draw Squad Book
What to expect and how to get started
The book has valuable introductory information that you should not miss reading over. This section will help you as the parent to have an overview of how Mark Kistler teaches drawing and then structures his lessons.First he describes the "Ten Key Words of Drawing". These include foreshortening, shading, surface, size, contour lines, overlapping, density, shadows, attitude, and daily use. These ideas are thoroughly covered in the Draw Squad book for your child to learn and then apply in their everyday drawing.
There are 30 drawing lessons in this particular book and they each are structured in a way that easily breaks down the steps to understanding the lesson's concept and then helps your child apply the concept to his own ideas.
After the Lesson - Be Creative
Beginning Watercolors
This book gave our family the confidence to do more with watercolors. It not only is a book but it includes the watercolor paper, watercolor paints, and a great brush.
We had great results with this book.
We had great results with this book.
What to Expect from Watercolor for the Artistically Undiscovered
by Thacher Hurd and John Cassidy
This book has everything you need to get started with your children's painting instruction. In typical Klutz style, this book is colorful and easy to follow.The first half of the book covers the fundamentals and the second half goes more into detail.
Topics covered: learning to use your brush, stencils, color combinations, washes, light and shadow, perspective, and the four steps to painting a still life.
Additional Watercolor Tutorial Links
These links include step by step photo and video tutorials from Hearts and Trees that are perfect for beginners.
- Washes
- Simple tutorial on how to paint a watercolor wash.
- Stripes of white
- This tutorial helps with brush control for beginners.
- Thick and thin lines
- This tutorial helps increase your brush control.
- Wet on wet technique
- This tutorial explores a unique quality of watercolors and gives a fantastic effect. Children love to watch the paints mix.
- More brush techniques
- This video tutorial starts with a simple idea that your children can use creatively in their own paintings.
- Watercolors and rubbing alcohol
- This is another easy variation with simple instructions but unique results.
- Watercolors and table salt
- Here is another video tutorial showing how to use ordinary table salt for a surprising result.
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ElizabethJeanAllen
Feb 15, 2011 @ 6:49 pm | delete
- Art is a vital part of a child's education.
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Janiece
Feb 14, 2011 @ 8:17 am | delete
- Just wanted to come back and let you know how much I appreciate your making this lens! My son and I are going to take a nature hike today, and will bring our new watercolor pencils along! Thanks for the idea! Happy Valentine's Day!
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Janiece
Jan 30, 2011 @ 9:49 am | delete
- Blessed!
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HarmonyArtMom
Jan 30, 2011 @ 10:21 am | delete
- Thanks so much! I love this lens too....it made me really happy to build it.
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Janiece
Jan 30, 2011 @ 9:48 am | delete
- We have done some of Mark Kistler's online drawing lessons and enjoyed them!
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by HarmonyArtMom
HarmonyArtMom
Mom of four, fourteen years of homeschooling, passionate about art, music, and nature study. See Harmony Fine Arts and my Squidoo Bio for more about me... more »
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Learning To Draw Can Be Fun!
Mark Kistler's Draw Squad
Amazon Price: $11.00 (as of 02/16/2012)
Our family has enjoyed this book and my three boys have worked through it multiple times. The specific skills learned in each lesson build upon each other and can then be used in other drawing assignments. I think my boys received a solid drawing foundation from working through this book just with pencil and paper.
Great Starter Set of Colored Pencils
Prismacolor 92807 Prismacolor Scholar Colored Woodcase Pencils, 48 Assorted Colors/Set
Amazon Price: $16.30 (as of 02/16/2012)
We use these pencils every week in our artwork. I highly recommend any Prismacolor product but these are especially nice for young students.
Our Family's Favorite Everyday Markers
Crayola 50ct Washable Super Tips with Silly Scents
Amazon Price: $8.60 (as of 02/16/2012)
My sons use these everyday in their schoolwork and artwork. Please note that this set comes with several "silly scents" so if you are sensitive to fragrance you may want to pass on this set.
