subject: Kids Art Activities Should Be Fun And Educational [print this page] I had the opportunity some time ago to sit in on a class about art. It was a class for third graders at a local elementary school that a teacher friend of mine was instructing, and he asked if I would mind sitting in on the class to give some input.
I've dabbled in art, personally, and he wanted to see what I thought about the projects he had his kids doing. We have spent a few minutes with the students, I started to see that kids art activities need to be fun and educational at the same time.
The kids art activities that my friend was having his students do involved painting with water colors and tempera paint, and then they got to hang their pictures up on the front wall of the classroom. He went around admiring everybody's handywork but did not really ask any questions. He then asked me if I had anything I wanted to add, and I asked if the kids could go around the room and sort of talk about why they decided to paint their pictures and what they meant to them.
As expected, many of the kids were kind of shy and said they simply wanted to paint a picture of their home or dog or friends, but a few of the kids went up and explained why they painted the picture of a field of flowers, or a single red boat amongst a bunch of blue ones.
When the students finished talking about their pictures, I said to my friend that the kids who did something that was more than just a representation of their everyday lives were the budding artists in the group. I also told him that kids art activities should be fun but educational as well, because it would help nurture his students' love of art.
I introduced a few art books to the next class and invited all of the students to look through them if they so chose. Invariably, it was the students that had painted something unique for their project that got out the books and started asking questions about such painters as Vincent Van Gogh and Henri Matisse.
I answered all of their questions and encouraged them to pursue their love of art. I asked them questions about other activities they had done and what they loved the most about art, and they really seemed to be into the discussion.
Kids art activities can be a lot of fun for students and can help foster a love of art that can endure throughout an entire lifetime. My friend thanked me for sitting in on the class and told me that he would definitely incorporate some of my suggestions into the next project. I hope for art's sake that he does.
