Teaching kids about fine art

I love art, and I dont' know nearly as much about it as I would like to, so I decided that it's important to me that my kids learn about art and be surrounded by art from a young age. I've tried taking them to museums though, and at 4 and 6, they spend more time nearly destroying things or complaining that there's nothing to play with than they actually spend appreciating art. So I decided I needed to start with a lower key approach.



These fine art pages from Erica at Enrichment Studies are my new favorite thing ever. Each art page has a famous painting with some facts written underneath. You just print them and hang them around the house - she recommends the bathroom, where everyone will see them. Just becoming familiar with art and recognizing it is often enough to make kids excited about it. If you sign up for her newsletter, she sends a free set of art pages every month, but if you want a specific artist or theme to match your curriculum, she has everything on sale for 25% off now for back to school (that's my affiliate link if you don't mind).



These two board books are a great introduction to art for very young children. Again, just looking at art and being familiar to it is so good for kids' brains and psychology says makes it more likely they will like it later.




My kids have these two books, and they give good insight into these artists' lives while sharing images from their work. The Van Gogh book has a quote from the artist accompanying each picture, and the Matisse one tells the story of his later years and his experimentation with different media and technique.

Art Teacher Cindy Ingram has a number of resources on her website designed for art teachers, including a bundle of art appreciation printables that you can get for free for signing up for her email. I recently got her course on How to talk to kids about art as part of a bundle and I fell in love (This isn't an affiliate link, I just really like it.

And once your kids are a little interested in art, or if they express interest in a specific genre, you can explore it more with them with the wonderful database at Wikiart without having to worry about them breaking anything (except your phone or computer, can't help you with that one)