Art Inspired Gift Ideas {Create and Appreciate}

To say that I was a busy, active tomboy growing up would be something of an understatement.  My mom and I were laughing about it today and remembering back…  I had a tendency to prefer {full-body} action over contemplation and details. But a mother is in a place of powerful influence.  And my mother loved art.  She wasn’t an artist in the traditional sense, but was inspired by the idea of creating hidden art.  She loved to study the works of famous artists and engage us in discussions about the emotions and worldviews expressed in the realm of art. It was fascinating to recognize the interplay between art styles, the flow of history and an artists worldview. Over the years she’d bring in books on famous artists, take us down to see some new art exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum or host an art appreciation club in our home. Her excitement was contagious and to this day, I have a deep appreciation for art.

So on this 27th day of my 31 Days of Gifts that Inspire Learning {I’ll finish eventually}, I wanted to share a few of my favorite art resources that inspire both creation and appreciation for great art.  They engage even my active boys just as they did when I was that super-active girl.  Enjoy!

Give Kids Quality Art Supplies

Quality matters.  When you give your kids art supplies that work really well, it inspires the creative process.  I also like to keep it simple and there are my favorite art supplies to have on hand.

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Colored Pencils and a Quality Sketch Book –  As you know, I’m a huge fan of our Lyra Ferby pencils.  I love the triangular shape that promotes proper pencil grasp and the color these babies produce is beautiful.  I will never hold a crayola colored pencil in my hand again.  It pays to buy quality art supplies.  Prismacolor is another top-notch quality colored pencil.  These artist quality colored pencils come in a tin and are much less expensive than the Lyra Ferby pencils. I’ve considered switching to buying these as my artist sister highly recommend them and my kids are getting older.

The right kind of paper can make a difference too.  My kids are PROLIFIC when it comes to coloring, so we don’t use this all the time, but I did buy spiral-bound journals one year.  It was wonderful to have all of their artwork in one notebook instead of random papers tacked up around the house!

Watercolors – My boys (yes, my rough and tumble boys) love to paint.  I can’t say that I blame them.  There is something very calming and therapeutic about creating with water colors.  Whenever I see fun techniques out there, I’ll pin them to my Art board so we can try them out later.  In the craziness of raising boys, its nice to have calm moments too.  Again, quality matters.  While I know you can get water color sets for a dollar, paying a little bit more makes a huge difference.  I threw out my cheap water colors and we only use Prang now.  It’s really not that much more and the brilliant colors produced make it totally worth paying more.  We use watercolors while I read-aloud, for easy patriotic crafting {because I like easy},  easy Easter art {did I mention I like easy, open-ended art?}, nature walk art, and vacation art {so simple to pack and take along!}. You need thicker paper when doing watercolors.  We’ve found upgrading to a watercolor paper really helps what we are able to create.  You can buy watercolor sheets or get a watercolor notebooks if you want to take your watercoloring adventures outdoors!

Pastel’s – Ever since getting A Simple Start in Pastel’s and following their tutorials {see below for a fabulous giveaway}, pastel’s have found a permanent place in our frequently used art supply.  They are a little bit messy and there is an art to using them, so I wouldn’t turn your toddler or preschooler loose with them.  These are perfect for elementary aged kids and up!

Books that Inspire Artistic Creativity:

Beautiful Oops – my mom found this and gave it to my nephew.  Of course, I had to sit down with my “artist boy” and read it before they took it home.  Check out the preview pages on Amazon to get a feel for the book.  It inspires kids to creatively see artistic potential, even in the midst of oops moments.
The Art Lesson – I love Tomie dePaola books and am thrilled that this is in our personal collection.  It’s an autobiographical sketch from this artist/illustrators childhood.
Hands: Growing Up to Be an Artist – Speaking of autobiographical sketches of artist/illustrators, here’s another favorite of mine by Lois Ehlert.  It’s inspiring.

Fun, gift-worthy ways to engage children with Art History! 

As I said above, studying art isn’t a one time event.  It happens gradually over time. Here are a few fun ideas to spark your child’s exploration of art history.

Spot the Differences: Art Masterpiece Mysteries – This and the rest of the books in the series deserve a permanent place on the bookshelf of every family that wants to cultivate a love and awareness of famous paintings!  Why?  Because these will be books that will be pulled out over and over again over the years!

My boys received the first book in this series as a Christmas gift a while back.  My boys – my busy, busy boys – were mesmerized.  Despite sweet muffins that Christmas morning, those hyper-active boys of mine sat sprawled and nearly motionless on my parents floor pouring over these pictures.  The book depicts a famous work of art on one side and then a counter-fit on the other.  You are challenged to “spot the differences.”  This fun game teaches kids the art of studying and appreciating great works of art.  Oftentimes there are delights tucked into the details and micro stories unfolding within the bigger picture.  This is a fabulous and painless way to expose them to great artists and some of their most famous pieces.  In the sidebars there are also nuggets of information about the artist or his/her work that are always interesting. While writing this post, I discovered there are 3 more books in the series!  You can bet those just went on my mental wishlist for sometime in the future!  Check out Book 2, Book 3, and Book 4.

Anholt’s Artists Books for Kids – This fanciful, engaging series has fictional characters encountering various famous artists and witnessing them at work.  I discovered this series quite by accident at the library one day when I saw, Cezanne and the Apple Boy.  If my mom had been there that morning, it would have been a proud mommy moment for sure as she saw my eyes light up in recognition and then excitement about the prospect of introducing my kids to Cezanne and getting reacquainted myself. Giving your child one of these books could make for a fun gift!

Piatnik Art Memo Game – Anyone care for a game of concentration with beautiful art tiles?  36 great pictures are represented here and the game comes with an instruction book so you can find out the name of the piece and who created it.  These kinds of games naturally build awareness and appreciation for great pieces of art in a fun and playful kind of way.

Fun Tutorials

To check out the whole series: