When it comes to art play and fun for your child, could you use some inspiration? How about some kid-tested ideas for art activities from children’s books?
Not all children have opportunities for art play. These kinds of activities are sometimes seen as a waste of time, or not academic enough. As a parent or caregiver, unless you are an artist, you may not know what to do. Combining children’s books and stories with art can help with both of these. Art and books stimulate development of visual and language skills. Stories and books switch on imaginations making it much easier to be creative.
Following are some possibilities for art activities based on children’s books. As a reminder, these are not craft projects that kids do step-by-step to copy a specific product. Instead, these are experiences and kids will come up with their own creations.
Harold and the Purple Crayon, by Crockett Johnson, has been a popular story for decades. After reading this story, kids might like to draw or paint with just purple. If your child likes a different color, maybe it’s for a new story called _____ (Your Child’s Name) and the ______ (Favorite Color) Crayon. This one is Dee and the Black Crayon.
Dinosaurs are pretty popular with kids. Find any book about dinosaurs and using play dough or plasticine, kids can make their own dinosaurs. How do dinosaurs move? For some dance art, let kids move their bodies like dinosaurs.
The musical Cats was based on a book and played on Broadway for years. Can you and your child read about cats and then do some cat pretend play? There are hundreds and hundreds of other theatrical performances from books. Kids could add music.
Maurice Sendak’s Where The Wild Things Are is another story for lots of movement art. Kids can also draw, paint, or create monsters from play dough or from items in the recycling . Check out the scrap materials and treasures.
Any suggestions for what to do for Lots of Dots by Craig Frazier? Paint some dots or use dot stickers. Paint dabbers make great dots.
Parents do not need to be artists to include art fun for kids. Has this inspired you to think of some other art activities with children’s books?