If you are homeschooling your child, there are many subjects you have to teach them. Art is one of these subjects. People often focus on math, science, languages, and other things, while neglecting art.
However, artwork has been proven to be very important for children to do on many different fronts. At the very least, it helps them express emotions and be creative.
That said, you might not know what kind of art to do at home with your children. Therefore, today, we’re going to provide you with some great art class ideas for homeschool children.
Art Ideas for Homeschool
Let’s take a look at some of the best, easiest, and most creative art ideas for home schooled children that you can do at home with your kids.
1. Sunscreen Paintings
One thing that you can do at home with your children are some really cool sunscreen paintings. No, kids don’t always want to put their sunscreen on, but that’s because they don’t know how fun it can be. This is a very simple art project that is going to show your kids the importance of sun protection. It can also be a whole lot of fun.
Here, you’re going to get some black construction paper, a paintbrush, and some relatively high SPF sunscreen. You are then going to get your children to draw whatever they want on that black construction paper using the sunscreen. You’ll then put the black construction paper with the sunscreen painting out in the sunlight.
Take some rocks and put them on the corners so the painting doesn’t blow away in the wind. You want to leave it in direct and bright sunlight for around three hours.
When you come back to it, you’ll see that everywhere that hasn’t been covered in sunscreen has faded a whole lot. The areas that do have sunscreen on them won’t have faded at all. Not only does it look really cool, but now you can demonstrate to your child just how important sunscreen is for their own health.
2. Making an Art Journal
Another cool homeschool art idea for your children is to create some kind of artistic journal. Now, there are many different forms that this art journal can take. First and foremost, the journal could of course be about the feelings that your child has. Journals are great places to express feelings that we don’t want to say out loud.
Your child could write down what they are feeling and then do some artwork on the side to really put some emotion into it. Alternatively, the journal doesn’t have to have any writing in it at all. The journal can be 100% artwork. This way, your child can draw, paint, and do whatever else, to express their emotions in ways that words can’t.
On the other hand, the journal could focus on the specific subject or topic. You could have a journal that is all about animals, with each page dedicated to a different animal.
You could then have your child draw or paint the animal, and write down some interesting facts about them. This way, they can practice their artistic skills while also getting some reading and writing in.
3. Get Some How to Draw Books
If you have a child that is seriously interested in art, getting some how to draw books might be a good idea. Here, we are talking about books designed for people who are really into art, but don’t know where to start.
These are books that start out with basic drawing concept and skills, and then work their way up to more difficult aspects of art. If you have a child that is a perfectionist, a how to draw book is probably a good idea. These are excellent four children who maybe aren’t overly spontaneous or can’t think of what to draw on their own.
They provide your child with instruction and guidance to keep them on track, while still keeping things light and fun. This will help teach your child basic artistic skills, while also teaching them how to follow directions.
4. Skittles Art
Another great art project for homeschooled children is Skittles or candy art. Here, you want to get yourself some kind of candy that has a colored coating on the outside, such as Skittles, Smarties, M&M’s, or anything else of the sort. You want them to have many different colors on the outside, because this is what your art project is going to be based on.
The main goal here is to arrange the candies on a piece of paper to create some kind of artwork. Then, you pour some water onto the candies, which causes the colors to leach off of them. The colors will come off of the candies and onto the paper, therefore forming some really neat artwork. It’s just a really fun and colorful activity.
Now, if we are talking about Skittles, each of the dyes used to color the exterior features slightly different scientific properties. So, if you want to take things up a notch, you can have your child record different things they notice about each of the colors as they leach off of the candies. It can be as simple as having your child record how the colors mix together.
5. Study Famous Artists
Although it’s not exactly the most riveting or creative type of art around, studying art is also very important. After all, you are homeschooling your children, which means that you are educating them.
Well, a big part of art is studying art history, not just doing artwork. It’s important for your children to know who famous artists were or are, and why they are so important.
Knowing the history behind art is just as important as being able to do art. Therefore, you might want to get yourself some art textbooks or art information books. This way, you can have your child study some of the most famous artists from around the world and their works of art.
You could of course do some quizzes and tests to see how well your child retains the knowledge.
That said, you can also step things up a bit. You can always have your child try to recreate some of the most famous works of these artists. You might have them try to recreate it 100%, or do their own interpretation of it.
Whatever the case might be, knowing what the most famous artists in history have done is something that every homeschool child should learn.
6. Making Portraits
Another great art idea for home school children is making portraits. Portraits are always really fun to make because they can be done in many different ways. Just like we talked about above, portraits can be very realistic or they can be interpreted.
Of course, if you have a very young child, you might want to go more for the interpretive side of things. However, if you have a young adult on your hands, going for realism might be a good idea too. You can always play to the strengths of your child as needed.
What’s really cool here is that the medium your child uses is virtually unlimited. You could use construction paper with various colors and shapes of pasta to make portraits. You can use normal paint, watercolors, sparkles, sprinkles, beads, and many other things too. if you want to keep things simple, start with some plain crayons.
7. Blow Painting with Straws
A really cool type of art to do with homeschooled children is known as blow painting. Blow painting simply involves using a straw to blow paint on paper. Your child is going to use their own breath to direct the paint around as they want.
This creates some really cool and stunning visual effects. Your children can use any color of paint they want, change up the size of the straws to change the effects, and more.
It’s also a really cool project to do when it comes to color mixing. You can have your children mix together different colors of paint to see what the results are. This way, not only is this project a creative one, but also an educational one too.
8. Go to Museums
OK, so this isn’t actually an artistic activity per se. However, we do think that it is still quite important, as it does have to do with the educational side of things. Although kids might find it boring, taking them to various art museums or children’s museums with art spaces is recommended.
Once again, teaching your children about different artists and the history of art is quite important. It’s all about broadening their horizons and showing them what the world has to offer.
If you go to a children’s museum that has dedicated art spaces, your children can also do some fun artwork at the same time. This way, you can have your children make a mess in the museum and then take them home. It’s fun for them and it saves a whole lot of clean up time for you.
9. Stop Motion or Clay Animation
Another cool art project for home-schooled children is making stop motion animation or clay animation. Some of the best media to use here is either clay or Lego. Both clay and Lego are really easy to manipulate to create many different frames. This way, your children can create characters, scenes, or whatever else, to create a full story.
You could have your child make literally hundreds and hundreds of frames to create a small stop-motion or clay animation movie. What’s really cool here is that it’s not just artwork, but also media studies. Your kids have to use a camera to take a picture of the individual frames.
Your children then have to upload the pictures, edit them, and put them in sequence. The process teaches your kids about art and technology at the same time. Moreover, we do have to say that this is one of the home art projects that kids tend to like the most. It really lets them be creative.
Conclusion
Home school art projects can be educational, fun, and creative. Remember that as a homeschool teacher to your children, you have to take care of both the creative and the educational side of things. So, do a bit of book learning, go to a museum, and mix in some fun hands-on art projects too.