How Are You? + Fun Educative Art Activities for Kids

How are you? I hope that you and your loved ones are healthy and safe. These are crazy times: suddenly we find ourselves stuck at home, homeschooling kids and worrying about things most of us never had to worry about before. It will take some time to adjust and find a way to cope with this ‘new normal’. I try not to worry too much and look at the positive things happing around the globe in stead but it is hard. These are challenging times for all of us and we are all in this together. Perhaps this is the silver lining. Perhaps this will create more understanding and realization that we are all the same. We are all in the same boat. The virus does not discriminate, it will affect us all. We need each other and we need to work together as one world to fight the Corona virus. Talking about interiors and other ‘fun’ stuff may seem superficial and not relevant but I personally can use some distraction from reading Corona related news. So I will try to post regularly and will post daily inspiration on my Instagram account (which you can find here).

As many of you are homeschooling now I thought it would be helpful to post some suggestions for educative activities that you can do with your kids at home. I have made a schedule for a daily routine using the normal school schedule as a guide. In the morning we do school work that the teacher gave us and in the afternoon we do art, crafts, music and sport activities. One of the things we do is pick a painter and learn more about him/her and his/her work. First we talk about the painter (where did he/she live, what was his/her life like, style of work etc – you can find this information online, use wikipedia for example), then we look at some of his/her paintings and talk about what we see. Finally we create a piece in a similar style. Here are some suggestions for painters , plus links to examples of how to create artwork in the painter’s style:

– Rothko: https://www.artcampla.com/new-blog/2017/2/18/mini-rothko-color-play-on-cardboard
– Van Gogh: https://artsycraftsymom.com/van-gogh-projects-for-kids-inspire-your-heart-with-art-day/ and https://teachingthroughtheartsblog.wordpress.com/2017/11/08/art-of-the-day-the-starry-night-van-gogh/ and you can find a free download for a Starry Night outline here.
– Jackson Pollock: https://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2009/09/fine-art-friday-field-trip.html
– Claude Monet: https://www.learnplayread.com/toddlers-paint-water-lilies-with-claude-monet/ (also suitable for toddlers)

Take care and be kind to yourself and to others!

Image credit: Art Camp.