Art teaches kids about history and culture.
It is essential that educators implement art education into the curriculum and encourage students to understand and appreciate the beauty of art. In a nation where standards and testing have become the norm, the creative world of art is a place kids can explore without fear of making mistakes. For once, there is more than one right answer! In order to instill a love for art in children, try some or all of the following ideas. Remember to be enthusiastic and positive; above all else, make art a fun and exciting experience for kids.
Instructions
1. Make art relate to children. Kids like relevance and always want to why something is important. One way to do this is to apply art to students' cultures and backgrounds. For instance, to introduce Native American heritage, children could create Indian inspired designs (fish, spears, waves, deer, etc.). If a student has an Irish background, explain Irish culture and lead into an art lesson on creating landscapes of the Irish countryside. Kids could also draw and paint family shields that showcase aspects of their family and background.
2. Have children create and experiment with art. In order to truly appreciate art, children must understand how difficult art can be. One way to do this is to introduce students to abstract art. Oftentimes you will hear kids say that anyone can create abstract art, because it simply looks like a mess of squiggles and shapes. However, when they are asked to create their own abstract artwork, students understand how truly challenging it is to create a masterpiece.
3. You may want to teach children the basic elements and principles of art. These include aspects such as line, shape, color, texture, balance, harmony, variety, contrast and pattern. Understanding these concepts will help children appreciate and understand the intricacy of art. Once students realize there is much more complexity involved in art than they may have previously thought, they will have a new-found respect for artists and their work.
4. Jackson Pollock inspired art.
Introduce students to fascinating artists like Wassily Kandinsky, Jackson Pollock, Laurel Burch, Georgia O'Keefe and Henri Matisse. Show children not only the art that these artists created, but share with them their life experiences as well. Next, allow students to make their own artwork inspired by these great artists. For example, if teaching about Jackson Pollock, have students create paintings using canvases and a splatter paint technique.
5. Yet another way to teach children to appreciate art is to relate it to other subjects, such as math, language arts and history. An example of incorporate art into language arts would be to have students create a monster or other creature, then write a story about their creation. Have kids answer questions like, "Where does my creature live?" and "What does it eat?" Art is all around us and is relevant to subjects across the curriculum. It reinforces material in a new way and aids students in understanding concepts.
