Easy Art Activities to Enrich Your Homeschool

Published:
March 28, 2022

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While the core subjects like math and language arts may be necessary in your homeschool, don’t neglect spending time on art skills and art fun with your kids. Art is one of those categories where the homeschool families can easily learn together, no matter the age. The only things you need are some basic supplies and some easy homeschool art activities to get you started.

child painting with mom and text Easy Art Activities to Enrich Your Homeschool

Benefits of Homeschool Art

Engaging with art is so much fun for kids of all ages, but it also brings many benefits to their developing brains. From engaging kinesthetic and visual learners, to encouraging creativity, homeschool art activities are important for your kids. Even those kids who struggle with depression, learning disabilities and developmental delays will benefit from art therapy. You can find twenty art therapy prompts from AOP to help your kids deal with their emotions through art.

Including Art into Your Homeschool Day

Including art into your homeschool day is also a fun way to make memories with your kids. Creating a piece of art together is priceless. Plus, with lots of easy homeschool art ideas below, you can enjoy making art with your kids rather than spending all your time looking for lesson plans.

While not all of our kids will pursue professions in the arts, some of them will. And you never know if you are lighting a fire in one of your kids by introducing them to famous artists, art techniques, or art history.

Homeschool Art

Another great thing about homeschool art is that it can fit into any homeschool routine. You can choose to plan it in weekly if you want. Or, if you just want to use these great ideas below occasionally during the year, it will still work! Engaging with fun art projects around the holidays is a nice way to break out of the normal homeschool schedule and encourage your kids’ creativity.

Here’s one final idea for you to try if including art regularly in your homeschool is a constant struggle – save it for the summer! Even if you’re taking a break in the summer from your normal schedule, you could gather all the art supplies and have a full week of “art camp” at home. Or you could even encourage your kids to spend rainy days or summer mornings creating art. However you do it, your kids will benefit from the visual arts.

Famous Artists

Your older kids will appreciate studying different artists that are related to their history lessons. It’s a great idea to incorporate art studies into history to make it come alive. You can talk about the style of art that is most prominent during different historical time periods. 

You could even find an Art History course for your high schoolers who want to dive more into the time period and lives of famous artists.

Analyzing Historical Art: Art Study Activity – Take advantage of this free download and help your kids learn to think critically about art depicting the American Revolution. This is a great way to add art study into your history lessons!

Periods of Art History – You’ll find tons of ideas and resources here to teach your kids about art history. Links include printables for learning about Surrealists, Abstract Artists, Expressionists, Post-Impressionists, Impressionists, and Modern Artists.

Kids of all ages will enjoy celebrating the birthdays of famous artists. Did you know that the month of March includes the birthdays of Michelangelo and Vincent van Gogh? Plan a party and try your hand at mimicking their art style. 

Art Appreciation

It’s not too difficult to start teaching art appreciation even to your younger kids. Your little guys will love exploring color theory in a hands-on way. Plus, you can incorporate fun art projects to teach the elements of art.

So, what would you start teaching your younger kids, even if you’re not artistic yourself? Consider things like:

  • Color
  • Form
  • Line
  • Shape
  • Space
  • Texture
  • Value

Ways to Teach the Elements of Art

While these elements may seem complex, they’re both fun and useful. During one art lesson, you can find creative ways to learn about color, including primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. Then, expand your learning with fun activities to explore lines. This would include projects like creating art using only lines, varying in width, length, and direction. It’s fun to play around with all of these elements! Don’t forget to download a Free Elements of Art and Color Wheel Worksheets to use with your kids.

Picture books provide a great resource for adding to your kids’ art education. While enjoying the story, take time to talk about the illustrations and the different elements of art that are used in the book.

Art Supplies

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a useable collection of art supplies. A basic art supply list includes:

  • Paper of different qualities and thicknesses
  • Paint brushes
  • Colored pencils
  • Chalk pastels
  • Watercolor paint
  • Oil pastels
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Various craft supplies: pom-poms, stickers, buttons, yarn

Where to Do Art in Your Home

You don’t even need a dedicated home art space if you don’t have the room or don’t want to carve it out. The kitchen table functions well as a kids art hub. You can make an art kit with basic supplies that is portable so your kids can use it anywhere.

Even a nature walk and a nature journal can be used to practice art techniques. Explore getting outside and making foraged art using flowers, leaves, and rocks.

Fun How to Draw Lessons

If you’re looking for How to Draw lessons, then try this Doodle-a-Day Challenge. You can download a handy PDF of 30 doodle prompts to keep your child drawing throughout the month.

Doodle a Day Printables

Your preschoolers will love exploring art techniques using different mediums. Here’s a round-up of art projects using markers. This list of art activities for preschoolers is all about having fun with crayons.

Online Art Lessons

If you really want to outsource the homeschool art lessons, then consider finding ideas online. YouTube art lessons are very popular, including many How to Draw options that kids find engaging.

Homeschool art curriculum or art classes can be used year-round or as short-term art unit studies. Here are some homeschool art activities to try:

Using Notebooking in your fine arts studies is a great way to engage your kids. Check out these awesome resources.

Artists Notebooking & Research Unit – Your kids will research 50 famous artists in this unit!

Fine Arts Notebooking Journals Series – Your kids will study artists and composers and create their own notebooks of what they learn.

Free Art Lessons

Of course, don’t forget to visit an art museum with your kids if you have the chance! It’s a great way to be exposed to various styles and artists. Of course, your kids’ artwork can be celebrated as well with a family art gallery wall. This provides a great way to notice their improving art skills and celebrate their progress.

Even if you can’t visit an art museum in person, you can still take a virtual art museum tour and study the fine arts at home.

Homeschool students will love these free printables and project ideas:

Edgar Degas Art Unit Study – Download a free set of art visuals to use with your kids to learn about post-Impressionist artist Edgar Degas.

Free Art Resources for Kindergarten – If you want a great list of resources to use for your younger kids, then you’ll love this round-up. Includes full art project links, plus basic handouts and printables.

In Conclusion

So whether you include homeschool art activities all year long or are just looking for a few fun art projects to fill your year, your kids will grow as you include these creative activities into your rhythm.

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