For today's installment of Backyard ART Camp, Melissa and I are sharing some of our favorite art books! Okay, so my books aren't exactly art books, but they are "arty" picture books, fun stories to read with your children that also discuss art, color, creativity and inspiration.
It's never too early to start teaching about colors. Mouse Paint is great for the youngest set. It introduces the three primary colors to children and shows how they mix together to make new colors.
The classic, Harold and the Purple Crayon, is filled with imagination and shows that there is no limit to what you can think up and draw...
These two books have been favorites of ours for quite a long time now.
In Harold and the Purple Crayon Harold, himself, is drawing the entire story with his purple crayon, but in some stories the drawing implements themselves draw the story...
The Pencil is an amusing story about the life that a Pencil draws for himself, and then the trouble that arises from his new surroundings.
Incidentally, while not necessarily art related, we love so many of Allan Ahlberg's books! We especially like Previously.
The Chalk Box Story, a little known Don Freeman book, tells a similar story.
In this story a box of colored chalk works together adding bit by bit to draw a scene that eventually has a happy ending. After reading this book we enjoyed experimenting with chalk drawings. We especially enjoyed using chalk on dark colored paper.
Next,
Ish and the Dot are two beautifully written books that will help your child spark their creativity! Both books teach children to be patient with their creativity and that they need to nourish it.
If you want to be art inspired, but also have a flare for the dramatics...then you will love Fancy Nancy and Olivia...
You may already remember that we love Fancy Nancy around here, and lest you think Fancy Nancy is fancy merely because she likes to dress up, you should also know that she is fancy because she knows a lot of excellent vocabulary words!
In Fancy Nancy Aspiring Artist Nancy spends her entire Spring break exploring her artistic side and learning about what it's like to be an artist. In the end, she and her friends hold their own art show! What a fun idea. We've got an art show on our summer to do list.
And, Olivia, well, she is full of energy and trouble making, but she is also a well rounded pig who loves Degas and the ballet...
Speaking of trouble making...In I ain't Gonna Paint No More
A little boy gets a little too carried away with painting, and winds up painting everywhere he shouldn't be painting! While I don't condone painting on walls or the ceiling, this book is colorful, fun and is filled with lots of rhyming. Plus, it is pretty fun to paint on yourself every once in a while...
This next book is one of Violet's favorites! It feels magical to her and she has fallen in love with Monet because of it...
In the book, The Magical Garden of Claude Monet, you follow along as a little girl gets lost in Monet's garden. She bumps into the "gardener" who is, in fact, Monet himself. The pictures in the book mimic Monet's beautifully and it makes you long to wander through Monet's garden yourself. Laurence Anholt also has several other books about other artists that he wrote in a similar manner, although we have only read his Monet one thus far.
And, one last book...
We picked up The Day the Crayons Quit while we were at the museum the other day. This book is, at times, laugh out loud amusing. A young boy opens his crayon box to find letters written to him from each of his crayons, some are happy, some are not. In the end, the boy takes to heart all that they had to say and draws a beautiful and creative picture.
One last thing...While this isn't a book...it is something that inspires art around our house often...
Doodle placemats! These are loads of fun and give kids ideas and instructions on "how to draw" a variety of different things, of course, they can also draw whatever they want to!
If you haven't checked out these books please do. I know that you will enjoy them and that they will help to inspire more and more art and creativity in you home, they have in ours!
Don't forget to head on over to A Happy Stitch to read all about Melissa's art book picks!
And, while we are talking about books today...Why not give one away!
We are thrilled to say that Potter Craft has offered a copy of MARTHA STEWART’S FAVORITE CRAFTS FOR KIDS to us as a giveaway for Backyard ART Camp!
To enter to win simply leave a comment either, here, on this post or on Melissa' book review post telling us "Who is your favorite artist and what is your favorite piece of theirs?"
You can also earn two bonus entries for subscribing to A Happy Stitch and Buzzmills via Bloglovin'(or Feedly, etc) or liking us on Facebook ( a Happy Stitch and Buzzmills)!
The giveaway will be open from now until midnight EST 7/23. Melissa and I will tally together and combine our comments and choose a winner randomly. We will announce the winner in our BAC post next Wednesday, July 24.
**** Comments Closed. Go here for the winner announcement. Thank you."****
Thanks for stopping by today! Enjoy these books. Good luck, and I look forward to reading your comments!
and don’t forget to join the flickr group and check out the newly formed Pinterest board to follow all things backyard art camp! we are so eager to see the projects happening in other backyards!
check back for the rest of backyard art camp! we can’t wait!
- july 24–danielle and andrea from crafting connections
- july 29–deborah from my life at playtime
- july 31– stephanie from the crafty kitty
- august 5–miranda from miranda makes
- august 7–dawn suzette from simple things notebook
- august 12–stephinie from gypsy forest
- august 14–courtney from mon petit lyons
- august 19–carla from small + friendly
- august 21–sanae from sanae ishdia
- august 26–jennet from feathered nest studio
- august 28–tara from girl like the sea
- labor day–wrap up and highlights of BAC
