93 percent of Americans believe that the arts are vital to providing a
well-rounded education. Researchers tell us that getting an early start
in the arts can make a real difference in the lives of children.
Participation in the arts is important. Research shows that the
benefits of early arts education extend way beyond providing a creative
outlet for children.
Arts education can help develop: Imagination..
Cognitive skills.. Creative abilities.. Problem solving.. Fine motor skills..
Language.. Social skills.. Sense of time and place.. Focusing.. Listening.. Risk
taking.. Tolerance.. Uniqueness and more...
-- Courtesy of Amber Sullivan
ART LESSONS AND ACTIVITIES
- 42eXplore
- Contains definitions, activities, the "4 good starting points", and many more links and resources for each thematic topic.
Ghosts, Ghouls, and Goblins
Color
Drawing
Patterns
- A Place of Our Own
- A collection of creative activities for preschool children, hosted by Community Television of Southern California.
- Animation Meat
- Animation tutorials by Disney instructor Walt Stanchfield and others. Presented by Jon Hooper and Steve Kellener.
- Art for Kids: Elements, Principles and Other Concepts
- Sponsored by Arts Heaven (artsheaven.com). Includes links to related sites and articles.
- Art Access
- Presented by the Art Institute of Chicago. Find lesson plans and activities, hear audio pronunciations of art terms and study artists.
- Arts and Crafts Lesson Plans
- A collection of lesson plans posted by teachers on Teachers.net.
- Art in Action
- A program designed to introduce art and integrate art into other subjects. Contains links to other sites.
- ArtHistory.net
- Look up famous artists and research art styles and periods.
- Art History: A Resource Guide
- Provided by Arts Heaven. Contains links to other art history and art education web sites and published articles.
- Art History Resources
- Select a period of history and find links to research that era. Presented by Professor Christopher Witcombe of Sweet Briar College.
- Art History Guide for Kids
- An article by Chloe Mayer containing descriptions of the major art movements from the Middle Ages to Contemporary art. Also contains links to related topics.
- Artist Index
- Select an artist to view brief biography and list of paintings. Presented by Web Museum.
- Artsy - Vincent Van Gogh
- Provides Van Gogh's biography, images of over 70 of his works, and up to date Van Gogh exhibition listings. Also suggests contemporary artists, allowing viewere to continue exploring art beyond the Van Gogh page.
- Bet Borgeson Studio
- Online colored pencils courses and tutorials. The galleries of student work provide inspiration. Artist email addresses are are provided if you want to put images into PowerPoint.
- Botanicalart
- A forum for artists dedicated to the realistic portrayal of plants, flowers and natural science subjects.
- Cartooning Lessons
- Basic lessons by Glen Wyand and Sara Jordan.
- Chunky Monkey Cartoon Lessons
- A few lessons on animal cartoons presented by Pauline Comanor.
- Colored Pencil Challenge
- Lessons and teacher resources presented by Ann Kullberg.
- Famous Artists
- Select an artist to see links to other resources about that artist. Presented by Linkism.com.
- Famous Paintings
- Art appreciation lessons by Garden of Praise. Also has an excellent resource page.
- Gallery Games
- A PDF document with games related to Asian masks provided by Center for Puppetry Arts.
- Getty Games
- Art education related games including puzzles, detective and downloads. Presented by the J. Paul Getty Trust.
- How to Draw a Cartoon Character
- By Gary Harbo. Nice Site!
- Lesson Plans for Teachers
- Lesson plans by subject matter and by grade level from Teacher.org
- Library of Congress Learning Page
- Presentations and activities.
- Meet the Masters
- An art education program based on master artists.
- Mentisworks
- A blog listing art games.
- More Than Math
- Games that use math to teach art presented by the Asheville Art Museum.
- Origami Club
- This site has animated tutorials on creating origami from hundreds of templates.
- Quia
- Search for art activities provided by the Quintessential Instructional Archive. Activities include:
Color theory crossword puzzle
Elements of art puzzle
Principles of design puzzle
Matching art terms game
- T-Shirt Tie Dye Guide and Patterns for Kids
- Presented by ooShirts.com.
- WebExhibits
- An online museum of science, humanities and culture. Visual art exhibits include:
Colorvision and Art
Van Gogh's Letters
- Youth Arts
- All sorts of art related topics and useful links.
INTERACTIVE SITES
- A.Pintura: Art Detective
- Learn art history while playing detective presented by Educational Web Adventures.
- Art Games
- This page by Artificial.dk includes at least 16 games you can play online.
- Art History: ArtiFAQ 2100
- A student created site that chronicles art history past and present. By students at John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx under the direction of Steve Feld.
- The Artist's Toolkit
- Explore the elements and principles of visual art by ArtsConnected.
- Bomomo
- Create pictures using patterns that you create with buttons, pointing and clicking.
- Brain Games and Riddles to Play in the Car
- Various memory games, brain teasers and riddles from Titlemax.com
- Coloring Book.com
- Color holiday pictures with your web browser, presented by Coloring.com.
- Collage Machine
- Presented with a blank work screen, visitors can peruse the collection of objects, colors and shapes offered and then drag them onto their workspace.
After doing so, the images can be manipulated in a variety of ways. Get ready for hours of fun! Try the auto selection, too, and see what pops up. All "kid safe" images. Presented by the National Gallery of Art.
- The Color.com
- An online coloring book. Kids can learn the names of 192 colors while they're coloring.
- Cosmeo
- Features online art games, presented by the Discovery Channel.
- Curious Corner
- Several online art games by the Art Institute of Chicago. See the mask maker, cornell boxes, create portraits, and match shapes, textures,
and sounds.
- Dr. Seuss - Seussville
- Contains games and activities. Presented by Random House Children Books.
- Free Rice
- Select famous artists from the offered subjects and answer questions. For each right answer, 20 grains of rice will be donated to the UN World Food Program.
- Getty Games
- A great page of games created by the J. Paul Getty Trust.
- Graffiti Creator
- Create your own graffiti online. You can choose a font and fill it with graffiti. Sponsored by MindGem Graphics Inc.
- Hampshire Museum
- Several painting puzzles and exploration of patterns. Unfortunately, it only works on Windows.
- Haring Kids
- Interactive activities that relate to the late graffiti artist Keith Haring. Sponsored by the Keith Haring Foundation.
- Inside Art: An Art History Game
- An adventure in Art History by Educational Web Adventures.
- Interactivate Tessellate!
- Create your own tessellations online. Presented by Shodor.
- Jackson Pollock.org
- Move your mouse around and create a Jackson Pollock-like painting.
- JigZone.com
- Create your own jigsaw puzzles online. Create puzzles from works of art.
- KIDLINK
- Online activities for students. How do you want the world to be a better place? Lots to see and do on this site - kids' art, music and more.
- Make-a-Flake
- Create snowflakes online and save the patterns to your computer. Presented by Barclay.
- MakeBeliefsComix.com
- You can create your own comic strip online. Created by Bill Zimmerman and Tom Bloom.
- Modern Art Game
- Players compete to gain the most money by buying and selling paintings at auctions and reselling them for profit. Presented by Widipedia.
- Mr. Picasso Head
- Drag and drop facial features to create a Picasso image, by RFI Studios.
- Pencilmation
- This site has a collection of funny cartoons that motivate students to draw. Presented by Ross Bollinger.
- Portrait Detectives
- Lots to learn here - Try it! You will have fun testing your knowledge of how to read a painting. Presented by the Walker National Gallery in Liverpool.
- Puzzle Maker
- Play and create puzzles online presented by Discovery Education.
- Rollip
- Create Polaroids from your own photos for download or print.
- Tate Kids
- Collection of games, activities and an online gallery presented by the Tate.
- The 5? Art History Quiz
- Questions about art by Carol Sutton. Questions change each month.
- Uncle Fred's
- Coloring book and other art games from Fred Laswell.
- Virtual Jack-O-Lantern
- Carve pumpkins online! Presented by BloomPetals.
- Walker Art Center
- Interactive art activities categorized by grade level.
- YouDraw
- The aim of this website is to show what 6 billion people look like by producing 12,000 copies of a book of 500,000 human figures drawn by visitors to the site. Help the creators of YouDraw achieve their goal by using the interactive drawing pad available on the site. For children and adults. Presented by Louis Paschoud and Peter Holberton.
OTHER RESOURCES
- Decorative Room Color Theory
- Sponsored by Decorative Ceiling Tiles. Includes links to related sites about color.
- Tangrams and Puzzles for Kids
- Sponsored by Home Office Cleaning. Interactive games and PDF printable puzzles.
- A Glossary of Color Theory Terminology
- Sponsored by QuickShip Toner. A list of color theory terms and their definitions along with links to related sites.
- Master the Art of Dance
- As the popularity of dance increases, more styles are represented and new levels of interest are piqued. Presented by DateHookup.com.
- Web Sudoku
- Sudoko is a logic-based number placement puzzle. For older students.
- TES Teaching Resources
- This is an on-line network of teachers with resources on many subjects. Link is redirected to Google where you can click on the web site.
- Tutor Hunt
- Lists resources on many subjects. Link is redirected to Google where you can click on the web site.