Great Art Sites for Kids—Artopia on PBS

On the website for my local PBS station, I recently found Artopia. Here you can watch the pilot episode of the children's cartoon featuring the young artist Nina, and her two best friends/creations named Little and Streak. In this episode, a stained glass king has his crown stolen by a monster, and the trio venture into Artopia to track down the monster and retrieve the crown.

Along the way they meet creations of art from different parts of the world, and from different time periods depicting various monsters and creatures. There is also a game where you can create your own monster using different body parts, colors and patterns, as featured in the show. Here's a monster I created using the head of the demon Arghan, from India, and the body of Skylla, a beast from Greek mythology.

Unfortunately this series didn't take off, so I think that's why the "Share What You Think" section is now defunct. But it's fun to watch the episode and design some monsters. It was great timing for me to find this site, as I am currently working on a lesson with my 5th graders about gargoyles, grotesques, and chimeras! And there's a special place in my heart for red-headed artists! Have a look and create a monster or two.

Great Art Sites for Kids – Glassblowing

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis has a wonderful kid-friendly interactive tour of how to blow glass. Sarah leads the tour of the hot shop, where she helps you make glass into art. This is a great tie-in for a Dale Chihuly lesson. It is also just a genius idea too, since the process of glassblowing is not child friendly! Let your kids make their first piece of virtual glass here at this online resource.

Great Art Sites for Kids—Reasonably Clever

Reasonably Clever is a site for the Lego designer in all of us! Users are guided through the steps to create their own Lego character complete with accessories and background! If you are looking for a quick and fun visual adventure for kids, this may be the place to visit. Here are a couple of versions of me. The first is done in Mini-Mizer 3.0, the second is done with the classic, kid safe version. I enjoyed both and would say they are both appropriate for children. Check the Mini-Mizer tab for the different versions. Enjoy!

http://www.reasonablyclever.com/mini-mizers/mini-mizer-2-0/

Great Art Sites for Kids— Build Your Wild Self

Build Your Wild Self is a site sponsored by the New York Zoological Society, which allows children to create a self portrait Using attributes from a variety of wild animals.

First you create an avatar based on your human self, a fun exercise self portraiture. The you choose features from different animals to create your "wild self." As you work, you hear the sounds each animal makes and your final result lets you read about the attributes you've chosen.

This would be a great exercise to combine with a "Where the Wild Things Are" art lesson. It could also be a cross-curricular themed project with wildlife sciences. Here is the wild self I created:

Great Art Sites for Kids—Kerpoof!

Kerpoof Studio is one of my kids' favorite sites on the web for drawing and making art. Kerpoof is owned by the Disney company, and though not everything there is available for free (they require a monthly subscription fee for complete access) there are great features that are free that should not be passed up!

Try the Make a Drawing page with a sophisticated and easy to use paint program. Children can see colors being added to their palette and how they mix, and they can choose settings for the transparency and size of their pen.

On the Make a Picture page, children select different backgrounds to start with and then they get to add elements to create their art in a collage style. I happened to find a couple of pages base on famous paintings. As elements are selected, facts are given about the artist and his work. 

I hope you get a chance to play at Kerpoof!

Great Art Sites for Kids— Keith Haring

It's time to add another great art site for kids to my list. This one is Haring Kids! Along with information about the artist, there are lots of games, interactive puzzles, and online as well as printable coloring activities. If you get a chance, check it out.  There are also lesson plans and requests for teachers like you and me to submit our Keith Haring inspired artworks. Enjoy!

Great Art Sites for Kids — Jackson Pollock

Well, this isn't exactly a web site full of information, more of an application posted online for use. But it is a lot of fun, and will give you a glimpse of what it is like to paint in the style of Jackson Pollock. It's not as easy as you think! Just go to jacksonpollock.org and move your mouse around the blank canvas. Slow movement will give thick trails of paint. Quick movement will draw slurpy thin waves across the page. Pause and you get a big old dollop! Each time you click, you will load the brush with a different color.

Sometimes I leave my computer at this site and let each of the kids have a turn for free choice. It is quite a treat! I hope you get a chance to create your own action painting.

Great Art Sites for Kids — Matisse!

I've decided every now and then to feature an art-related web site for kids. I keep saying to myself that I will create a blog roll and list them all, but then I visit one site, and have too much fun just being there! So let's start with one, shall we? Now at least I know I've started!

My first feature is:

Matisse for Kids at the Baltimore Museum of Art

Raoudi the dog leads you on a tour of Matisse's paintings. The tour is filled with quotes from the artist, puzzles, and lessons about color, pattern, props and more. As you read along and play, you collect items to add to your portfolio. Then you get to assemble your own online collage using the items from your portfolio. Here is my Matisse inspired masterpiece! I hope you get a chance to make one of your own, and to share the experience with a young person you know.