Lee Foster-Wilson - The Grown-Ups Guide to Making Art with Kids: 25+ fun and easy projects to inspire you and the little ones in your life

25+ fun and easy projects to inspire you and the little ones in your Life

Lee Foster-Wilson

2019 Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc.

Artwork and text 2019 Lee Foster-Wilson

First published in 2019 by Walter Foster Publishing, an imprint of The Quarto Group.

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Digital edition: 978-1-63322-740-8
Softcover edition: 978-1-63322-739-2

Digital edition published in 2019

Page Layout: Erin Fahringer

In-House Editor: Annika Geiger

Oh, to be able to view the world through a childs eyes! Creativity seems to come so naturally and unselfconsciously to children. With a little encouragement, they are happy to draw and paint almost anythingthey allow their imaginations to run wild and come up with all kinds of subjects and stories. But what happens when the children in your life ask you to draw or paint with them? Are you able to accurately render their requested subjects?

If the answer is no, but youve always wanted to learn to draw and make art projects with and for kids, this book is especially for you! Although my simple tutorials wont teach you how to work realistically, you will learn to draw and paint in a way that is fun and appealing to children. Youll also learn how to draw and paint with confidence. Included are practice spaces where you can make notes or sketches for future reference as well.

Once you have mastered a few basic drawing techniques, you will be able to tackle those requests with more than a stick figure or a cat that looks like a dog and a dog that looks like a horse. My hope is that this knowledge will also inspire kids to create art of their own.

And what should you do with these drawing and painting skills? Ive covered that too! In this book, you will find easy craft projects for you and your kids to do together. (These have all been tested by my own children, who enjoyed them immensely.)

Now grab your art supplies, and lets dive in and have some fun!

You probably already own many of the art supplies used in this book! Heres what I recommend when you and your kids are ready to start drawing and crafting together.

GRAPHITE PENCIL, PENCIL SHARPENER, AND ERASER Use these for sketching. I prefer an HB or a 2B pencil.

PAINT Thick poster paint and/or a tray of watercolors make fun, accessible toolsand theyre often washable too!

FELT-TIP MARKERS & FINELINER PENS A good selection of markers is necessary when making art with kids. If you have young children, you may want to choose the washable kind! Fineliner pens arent necessary, but they work well for adding detail to drawings.

QUALITY CRAYONS These make drawing and coloring easy for even the youngest of children.

PAINTBRUSHES & SPONGES Make sure you have a few paintbrushes and sponges of various sizes. Little hands will find thicker brushes and sponges easier to hold and can use them to add lots of color, while older children and adults may want smaller brushes and sponges for creating fine detail in their artwork.

PAPER & CARD STOCK Basic printer paper is great for practicing drawing, and you will need plain white paper for several of the projects in this book. Colorful paper and cardboard make fun surfaces, too. You may find that thicker paper or card stock will work better for the painting projects.

You can also reuse paper and cardboard found around your home. Old cereal boxes, index cards, shoeboxes, and unfolded envelopes can be used as drawing and painting surfaces.

Here are a few more items that you may want to have on hand when making art with your kids:

Colored pencils

Glue

Tape

Craft scissors