A year ago, a great flock of a dozen bluebirds flew into our yard for the day, the Sunday just before the cold spell returned. We delighted in their flitting from tree to grass and back to tree, blueness flashing by.

I got out the Handbook of Nature Study and started reading a bit about the bluebirds to the kids. Then I read to them from chapter 5 of The Burgess Bird Book.

The next day, instead of starting with math as we usually do, I had the nature journals ready. After Morning Time, I announced boldly, “I am going to paint a bluebird so I can always remember yesterday.” I plunked myself down at the dining room table where we do school and proceeded to sketch my bluebird. I had taken the color image and the coloring image from this page, and had arranged them to make a single coloring page in a Word document. I used one of the bluebirds from there as my guide.

The kids sat with me and started coloring their coloring pages. The criteria was to color them identically to the model. It was interesting how Bear (7) took this to heart and tried out a bunch of coloring pencils to get the hues to match exactly. I showed her how you can layer colors as you color. She liked that.

Then J-jo (5) declared he was done and I asked him if he wanted to draw and paint a bird in his sketchbook. Of course he did not. So we compromised and he cut out the birds from the coloring page and glued them into the sketchbook. I cringed a bit at wasting a perfectly great page of watercolor paper! (We use these beautiful, sturdy books.) Bear meanwhile did decide to paint a bird and wrote quite a long entry about the bluebird. It helped that she saw me write more than usual.

We started our journals exactly two years ago and they are barely filled. My goal is to make sure we do some sort of keeping in them weekly, even if the weather does not cooperate. I have been inspired by these daily nature study plans and am trying to bring nature inside more often as a compromise. It’s not my ideal, but it is better than not doing nature study.

What does nature study in your home look like?

Book:

Hundertwasser for Kids: Harvesting Dreams is a book filled with activities for kids to help them learn about Hundertwasser and his art, architecture and style. I had never heard of this artist before. He was an Austrian architect and painter. I especially love his lollipop trees.

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Go-Along Literature:

Since Hundertwasser grew up during World War II, some novels set during this period would work well with a study of this artist. Some of our favorites are The Winged Watchman, Twenty and Ten, and Snow Treasure. These are for middle to upper elementary.

Picture books set during World War II that we have read and enjoyed are Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot, The Greatest Skating Race, and A New Coat for Anna.

Go-Along Art Project:

Be inspired by some of his paintings to do a similar drawing or painting. Note the bright colors he used, the bold lines, and the contrast. Invite your child to think brightly, boldly and creatively! Here are some of my favorites.

If you are starting this series in the middle, be sure to check out the first post to see all the artists in our art history timeline.

I love art appreciation and I love using a good general art book to share my love of art with my kids. We own all the featured art books mentioned below and use them during our Morning Time routine on Fridays.

{This post contains affiliate links of items that I use and like.  Thank you for your support of this blog by purchasing through our link. Note that anything you purchase once you click through one of my Amazon links will result in supporting the blog; you don’t even have to buy the item you clicked on initially!}

(images in post from Amazon)

1. Children’s Book of Art: An Introduction to the World’s Most Amazing Paintings and Sculptures from DK is a good art history introduction for elementary aged kids. It starts with cave art and progresses through modern art. Interspersed throughout are explanations of styles, methods, how-to’s, timelines, and interesting tidbits about specific artists or pieces of art. You could get by with just this one book for a well-rounded art history.

Of course, I am never satisfied with just one book!

2. Usborne’s The Children’s Book of Art: An Introduction to Famous Paintings is a good one to have to make sure your children are at least familiar with the world’s most famous paintings. The art is arranged chronologically starting with Renaissance artists.It has an “About the artist,” interesting facts about the specific painting and is just enough information to whet the appetite and make a personal connection to the art.

3. The Art Book for Children (Books One and Two) have a large reproduction of a piece of art on one side of the page and things to look for, questions to ponder, close up enlargements of details on the other side.

Great for art appreciation if you want a bit of direction and focus. Paintings (and sculptures) vary from Renaissance to Modern art.

4. Come Look With Me series (we own World of Play, Enjoying Art with Children, and Animals in Art but there are several other titles in the series) are set up similarly to The Art Book for children, except the art chosen revolves around a theme as per the title of the book. There are a few focus questions and a brief snippet of information on the artist and the piece of art showcased. We have been able to find some of these in the library.

5. How to Teach Art to Children is an Evan-Moor book from my teaching days. It is the perfect book for non artsy parents who wish to teach the elements of art to their children but have no clue how to start. The elements of art include: line, shape, color, value, texture, form, and space, and this book teaches you what each one is and provides accompanying art projects to practice each element. Part two of the book has projects that combine the elements of art while focusing on 24 famous artists and cultures.

Click the image below to find art books to teach through an art timeline.

Books:

We borrowed Uncle Andy’s from the library and enjoyed it so much it is on our wish list to purchase. Can you imagine being related to Andy Warhol? Uncle Andy’s house was crammed with all kinds of things, and lots of cats, and was incredibly entertaining to visit as a child. The book tells the story of these visits at Uncle Andy’s house. The illustrations depict New York City in the 1960s and you can clearly see where Warhol got lots of his inspiration.  Note that the author is the young boy who visits Warhol in the city.

{This post contains affiliate links of items that I use and like.  Thank you for your support of this blog by purchasing through our link. Note that anything you purchase once you click through one of my Amazon links will result in supporting the blog; you don’t even have to buy the item you clicked on initially!}

While we haven’t read Uncle Andy’s Cats, it is by the same author as the former book and looks very promising.

Go-along Art Project:

This project is a fun and simple one that can be done in a variety of media (markers, colored pencils, chalk or oil pastel, paint) as well as with a variety of simple shaped objects (trees, leaves, icecream cones, snowmen) so this is a project that can fit into any number of themes already concurrent in your schedule. Elements of art discussed are line and color, specifically contrasting colors that are opposite on the color wheel, but you can also focus on choosing cool and warm colors.

If you are starting this series in the middle, be sure to check out the first post to see all the artists in our art history timeline.