There are significant benefits of adding art to your homeschool curriculum. Just naming a few, it encourages inventiveness and creativity, it can help children to develop and practice their fine motor skills, and it can help them to cultivate decision-making skills. Plus, they are able to practice expressing themselves, not only artistically, but verbally when they are telling you about their art.

So, in addition to teaching your children the core subjects of language arts, math, science, and social studies, it is also great to teach them art.

How to Implement Art in Your Homeschool Curriculum

However, as important as art is to a child’s development, it’s not always easy to come up with ways to teach it. Especially if you don’t consider yourself to be very visually creative. If you are having trouble with that, here are some simple ideas you can use. Hope they help!

Keep Art Time Simple

No one said that art has to be complex or fancy. Head to your local dollar store or art supply store and load up on some basic art materials. Construction paper, scissors, markers, crayons, color pencils, glue, etc. You can also buy some crafting supplies like felt, googly eyes, popsicle sticks, pom pom balls and a wide variety of things that are available in the art or school supplies sections.

Give your kids free reign to create whatever tickles their fancy. If you want to do specific art projects, you can usually find some really great ideas and tutorials on Pinterest, Youtube, and across the internet. Simply do a search using keywords related to the materials that you have on hand. For example, a Pinterest search for “watercolor paint ideas kindergarten” will lead you to this pin that has 20 process art activities for preschoolers using paint.

Pick One Medium for Art

Choosing one type of medium to learn over a set period of time is another way of keeping it simple. The easiest and simplest art activities we have incorporated into our homeschool lessons have been with chalk pastels. You ARE an ARTiST has over 800 video art lessons on so many subjects that it is simple to incorporate into a lesson or theme. I pull the video lesson up on an Ipad or computer and set the supplies out on the table. My children are able to follow along and create their own chalk art piece.

Study Artists

Another great way to implement art is to study the people who create it. Write down a list of history’s most notable, interesting, successful, or underrated artists and spend time learning as much as you can about them. Learn about their art style and look at the various works of art that they created. Read about their lives and the time period in which they lived. You can often find books, movies, and documentaries about popular artists.

In The Ultimate Guide To Virtual Art Museums, you will find an complete list of virtual art museum options for you and your family!

With these Homeschool Fine Arts titles or High School Fine Arts membership, you can learn about artists and composers.

Study Art Periods

Just as you can study artists, you can study groups of artists by delving into the history of art. Learn about the different time periods and the type of art that characterized them. For example, you can have a unit study on Renaissance Art or the Impressionist period.

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Unit Studies for Ancient Art and The Orchestra: Elementary Through High School

Attend Art Shows and Art Displays

If you have the advantage of living in an area with art shows and museums, I would definitely take advantage of it. These can be a fantastic way to introduce your children to great art. My absolute favorite museum is the Art Institute of Chicago. I could stay in there all week and never get tired of it. If you are ever in the area, it is definitely worth checking out. However, you can probably find things to do that are closer to home and just as inviting.

Here are some great ones!

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Why You Should Take an Art Museum Field Trip

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Sign up for an Art Class

Another great idea is to check around your community for art classes. They could be offered by art supply stores, artists, schools, homeschool co-ops and more. This is especially great if you really are not confident about teaching art, but still want your children to be introduced to it.

Hire an Art Tutor

Last, but not least, you have the option to seek out and hire an effective and reputable art tutor who would be willing to take your child under his or her wing to cultivate their creative side. (Nana of You ARE an ARTiST is a great ‘virtual’ art tutor!)

All of these are great ways that you can implement art in your homeschool curriculum.

More Help for Adding Art To Your Homeschool Curriculum

Homeschool families come in all shapes, sizes and learning styles! These art lessons for homeschool families are a brilliant way to creatively bring learning to life, build memories together and have FUN learning. Let art add a layer of learning that brings joy to all ages.

The Best Art Lessons for Homeschool Families: this explains how art lessons can fit a Charlotte Mason homeschool, eclectic, classical, interest-led, special needs and more!

• Simple Online Video Art Lessons: Homeschool Mom Time Savers
• Fine Arts Credit for Your High School Transcript
• The Ultimate Guide to Fun Art Projects for Your Homeschool
• Why Combine Art and Academics?

Free Sample Art Video Lesson to Enjoy at Home

I know, you might be wondering what the lessons actually look like? Well you can try a video art lesson for free with your children. And you can see why we love learning about art from Nana 🙂 Enjoy: A Fall Bird Art Lesson.

Join Nana in the You ARE an ARTiST Complete Clubhouse for ALL the very best art activities and access to all the fun! (And you can save some time as a homeschool mom too!)

Maureen helps Christian mompreneurs operate their business from a place of joy, purpose, and excellence because they are clear on how their business is serving their family and others. As a homeschool mom, she believes success at home AND business without the mom-guilt, stress and burn-out is possible! Outside of work, she loves having good conversations over a hot chai or GT Gingerberry kombucha and spending time with her husband and seven children. Visit her at MaureenSpell.com