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Art for a 2nd grader?
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I’ve been poking around art websites lately because dd6 LOVES to do art/craft projects. She would be thrilled if I would have art as an actual subject next year.
My first choice would be Creating a Masterpiece, which looks like a fabulous program. CM friendly and in the way of the master artists who often practiced by copying other artwork. You make an actual piece of art right from the beginning so there is some instant gratification instead of spending the year trying to do contour drawings. Also, it’s fine art, not crafts, which I am not fond of. Any project made has the potential to be a wonderful gift for grandparents or aunts and uncles. 🙂 I could handle the price if I thought it would really work for a 7 year old.
My biggest concern is that dd has a tendancy to rush EVERYTHING. She doesn’t even usually color in the lines because she doesn’t want to take the time to do it. She can do it, she just generally chooses not to. On the flip side, she hates when her drawings or little cut and paste craft projects don’t look the way she wanted them to. It’s the same with copywork. If I sit next to her and coach each letter, she writes very well and is proud of her work. If I’m not there to tell her to write slowly and carefully for each letter, she rushes and then is disappointed with how her work looks.
I’m sure that as wonderful as the instruction offered on the DVD is, if you slop through the lessons in excitement of making a fun art project, it won’t turn out very well. I want dd to get some experience in fine art media and have fun with it, but I also want the lessons to teach her to take her time to create something beautiful and worthwhile. Scribbling with fancy pastels would still be fun, but I don’t want to spend $60 for that experience.
(She has watched the sample videos with me and on her own said she wants to get the pastel one.)On the opposite end of the spectrum, I’ve looked at Rod and Staff Artpac books several times. The grade 2 books says they cover the skills listed below. To be honest, I wonder if I would be better off getting her something like this for $8. She does need practice with many of these things so maybe she just isn’t developmentally ready (with patience, attention, ect.) to work on a fine art project?
- Color identification
- Coloring within lines, smooth complete coverage
- Coloring without voids, and directional lines
- How and where to use light or vivid coloring
- How to feather crayon with an eraser
- Cutting on the line with a scissors and/or sharp knife
- How to glue without getting everything messy
- Introduction to symmetry, and silhouettes
- Drawing and sketching with circles
- Using a ruler for straight lines
- Facial features and where to put them
- Using fabric in artwork
- Glue and powder art
- Tracing
- Adding detail to an outline
- Fingerprint art
- Making greeting cards
- Converting stick figure into finished drawings
Or maybe I should just get a couple Dover coloring books and sit down to color a picture with her, specifically to start training the habit of doing it carefully and neatly.
I really would appreciate any thoughts on this. Feel free to tell me if I’m way off base on all of this!
Here are a couple of books that will let her experience the fine art mediums you mentioned, while still letting her be creative:
Tristan did a blog post about this one –
http://www.southernhodgepodge.com/a-simple-start-in-chalk-pastels/?ap_id=Tristan You can buy pastels at Walmart to use first.
We are using this now. I’ve only posted one experience on my blog, though we’ve done several. I am sure that you could find it cheaper on used book sites:
As for the fine details, some of that will come with time and practice. Maybe you could do one of each idea – the R&S or coloring book for the practice and the pastel for creative fun.
We are using Meet the Masters http://mtmhomeschool4art.com/ Homeschool Buyers Coop carries it as well. http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/homeschool-art-music-curriculum/
My 7yo DD is loving it, and my 5yo DS tolerates it (art isn’t his thing),and even my 3yo can participate at her own level. For the price, I think it is worth it. Creating a Masterpiece looks wonderful, but was out of my price range.
Each Meet the Masters lesson gives a quick introduction to an artist and several of their works (we’ve done Van Gogh, Cassett, and Mondrian so far). Then there is a quick worksheet activity to explore a technique or concept that relates to the artist. We do those 2 sections in one sitting. Then, the third section is creating a project based on something about the artists work. With Van Gogh we used pastels to create our own ‘Starry Night’ pictures, for example. There is some basic instruction about how to use the medium, and then an idea to create the project. We do the project on a separate day, but if it were just my 7yo we could do it all in one. (The younger kid don’t have the attention span.)
The lessons are based on a script the parent needs to read and follow (although I preread and then just present the info in my own words). So you are the one doing the teaching, but you don’t need any prior experience. I have no art experience at all. It’s simple enough for us/me, but still teaching us some skills.
I don’t know much about all the other options, to be able to compare, but I thought I’d share our experience so far.
Joanne
I’m biased because it’s my Pastor’s wife that makes the Creating a Masterpiece videos, BUT your daughter could DEFINITELY do them. I have your same daughter, except when we first did the pastel she was only 6. She worked much more quickly than my 8 year old perfectionist daughter did, BUT her pastel painting still came out beautiful AND the when she did the next level pastel it turned out so fabulous! If you visit http://www.creatingamasterpiece.com/index.php you’ll see a picture of my daughter doing her first pastel. Now this daughter is exactly as you describe, completely unitnterested in sitting and coloring between the lines. She bounces and pounds from place to place in our house and would very much be at home as a “tigger”. But I think that the calmness of Sharon’s presentation, the simpleness of the instructions – step by step, also calms the child and the anticipation of making something beautiful causes them to take their time. It is a bit of an investment, but because the program is so new, I’m sure the resale value of the videos is great – so you can always recoop a portion of that cost. Invite a friend over and split the cost of supplies – a set of pastels should provide enough for four people if I remember correctly. That’s another thing – stop the video if you see she’s becoming too impatient and break the lessons down into smaller chunks and also don’t let her finish the whole project in a week, make her wait a week between lessons – it gives it time to soak in and might cause her to draw out her time working on her project.
I hope that’s helpful!
Rebekah
(She has watched the sample videos with me and on her own said she wants to get the pastel one.)
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