This summer we’re looking forward to doing lots of crafts and art! My kids always have access to crayons, but I had to limit art supplies for awhile. Whenever I pulled out art materials, some children would end up looking like this:

summer art ideas

Honestly, it’s just part of the art process. Certain children need to try things out. And lest you think this cutie did it herself—- no, it was my very sensory-oriented 5 year old who would “decorate” her sister. For my own sanity, I had to put things up for awhile. I’m ready to tackle art projects again. 🙂 Now that the weather is nicer and we can move some of the messier crafting outside, I plan to offer that activity more often to my kiddos! We always have pens, crayons and pencils available, but what they really love is using paint, pastels and lots of glue and glitter!

Art for All Ages

I’ve mentioned several times how much we enjoy working through the art pastel lessons by HodgePodge (afflink). My kids from the toddlers to the teens can work on projects using the same medium. Sometimes I’m surprised at what my little ones can accomplish! The chalk pastel bird was created by my 5 year old! She followed the tutorial in A Simple Start to Chalk Pastels (afflink). All you need is Chalk Pastels (afflink) and paper! Any mess left on the table is easy to clean up.

summer art

My goal this summer:

– Set aside focused art creativity time at least once per week. That means I pull out the art supplies and work with my kids. We might cover one of the pastel lessons each week, or pull out another medium to experiment with. For my middle school and high school children, I have them enrolled in a sketching class to learn drawing techniques and to have a their own creative outlet.

– Plan a couple of really messy art projects— and do them outside. If you just look on Pinterest, you can find a slew of messy paint projects. I think my kids would have a blast doing this giant, messy mural.

– Plan a couple of art/craft projects to do with friends. It’s always more fun when friends are involved! We’ve done craft playdates in the past, and I think we’ll do at least 1-2 this summer. I’m thinking about doing a variation of this Art Party.