SIMPLE WAYS TO INTEGRATE ART INTO YOUR HOMESCHOOL
Do you want to add more art to your homeschool but don’t know where to even begin?
Art can feel really intimidating. For most of us, our art experiences are limited to a weekly class in elementary school, if we were lucky, and making art for fun as a kid.
SO HOW DO WE BRING MORE ART INTO OUR HOMESCHOOL?
I want to share one of my favorite ways to integrate art into your homeschool that will:
tie directly to your curriculum and topics of study,
provide your children with opportunities for creative expression, and
deepen their learning experience. Not only is it one of my favorites, but it is also one of the simplest.
SO LET’S TALK ABOUT OUTLINES
That’s right. Whether it’s black line masters or a coloring page, one of the simplest ways to integrate art is through the use of outlines. We use this tool for art expression in geography, anatomy, botany, zoology, earth science, astronomy, and more. Many curriculum and educational printables come with black line outlines.
Two of my favorite places to find wonderful, free, black line printables are the Waseca Biomes A-Z PDF library and Super Coloring, which has wonderful realistic coloring pages.
If your printer can accommodate card stock, most likely, it can accommodate watercolor paper, too. You can also use art paper, such as sulphite paper--which works well with everything from crayons to watercolors--and use it in your standard printer. Simply trim to size and place in your printer tray. Children can work with a variety of media, from crayons and colored pencils to oil pastels, watercolor paints, and acrylics. You can even use the outlines for paper collage, adding torn bits of construction paper or tissue paper to an outline, such as a map of the biomes of the world.
DON’T HAVE A PRINTER?
Tracing is a wonderful alternative and great for developing fine motor skills. Children can use tracing paper or a thinner art paper and trace any material in your homeschool--a geography puzzle, a book with ocean creatures, organs from an anatomy book, and more. Once they finish their art-making, they can add to their work, such as labeling continents on a map or writing definitions for the parts of a flower. Or simply leave it as a work of art and add it to their portfolio.
You have the power to make art a regular part of your daily homeschool!
For more ideas on integrating art into your homeschool, you can visit my Instagram profile, where I share ideas daily on Montessori-Inspired homeschooling, or visit my blog.
To find some of our favorite homeschool art supplies, you can visit my Amazon Storefront, found in my Instagram profile link.
Laura
ABOUT LAURA from MONTESSORI INSPIRED CO
Laura is mom to two boys, ages 5 and 7. She started homeschooling in the summer of 2020 and has found her passion! She loves to share Montessori-inspired homeschooling lessons, ideas, and DIYs for 3-6 and 6-9. She creates materials for her own children to work with and is thrilled to make them available for others through her Etsy shop. She works part-time from home as an independent nonprofit consultant, but homeschooling takes up most of her days and she loves it!
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