Thursday, April 14, 2011

Touch the Art books


My favorite subject to teach my second graders was art. (Hands down!) And I don't mean crafts. Don't get me wrong, crafts have their place, but I am talking about art education. We would study the life and style of Henri Matisse, for example, and then create a torn paper collage after the manner of his work. My kids knew their stuff and they loooooved it.

When we were gifted with the Touch the Art series (by Julie Appel and Amy Guglielmo) I thought I'd died and gone to art heaven. These board books are genius for toddlers and preschoolers. Each book focuses on a particular era/style of art (impressionism, for example). On every page you find a famous work of art, with a snappy little rhyme and something textural to play with (like you really get to make Van Gogh's bed with a little piece of soft red fabric!). So they're as entertaining as any board book, but your children are learning to love art history at the same time. (Bring it on, Humanities 101!)

I love them. My children adore them. And I am crazy about the fact that they love Starry Night as much as I do.

--anne

Learn more and check out the whole series:

5 comments:

bjahlstrom said...

I am in love.

jeanine said...

Oh my word! I want these!

Christina said...

Those look perfect! I need to check them out with my kids.

Ihilani said...

sounds awesome! i need to look into these

emily said...

anne,
any suggestions along the lines of great art education books, for 5th graders? i love the idea of studying an artist and then creating a piece inspired by his/her work ...