Are We There Yet?

A great activity for 5 to 10 year olds is watercolors. Using and mixing colors to create a picture teaches creativity and artistic expression, distance, perspective and skills such as project planning.

Start off by teaching your child about perspective. A good time to do this is when you are outside. Show your child that objects in the distance appear smaller than when they are close up. It would be good if you could also show your child some paintings that display perspective, and allow them to see how artists demonstrate this. A good way to see how much they understand perspective is if you are driving or walking with them, ask your child how long it would take to get to a certain place you can see in the distance. If your child has a watch or phone with a stopwatch, play a game, timing yourselves how long it takes to get to a place you see from afar. After doing this several times, your child should be able to understand near and far, distance and time for their age level.

It is best to use a tabletop art easel or a kids art easel. They can sit or stand and you can put plenty of newspaper underneath to be sure the floor doesn’t become wet or colored. You also need heavy weight water color paper which you can get at any arts and craft store. You will also need a selection of brushes. Try to get at least one wide brush about 2 inches, this can be used for filling in large details, and one fine point brush for outlining shapes and filling in finer details. You can also use a sponge for filling in backgrounds

If painting a landscape, tell your child to take a photograph of the landscape he/she wishes to create with your cell phone or a real camera. You could also use an image from a book or found online. Either way ensures your child has their image in front of them while they are painting. Have your child start off by sketching in the horizon line where the sky meets the ground. Now your child can loosely sketch in the details such as trees, animals and houses. Wet a sponge and lightly cover the entire paper with water before applying the paint. If too much water is applied simply remove with tissue.

Your child can now examine their paint and decide which colors they need for their painting. Allow them to experiment and mix colors to achieve a wider variety of shades. Water each color down slightly with some clean water. You can decide whether to use masking materials such as tape or ink to fill in the details your child has outlined, these can be peeled off at a later stage to leave these areas free from paint. Your child should have a shade of blue for the sky, don’t be afraid to use plenty of paint as it will be diluted once it is applied to the paper.

Now, advise your child to apply the paint to the top of their paper/canvas using a sponge or large brush. They should apply the paint liberally all the way down to the horizon line. Repeat this for the ground working their way up to the horizon line. Now your child’s page/canvas should have color applied all over. Tell your child to leave their paper enough time to dry out and not to worry if it looks messy at this stage.

Watercolors are built in layers so once the paper is dry your child can paint in the shapes he/she has previously outlined. Your child can now add another layer to the sky and the ground. Don’t allow your child to be discouraged if they are not happy with the final image. The only way for your child to improve is through practice. It is important to inspire children to continue and improve their creative skills rather than giving up. Give advice the next time, encouraging your child, while pointing out where they can improve. For example, point out that watercolors don’t allow for many intricate details, but more general strokes.