Our last drawing class was when we did Leo the Lion.

The kids were really not happy with that. Why? Very simple. They felt that the lion did not look like a “real lion”.

Boy! Did I get flack for that.

I figured you know what, its time for some abstract art. I’ve always believed that it’s really helpful for kids to get into many different non realistic artists to show them what real art can be.

Many children in our society today still only believe that you can be a real artist if you draw something realistic.

The more you show them artists work like Jackson Pollack, Matisse. Picasso etc the more they will start to realize how broad art is.

As for this series I am attempting to copy Mona Brooks’s method, I went to her other book, the one for teens and adults for more ideas.

She gives lots of ideas for all types of abstract art concentrating on design and I decided to try it with the kids.

I decided to give them a free, abstract design activity. this time using templates.

A few points here :

• You can use store bought templates like a  protractor or ones collected from around the house as I did depicted above.
• Let them use the rich colored markers as their designs will be much more vivid.
• This does not have to only be an activity withing an art class. It’s a fun activity to do with kids at any point

So I gave the children the objects shown above only I ended up removing the larger baking pans. the papers I gave them were not large enough to absorb that design.

I told them to use the objects to create designs all over their pictures.

I then instructed them to color them in.

One mistake I felt I made was I gave them an object that ended up looking too realistic. They are so fixated on realism that some of them were concentrating too much on this template as a realistic object. The object at the right is a strange looking scissors but as the

kids used it as a template they realized it looked like a bird and added it into their design. I really wanted only abstract pieces but it was to late to remove it once I noticed what they were doing.

All in all thought they really enjoyed this activity and at the end one of the children even expressed an interest in doing another one as she realized that she could really use her mind to create a better design.

As this was the first activity like this of abstract art, they didn’t really totally understand the concept of being able to make beautiful art using shape, color and design.

Try this activity at home in school, I think the kids will love. You will also if you do it along with them.