Learning Art Appreciation


With so many museums and art galleries putting up virtual tours these days, and with the extra free time your children (and possibly you) have, it is a perfect time to learn art appreciation. Looking at paintings together with your children is a rewarding way to spend time with them. (Note: it is the same with paintings as with movies: some subjects may require additional parental guidance for children.)

Learning art appreciation is not about the boring memorization of the various art movements through history, although it would be cool too if your kids could learn them. Rather, it is learning how to look at paintings and what to see in them.

In her article entitled "How to Look at Art with Your Children", Cindy Ingram suggests asking kids three questions when looking at art with them:


She suggests having fun with the paintings: posing like the characters, for example.


(The Qeddeng Family posing as the Spoliarium.)

Another way to look at paintings with your kids is to ask them to pay attention to details such as lines, shapes, colors, tones, textures, forms, and patterns.  This website explains how these elements work in paintings. It even has a PDF file worksheet you can download with talking points about these elements. You can refer to this worksheet as a checklist in discussing these elements with your children.

Older children might be interested in learning about those art movements. This is a good resource. The same website has images of many famous paintings you can look at with your kids.

Looking at paintings with your children and discussing them will open up whole new worlds for both of you. Enjoy!

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