Welcome to NurtureStore’s index of famous artist lessons for children.
Famous artist lessons for children
In this section of NurtureStore’s art resources you will find ready-made art lessons about famous artists, art history lessons, and famous artist profiles for children. This article is part of our children’s art lessons and craft activities.
A wide range of artists and styles are included in our kids’ art lessons to help you provide diverse, engaging art lessons for your children. We feature artists from pre-history; the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st Centuries; and contemporary artists. We include lessons about artists from around the world, including those from North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. We include artists of colour, LGBTQ+ artists, and neurodiverse artists.
We introduce your children to a range of art techniques and art movements including pointillism, minimalism, collage, pop art and textile arts. You will also find helpful art printables and handouts to make your teaching even easier.
Table of Contents
– Ready-made art curricula
– Art criticism
– Art galleries
– Art history
– Burch
– Chagall
– Colour theory
– Folk art: See Clementine Hunter or Maria Prymachenko
– Gee’s Bend Quilters
– Giacometti
– Graffiti – see Keith Haring
– Haring
– Hunter
– Kandinsky
– Kelly
– Kusama
– Mahlangu
– Matisse
– Miró
– Minimalism – see Ellsworth Kelly
– Mondrian
– Monochrome – see Bridget Riley
– Murakami
– Native American
– O’Keeffe
– Picasso
– Piper
– Pointillism – see Georges Seurat
– Pollock
– Pop art – see Keith Haring
– Prymachenko
– Riley
– Ringgold
– Savage
– Seurat
– Sobel
– Still life
– Van Gogh
– Woodsey Thomas
– Whistler
Ready-made art lessons, all in one place
The best and easiest way to teach great art lessons is to use our ready-made art curricula.
Choose from:
ART SPARK: This kit gives you everything you Art Spark: This kit gives you everything you need to get started with art and develop a rich and creative art practice with your children. 30+ inspiring process art projects, famous art, world culture, practical tips, and endless possibilities! See more and get your copy here.
Exploring Great Artists: This book gives you everything you need to teach an exciting art program inspired by the great artists of the world. With profiles of each artist, materials lists, lesson plans, and creative, hands-on art projects for every featured artist you’ll easily be able to deliver engaging and educational art lessons. See more and get your copy here.
Diversify Your Art Curriculum: This art curriculum bundle of five ebooks gives you everything you need to teach 25 art projects inspired by contemporary artists of colour from four continents. See more and get your copy here.
Color Theory Art Lessons: This curriculum gives you all the resources you need to learn about the color wheel and color theory and enjoy hands-on, easy, creative art projects for every lesson. It includes art history, famous artist profiles, and wider cross-curricular lessons in science, math, language arts and world culture, plus bonus printables and posters. See more and get your copy here.
Famous artist lessons for children
Art criticism
Use our ‘how to talk about art with kids’ printable question cards as part of this easy art criticism lesson for children.
Art galleries
A free arts education printable. Use these sheets to learn about famous art, in school, homeschool, or when you visit an art gallery with your children.
Art history
Use our Exploring Great Artists lesson plans to teach a full programme of art lessons based on famous artists. Your children can learn art history while making their own art inspired by the famous artists of the world.
Laurel Burch
Learn about pattern and line in art and draw a cat in the style of Laurel Burch. Includes a free pattern and line art handout printable.
Marc Chagall
Join this famous art lesson for children to learn about the painter Marc Chagall. We’ll look at some of Chagall’s famous paintings of Paris and create our own Paris skyline art project.
Colour theory
In this easy color theory lesson children can learn about the color wheel, mix their own colors, and go on a colour hunt through examples of famous art.
Examples of famous art that show color theory
Teach your children about color theory with these lists of famous paintings that show color theory at work.
Folk art – see Clementine Hunter and Maria Prymachenko
Gee’s Bend quilters
Let’s learn about the quilters of Gee’s Bend, Alabama and try our own simple quilt project. This is a bright and bold art history lesson and is a perfect addition to art lessons for Black History Month.
Alberto Giacometti
Join this art lesson for children to learn about the sculptor Alberto Giacometti. We’ll have fun with a quick human figure sketching activity and then we’ll create foil sculptures of people.
Graffiti – see Keith Haring
Keith Haring
Use this Keith Haring art lesson with your children as a Pride art lesson, graffiti art lesson, pop art lesson, and to explore how art can be activism. It’s a quick and easy art lesson that only needs marker pens, making it accessible to everyone.
Clementine Hunter
In this famous art lesson for children we will learn about the art of Clementine Hunter and take inspiration from her work to create our own day-in-the-life art project.
Wassily Kandinsky
Let’s learn about the famous artist Wassily Kandinsky and make our own version of his famous Kandinsky circles picture, exploring colour theory and oil pastels.
Ellsworth Kelly
In this art lesson for children we’ll find out what abstract art and minimalism are, meet the artist Ellsworth Kelly, and create some abstract art of our own.
Yayoi Kusama
Let’s learn about the Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama, and create art inspired by her famous dots.
Esther Mahlangu
In this famous artist lesson children will meet Esther Mahlangu and learn about African art. We’ll learn about Ndebele culture and create our own Esther Mahlangu-inspired art.
Henri Matisse
This Cutouts art project for children, based on the work of Henri Matisse, is a great kids art activity linked to famous art. Matisse’s expert use of bold colour and simple materials make him a perfect great artist for children to learn about, and they can try out his ground-breaking style of ‘painting with scissors’.
Joan Miró
In this famous art lesson plan we’ll try an art project inspired by Joan Miró. We’ll have fun making and playing with an art dice, and be encouraged to see drawing as playful and something to enjoy. We don’t need to focus on creating a perfect drawing – let’s have fun with art!
Minimalism – see Ellsworth Kelly
Piet Mondrian
Let’s make art with geometric shapes and primary colours in the style of the famous artist Piet Mondrian.
Monochrome
Join in this monochrome art lesson for children and create your own monochrome art project inspired by the work of Bridget Riley, Henry Moore, and JMW Turner.
Takashi Murakami
This Takashi Murakami art lessons kit gives you everything you need to teach your children about this famous Japanese artist and guide them through a range of art projects inspired by his work.
Native American artists including the ancestors of the Pueblo, Dakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Iowa and Ojibwe tribes
Learn about the Native American art of petroglyphs and create art inspired by them.
Georgia O’Keeffe
Learn about famous art inspired by sunflowers, including work by O’Keeffe, Matisse, and Klimt, and create your own sunflower art project.
Pablo Picasso
In this famous artist lesson for children we’ll meet Pablo Picasso and learn about cubism. We’ll look at the way Picasso painted faces and try creating our own Picasso-inspired portraits.
John Piper
Join this famous art lesson for children to learn about the artist John Piper. We’ll look at some of Piper’s famous paintings that use collage and create our own mixed media collage art projects.
Pointillism – see Georges Seurat
Jackson Pollock
Join this famous art lesson for children to learn about the artist Jackson Pollock. We’ll look at some of Pollocks’s famous paintings created using action art and make our own Jackson Pollock inspired art project using flick painting.
Pop art – see Keith Haring
Maria Prymachenko
In this famous female artist lesson for children, learn about Ukrainian folk artist Maria Prymachenko and create your own folk art inspired by her.
Bridget Riley
Meet Bridget Riley and create monochrome art inspired by her work.
Faith Ringgold
This Faith Ringgold art lessons kit gives you everything you need to teach your children about this famous Black American female artist and guide your children through a range of art projects inspired by her work.
Augusta Savage
Let’s learn about the famous African American artist Augusta Savage and make art inspired by her.
Georges Seurat
Introduce your children to famous artist Georges Seurat and paint a rainbow with this easy pointillism art lesson. We’ll learn about the colour wheel as we experiment with color mixing, turning primary colours into secondary colours.
Janet Sobel
Join this famous art lesson for children to learn about the artist Janet Sobel. We’ll look at some of Sobel’s famous abstract expressionist paintings and make our own Janet Sobel inspired process art project using pour painting.
Still life
In this daffodil art lesson we will look at famous art featuring daffodils, learn about still life art, and create our own daffodil paintings.
Vincent Van Gogh
In this Van Gogh sunflower art project for children we will learn about famous art inspired by sunflowers, also including work by O’Keeffe, Matisse, and Klimt, and create our own sunflower art projects.
James McNeill Whistler
Use this easy monochrome art lesson to teach your children about tints, tones and shades of color and create a monochrome painting inspired by James McNeill Whistler.
Alma Woodsey Thomas
Let’s learn about the famous African-America artist Alma Woodsey Thomas and create our own art inspired by her colourful circles.
More children’s art lessons and craft activities
Use NurtureStore’s extensive resources to find more great art lessons and craft activities for your children:
Leave a Reply