Books about Art for Preschoolers

If there are two subjects that strike fear in my heart, it’s math and art. Both make me feel like a fish out of water. As I homeschool my kids, I wanted to make sure they didn’t feel the same apprehension about these subjects. This month, we studied art. I know I learned a ton and the kids did too!  Here are some books about art geared towards preschoolers that we found especially enjoyable.

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Books about Art for Preschoolers

(In no particular order)

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds When the young girl in this book gets frustrated at her artistic abilities, her teacher asks her to sign the small mark she had made in anger. From then on, she makes her dots more and more elaborate and becomes quite the artist. This book was PERFECT for my son. He’s a reluctant artist to say the least. He gained a lot of confidence from this one.

I’m the Best Artist in the Ocean! by Kevin Sherry A cute book about a squid that uses his ink on everything. My youngest especially liked it.

Sky Color by Peter H. Reynolds A cool story about the diversity of color. The sky is so much more than blue!

Katie and the Mona Lisa by James Mayhew A lovely imaginative story about a little girl named Katie and her adventures as she visits an art museum. She “climbs” into the paintings and she and the characters get into all sorts of shenanigans. Great for learning about specific works of art.

Katie’s Sunday Afternoon by James Mayhew Another one from the same series. Join Katie as she cools of in some famous impressionist painters and gets into all sorts of mischief.

Look! Look! Look! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace A cute book about mice trying to mimic famous styles of art. It was simple yet informative.

The Art Collector by Jan Wahl This book showed that even people that don’t create art can love it and benefit from it.

The Iridescence of Birds: A Book About Henri Matisse by Patricia MacLachlan A gorgeously illustrated book that whimsically portrays the childhood of Henri Matisse. It should want an encouragement his mother was to him, so of course I loved it.

The Art of Miss Chew by Patricia Polacco I don’t know if I’m just hormonal, but this true story had me totally choked up. This story reflects the author’s life as a struggling student and the teachers that poured into her so that she could succeed. It’s an incredible story.

 

Ed Emberley’s Drawing Book of Trucks and Trains This book has great tutorials on how to draw elaborate trucks and trains with extremely basic shapes. It really helped my son see how to break things down and not give up.

Name That Style: All About Isms in Art by Bob Raczka This book would be better for grade school kids. There’s about one full page per artistic style with definitions and examples. I found it super helpful!

Want some activities to go with your preschool art unit?

 

 

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