Back to School and Beyond: The Best Art Websites for Preschool Through Adulthood

Art can be so much fun to learn about as well as it is to create. Here are some great websites pertaining to art for all ages. My favorite is the Kea Coloring Book and my three year old loves it so much, she doesn't even go out of the lines when she is painting. Check out all the websites. There are so many fun things to do pertaining to art that can help any child improve their skills in art when going back to school and throughout everyday of every year. Each website is unique in its own way.

A Lifetime of Color

Website: http://www.alifetimeofcolor.com/main.taf?p=0

The website A Lifetime of Color has activities that include paper-based lessons for teaching techniques. You can browse many of their featured artists to learn more about their artwork! There are also interactive games called ArtEdventures, which are wonderful interactive games for teachers and students that teach about art concepts. You can select Study to access the interactive time line and art term glossary. You can search by grade or subject for Lesson Plans that are tied to National Visual Arts Standards from Kindergarten to 8^th grade. There is even a section called the Teachers Lounge, which sends updates on education-based promotions and contests, new products and more. There is so much to learn on this website about art.

Kea Coloring Book 3.4

Website: http://www.keasoftware.com/coloring/index.php

With the Kea Coloring Book, visitors can download the free application and then color in a number of pictures by utilizing the tool bars provided within the program. The application comes with a number of pre-set colors and users can also mix up colors to to whatever color they want. There is no mess and no fuss with online painting. This is a very cool site! This program is compatible with computers running Windows 98, Me, 2000, and XP.

Art Safari

Website: http://www.moma.org/interactives/artsafari/index.html

This site prompts children to explore paintings and sculptures from the Museum of Modern Art. A series of questions guides' children to write about what they see. Then, kids are encouraged create and submit their own art. This is a cool website for children to express their feeling about what they see in a painting.

International Kids Space

Website: http://www.kids-space.org/

The International Kids Space website is a great resource area for children to share their works of art, short stories, and music with others. Children can select a picture and write a short story on what they see in the art. You can also share your pictures, create picture book, write your own story. This is just a great site!

The Grandeur of Viceregal Mexico

Website: http://www.fm.coe.uh.edu/default.htm

The Grandeur of Viceregal Mexico, Treasures from the Museo Franz Mayer web site are collaborated between the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and faculty and graduate students at the University of Houston, College of Education, Instructional Technology Program. The works of art are grouped into four sections. The first introduces the many cultures that influenced colonial Mexican art. The next sections focus on art made for the church and for domestic use. The final section introduces new styles inspired by art from ancient Greece and Rome and 18th-century France and England. There are also resources for teachers that include a handbook, standards-based lessons, games and activities. There is also a Time line that provides links to other sources of information.

ArtsConnectEd

Website:http://artsconnected.org/

The Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Walker Art Center created this wonderful resource to allow different learning styles to be influenced by art. The art gallery allows visitors to create their own online gallery of their favorite pieces, while the Playground lets users create a variety of different types of artwork. Older students will love the interactive art activity in "Another Look" in the Look and Listen part of the Playground. Explore online or download the Teacher's Guide.

Artist's Toolkit

Website: http://www.artsconnected.org/toolkit/index.html

Another production from ArtsConnectEd and it's a good one! Each section (Line, Color, Space, Shape, Balance, Movement/Rhythm) allows students to watch animated demonstrations, view examples, and create their own. Includes an encyclopedia of Visual Elements (line, shape, color, space, and texture) and Visual Principles (balance, emphasis, movement/rhythm). Requires Flash.

NGA Kids

Website: http://www.nga.gov/kids/

The National Gallery in Washington created a variety of activities for children learning about art. Take a tour of the sculpture garden, or explore the colors, shapes, and lines found in Kandinsky's Improvisation 31 (Sea Battle.) Requires Flash plugin and Quicktime.