Picasso Art Projects for Kids

Interested in learning about Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso? This article features four projects that provide opportunities for elementary artists to discover Picasso with fun and engaging hands-on art projects.

Begin by reading a little about Picasso, and then dive into a project or two.

Hey Kids, Meet Pablo Picasso - Biography for Kids
Pablo Picasso was born on October 25,1881 in Malaga, Spain. He was the first child of Don Jose Ruiz y Blasco, an art teacher, and Maria Picasso y Lopez. At an early age Pablo showed an interest in drawing. His first words were "piz, piz", which is short for "lapiz", the Spanish word for pencil...

Three Musicians (Excerpt) Watercolor Project
This watercolor project provides student with a easy-to-paint introduction to the art of Pablo Picasso. The free printable lesson is a step-by-step guide, teaching basic watercolor painting techniques while guiding students in the painting of the harliquin musician from his cubist masterpiece Three Musicians of 1905.

How to Draw a Cubist Portrait
Students will create a portrait in the cubist style. Each student will be given a 9" x 12" piece of black construction paper. They will draw a profile of a face on the right side of the paper, and the left side of a front facing face on the left side of the paper. When the pencil drawing is complete, they will trace the lines with a black oil pastel and filled in the shapes. This lesson encourages the use of unusual colors.

Picasso Cookies
This art projects provides students with an oppprtunity to create their own masterpiece on a sugar cookie after Picasso's work. Art lessons have never been this delicious!

Here are the materials that you will need for this project:
4" Sugar Cookies
Cookie Frosting
Food Coloring
Popsicle Sticks or Paint Brushes
Icing Bag (or sandwich bag with corner cut)

Blue Period Portrait
Picasso painted many works during his Blue Period - a very sad period in his life. The paintings used blue paint as a coloristic effect to express his mood.

This portrait painting project does not rely on a students ability to produce a great portrait painting, but rather simple provides them with an opportunity to learn about Picasso, and how color can effect the tone of your painting. The face that they draw will be from memory. If you want to take this opportunity to develop drawing skills, you can provide students with a simple contour drawing of a face.