Play With Art - DK Canada

Who doesn't love being creative? I've always enjoyed creating and making. And so does Little Guy!

I thought Play with Art from DK Canada would be a title he would enjoy exploring. Check out the other titles in DK's Celebrate the Arts boutique.

Little Guy always likes looking at the cover before he opens a book. The cover of Play With Art is colourful and inviting. The inner flyleaf is covered in fingerprints with faces drawn on. I quite liked this one - I can see framing a set for Gramma. So, he wanted to know how to do that one right away.

We made it to the table of contents. He loves tables of contents, so we had to read out the name of every craft within before looking at pictures. The crafts are broken down into: Painting and Printing, Paper Craft, Drawing and Coloring, Make and Create.

I know I used some of these techniques and crafts with my own children when they were little, but I had forgotten many of them until I saw them again in Play With Art.

Make dinosaur tracks by dipping a plastic toy in the paint, use nature items - flowers, leaves, fruits and veggies as your brush. (But we'll hold off on the 'use your feet' until we can do it outside!) There's many more ideas in this chapter.

Cutting paper is fun when you've mastered the art of scissors. Paper chains, free form scuptures, tracers, shadow puppets and more in the Paper Craft chapter. Do you remember wetting down crepe paper for a watercolour picture?

Drawing and colouring. I'm always fascinated by what Little Guy chooses to portray in his drawings. Remember scratch art? Colouring, then covering it with black paint, then scratching in a picture.

Make and create. Save those empty rolls and cardboard boxes - staple elements of 'making things'.

Play With Art has some good, basic ideas (50) for creating for the 3-5 year old crowd. It also fits nicely into the STEAM educational approach to learning. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) There's no right and no wrong in creating and imagination is a wonderful thing. As is the satisfaction of making something. This one's going to wait on Gramma's bookshelf for Little Guy's next visit. See below for a peek inside.