Art program for budding 4-yr old artist?

[alisoncooks]

My preschooler loves to draw -- and my DH & I (may be biased but) think she's got some natural talent. She is currently obsessed with doodling/sketching all day long on her Magna Doodle (I try and get pics of her really good stuff since she has to erase it all to draw something new, LOL).

 

Anyway, what are some must-have "Artist" things to get her for Christmas? I know I'm getting her a little spiral-bound sketchbook to collect her work in....

 

And is there a good how-to-draw program out there that would work for her age level? We have (but haven't used) Home Art Studio, but I'm not looking for a craftsy program. I'd like a *real* drawing program (but 4-yr-old-friendly). Is there one?

 

Thanks!

[Eagle]

My 4 year old is getting a really nice set of pencil crayons and beeswax crayons for Christmas:

http://www.amazon.com/LYRA-Selection-Unlacquered-Triangular-3711121/dp/B004CRAKES/ref=sr_1_1?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1354754739&sr=1-1&keywords=Lyra+Waldorf

http://www.amazon.com/Stockmar-Beeswax-Stick-Crayons-Set/dp/B0017UOP7G/ref=pd_sbs_op_2

 

He has a couple of each already and I find he puts extra effort into his drawings when using them because they are "special".

 

We have started using Drawing With Children, which is very hard to get into due to all the information it provides. But it looks worth the effort, so I plan to stick with it. We have also just started using Draw Write Now, which is fun and easy to get into. I plan to alternate between the two.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

The Draw Write Now books are very easy to follow. The steps are not over the top but give simple steps for a young child to follow with impressive results.

 

Does she like drawing with pencils? Markers? Crayon? Has she tried paint yet?

Dd likes pencil and markers with extra sharp points, detests colors, and enjoys painting but with premixed water colors, not the need to add water to the dry cake kind. Find what your dd like to use and purchase quality material. Nothing frustrates a budding artist then inferior supplies. Quality does not have to equal expensive either. We live near a Blick Art store and purchase their brand supplies which are not expensive and equal to quality brands. Make sure she has supplies available to use...paper/media/and space to work.

[Mergath]

We just started Meet the Masters, and so far my dd, who is 4.5, really likes it. Each unit teaches some art history, and then has an art project based on the style of whatever artist you're studying that week. The lowest age level is five to seven, but dd hasn't had any problems so far. If anything confuses her, I just slow down and explain it more clearly.

[MomatHWTK]

My kids have enjoyed Creativity Express, Meet the Masters (teacher intensive), Mark Kistler's online subscription, Mark Kistler's live classes. The Evan Moore instruction book (for teaching) is also good. DD really enjoys her "draw anything" type instruction books that show step by step illustrations and also "Doodle Pads" that offer a suggestion or start a picture and ask the child to complete it.

 

This year we are getting each child a special art box to keep their "real" supplies because we have supplies all over the house but can never find them during art time. This new box will only come out for specific art lessons. They each already have an ArtBin style box for their regular supplies. So I would suggest that you make sure you have one set of materials to use for instruction and then let your DD have pretty free access to the rest. Oh- and I like to buy cardstock for DD, it hold up better and she likes the texture. She goes through a LOT of paper.

[BatmansWife]

Baby Lambs.