Drawing with Children, Kistler or art suggestions for 6-11

[RosieCotton]

I've got this in my cart at amazon, wanted to give it a whirl over the summer for something fun to do when we need to focus our minds. :)

Thinking about Kistler and

 

Ages are 6 to 11, let me know what you think.

I've read a few said DWC was hard to teach with no art background.

 

We are also doing arttango. I've peeked at the Virtual Instructor too, we need basic basic study and lessons so not sure . . .

 

OH - I thought Mark Kistler offered free art of the summer last summer thru the co-op. I see it's on sale now, does he offer free summers every year? I'd like to sign up my niece if so.

 

TIA hive!

 

 

 

Edited May 24, 2016 by RosieCotton

[eternalsummer]

I basically bought it and gave it to DD10 (she was 8 when I bought it) and it was a major success.  She loved it, learned a *ton*, and it is still used today.

 

The only caution I would have is if your kids are kind of super=competitive and sensitive at the same time - there are a lot of examples (in the book) of incredible artwork by kids who have used the program, with the age of the kid noted.    DD was constantly comparing herself to their work.

 

It does have a great section on explaining to kids (or adults) about how even for a great artist, some works they make they will love, some  they will feel iffy about, and some they will want to throw away.  This is a normal part of the process of art.  That helped the perfectionist in DD a lot.

[RosieCotton]

Thanks so much -- I saw some of those pics with the ages. My oldest is super sensitive too. :)

[blondchen]

My DH used to be a professional artist, and he said that Drawing with Children is a solid program with a great philosophy, but that it is hard to teach from because you have to figure out your own lesson plans. Even as an experienced artist, it was just too much hassle for him. We switched to Art for Kids, which DH said is much easier to figure out, but we finally accepted the fact that DH doesn't have the time to do the actual instruction himself. So, we are considering The Virtual Instructor for next year so he can be involved (which he loves), but not have to figure out how to teach the lessons.

 

Edited May 24, 2016 by blondchen

[Kathleen.]

We love Mark Kistler's Art classes.  He has a lot of free lessons posted on youtube here.

These lessons here are from his web site.

We have a lot of Mark Kistler's books and really love them, but looking at the videos help to fill in the blanks.  Last year he had a free summer subscription - that was how we got hooked.

[2_girls_mommy]

I found plenty of examples of lesson plans online for DWC when we did it.  I am no expert, but I was able to teach from it just fine.  I would read aloud to the kids, have them do the daily exercises, copied straight from the book, then do a lesson once a week from the example in the book.

 

It took some advance reading to figure out exactly what I would go over with them each week.  But we all did great with it.  My girls won some art ribbons at the state fair with the art they created from the book too.

[daijobu]

My DH used to be a professional artist, and he said that Drawing with Children is a solid program with a great philosophy, but that it is hard to teach from because you have to figure out your own lesson plans. Even as an experienced artist, it was just too much hassle for him. 

 

As someone with very little art experience.  At. All.  I found DwC to be of limited use.  We did some of the exercises, but after a few weeks I wasn't sure what to do with it.  

 

One of my dd's really enjoyed Mark Kistler's mini Marshmallow art lessons, because it's just so cute and fun, but I imagine it might not be every kid's cup of tea.

[EKT]

We pay $4.95/month to use Creativebug.com. Our monthly subscription gets us unlimited classes on everything from watercolor to sewing to cake decorating. I love, love, love it! They have some classes that are specifically for kids, but I've found my daughters (ages 6 and 8) had no problem working with any of the (adult) classes they've tried. The video classes are extremely well-produced and there are tons and tons of classes for beginners in all disciplines. We've been really into the knitting and drawing classes here. (So, I suggest this for you because there's no pressure on you to teach the skills; I just watch alongside my kiddos and let these instructors teach for me.) 

 

ETA: But if it's a book you really want, I also highly recommend the Art Lab for Kids book. It's a year of art in a book, all ready to go! 

Edited May 24, 2016 by EKT

[gypsymama]

We're going to be using Augsburg's Drawing book this year. I don't know enough about art to really judge it but it looks simple to follow and easy to teach. My sister knows more about art than I do and said it look good. It's a free vintage program that covers all grades from 1-8. 

[RosieCotton]

Thanks for all the thoughts, I don't want to buy something I can't use or won't use because I don't have the time to make up lesson plans etc.

 

Thanks for these other ideas I'm looking at them tonight!

[blondchen]

I found plenty of examples of lesson plans online for DWC when we did it.  I am no expert, but I was able to teach from it just fine.  I would read aloud to the kids, have them do the daily exercises, copied straight from the book, then do a lesson once a week from the example in the book.

 

It took some advance reading to figure out exactly what I would go over with them each week.  But we all did great with it.  My girls won some art ribbons at the state fair with the art they created from the book too.

That's really impressive!! :)

 

I should clarify that it isn't the lack of art training that makes DWC challenging to teach - it really is the prep time in reading the material and planning the lessons, which is just too much for some of us. I couldn't make BFSU (science) work for the same reason. I want open-and-go, if possible, and DH needed it too, because of his time constraints.

 

OP, I forgot to mention in my previous post that DH really likes Mark Kistler. We have the Draw Squad book. But Art for Kids is a lot cheaper and may work for you, at least as a start with the fundamentals of drawing.