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Fun Art Games
by Ann Hudson
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Overview
It's no secret that children enjoy games. But games can be fun and educational at the same time. Using games to explore the world of art allows kids to enjoy themselves while challenging their creativity. These games can be geared toward large groups or can be used one on one to explore basic art principles or just to have fun.
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Classroom games
Many art-related games provide fun and entertainment for larger groups. The game Complete the Face keeps kids focused and can be repeated again and again so that all kids are included. Have one child leave the room. Instruct a second child to draw the top half of a comical face on a large white board or drawing tablet. It's important that all children in the room are able to see the finished art, so encourage participants to draw a large face. When the first child is finished drawing, cover the top half of the face with a poster board. The second child will now re-emerge and finish the face by drawing the lower half. The completed face will be a funny compilation of the two different artists.
The Progressive Art game is similar to Complete the Face. Divide the children into teams and have each team create an evolving collage. Supply various construction paper shapes or images cut from magazines. Instruct each member to add one contribution to the collage until all team members have had a turn.
Stage an ad-lib art game by having each child complete a series of sentences such as "Name a small animal" or "Name something sticky." Once all of the questions have been answered, each participant must create a work of art that features all of the items listed.
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Active games
Active games have the added benefit of helping children work off excess energy while they flex creative muscles. Stage a relay race involving a series of art stations. Instruct each participant to stop at the stations to complete a specific art related task. For example, station number one could require the child to draw a picture of a dog while subsequent stations could involve creating a snack out of clay, writing out a word in water color or stamping designs on a piece of construction paper.
Teach the kids how to make paper airplanes as part of an origami emphasis. Have the kids create their own paper airplanes and stage an outdoor airplane race.
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Instructional games
Use fun art games to teach children about art history or other principles of art.
Print out images of famous paintings in pairs and mount these images on construction paper. Gather the children in a circle and lay the pictures face down in the center of the circle. Give each child the opportunity to turn over two cards to find matching pairs.
Play an art memory game by having children study a famous painting that features a lot of detail such as "The Night Cafe in the Place Lamartine in Arles" by Van Gogh. After this time of study, give the kids a written list of items. Some of these items were present in the painting and some were not. The object of the game is to circle only the items that were in the painting. The child with the most correct answers wins.
Help children learn about primary colors by sorting through an assortment of colorful balls and sorting the balls into primary and secondary colors.
