We have all jumped into the summer ready or not. Maybe you hadn’t quite finished planning your summer like me or you like to wing it day by day and enjoy the change of pace.
Summer gives my family a chance to engage in different focuses than the school year. I try to offer more fine arts and teach them some new house or personal skills.
I started a drawing camp last year largely in part to teach my kids more art in the summer. But, here are some other ways you may develop your kids artistic skills this summer.
At home ideas!
Art Project books
You can find many of these at the library, like the one pictured above! Your child will feel more excitement and ownership if they get to pick out the book and or the activity. Here are a few more of my favorites below.This Book Will Make you an Artist—Ruth Millington
Leonardo’s Art Workshop—Amy Leidtke
Art School—Mick Manning
The School of Art—Teal Triggs
You-Tube Channels
There are so many good ones, that I just included a handful. These have a variety of skill levels and mediums.
Buy a Craft Kit
This is always a fun and easy option. You have all the supplies and instructions included. Kits are not as open ended, so they don’t provide as much creativity and problem solving, but they offer great skill development and a satisfying result.
Make a project goal!
You can assign one week or one month with each new art medium. We are making things with felt this week. Last week, the kids finished up some perler bead creations. This way, we don't have all the materials for all the things out at one time. The different mediums each have a container and each container has a place so it can be put away and not overwhelm our rooms. It helps the kids focus on one thing and get to a finishing point. That is the tricky part. Finishing. But, if their interest is waining, I try to give them a smaller goal at that time, such as, “Just pick out the color of felt and trace the pattern. Then you can cut it out tomorrow.”
I plan to let the kids sell some of their creations at a yard sale and on my social sites to earn money for some items they are saving for as well as for our church's VBS project and a few other ministry opportunities we want to give towards. This encourages them with making, generosity, money skills, and presenting their work for others to enjoy.
Another great goal is to make a present for a family member visit or a birthday party. Anticipating that person’s delight in the gift is amazing motivation.
In Town Ideas (below are Greenville, SC locations):
Take a class or attend art camp. Wow! Look at all these options. Of course I would love to have your child attend my Drawing Camp in July if they are able. I think they would love it, but there are so many other opportunities for them as well.
Museums often have summer camps or classes for children throughout the year.
The Museum and Gallery hosts a summer camp about Ancient civalizations this year while incorporating crafts and art skills along the way.
The Greenville County Museum of Art hosts weekend art and craft activities and summer camps. https://gcma.org/learn/
Libraries host craft and art classes for little or no cost. My Greenville library even has a YouTube channel with crafts. https://www.youtube.com/@GreenvilleLibrary/search?query=art
Local Colleges or Universities host summer art camps.
Bob Jones University Edu Camp offers camps for elementarty up through high school in the arts.
Clemson hosts several art camps for a variety of ages, including a garden creativity camp with art activities.
Children’s Art Classes is a franchise across the US, but they have one location in Greenville, SC.
World Upside Down https://worldupsidedown.us/classes/
Yellow Bobby Pins https://yellowbobbypins.com/
Heather Keew Drawing Camp is learning about people, plants, and places this year as well as private lessons (now also offered online)
I’d love to hear your other ideas for engaging your kids in creativity this summer.
Have fun browsing these options!
Heather