How to Interest Boys in Art

If you can teach your male children to appreciate art, you expand their perspectives while also giving them the gift of sensitivity. You might also awaken their creative impulses.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Paper
• Markers, crayons or paint,

1. Develop a theme. Young children don't need an excuse to play with art materials, they just go at it! Older children though have already been trained away from spontaneous play, and may need something to get them started. Ask older boys to draw things that interest them, such as pictures from sporting events, adventure films, video games or their favorite hobbies. Creating monsters or characters from role playing games such as "Dungeons and Dragons" can be fun.

2. Make drawing easier. Start with a pattern or model. For example, if you choose to draw football figures or helmets, make a pattern of a football helmet and cut it out so that your child can trace it each time. If you choose to put a bird on the helmet, look in books for a models. Nowadays you can find a model for just about anything, since you can just put it into Google Images or Wikipedia. Or you could just invent your own design that isn't representational art (art that resembles something "real"). An example of non-representational art might be a Jackson Pollock painting. Nothing says you couldn't make a football helmet that looks like a Pollock!

3. Emphasize imagination over execution. Create a theme and experiment within its parameters, especially with concept and color. Let your child go wild and use colors and shapes that are non-traditional. This can stoke the imagination and encourages left-brained activity, such as classification, comparison and contrast.

4. Choose new themes. After your child has created enough baseball players and monsters, encourage them to try other sports, video game concepts, or rock band subjects.

5. Take you boy to museums. Let him observe a wide range of art and then discuss his impressions of the work with him later. Do not try to interpret the art for him. Let him come to his own conclusions. Respect his opinions. You don't want him to parrot you.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember, it's not so much how well your child draws that matters, it's the conceptual and imaginative aspect that stretches his mind and potential.

[heatherinks]

on 4/25/2009 Boys can learn to love and appreciate many forms of art. Thanks for sharing your ideas - taking boys to museums is so much fun! God bless 5*

[JudyFord]

on 4/25/2009 Yeah! Boys are creative too!

[sexychef]

on 7/8/2008 This was really interesting. My son loves to draw his favorite musicans. I think it is one of the things that kept him interested in art as he got a little older.

[Pixie1976]

on 7/7/2008 I agree, art is important for boys to be able to express themselves.

[amylaine]

on 6/18/2008 My boys love to cut pieces of paper up and glue them to their liking on boxes and or paper.