How to Teach Pointillism Art to Children

Even young kids can learn pointillism with this fun project.

Art class is a great place for children to learn to explore their own creativity. You can also teach them lessons about art history and different techniques. Even young children can grasp complex color theories with the help of fun projects and demonstrations. Pointillism is a great technique to share with kids because they can easily create their own masterpieces with "dots" of paint.

Things You'll Need

• Paper
• Acrylic paints
• Water
• Cups
• Paintbrushes

Instructions

1. Start by telling the kids about the basic color theory of pointillism. Ask students what two colors you need to make a secondary color, like orange for instance. When someone gets the correct answer, yellow and red, tell the students that you don't have to actually mix the two colors together. If red and orange are placed side by side, your eyes can fool your mind into seeing orange. To demonstrate this concept, use markers or paint to make a smattering of yellow and red dots mixed. Hold the piece of paper up and ask the students what color they see, which will be orange.

2. Show the students some examples of pointillism from art history. Let them look at pointillist paintings by famous artists, like Georges Seurat and Van Gogh, from a distance. Then show them the painting close up so that they can make out the tiny dots of color. Explain that the whole paintings are made by making a bunch of tiny dots and never drawing lines or solid areas of color.

3. Let the students create their own pointillism artwork. Give them sheets of thick paper and let them draw a simple scene. They can draw their house, their best friend, a favorite pet or a beautiful flower. If you are working with younger students, you can even hand out pre-drawn pictures similar to coloring book pages. For a simpler lesson, have the students all draw the same scene. You can teach them how to draw it by drawing the picture on a chalkboard and having them follow your steps. The picture should be drawn in outlines, so that each enclosed area will be a specific color.

4. Pour acrylic paints into small cups. Use the primary colors, red, yellow and blue. You can also mix up the pastels of these colors by adding a bit of each color to white paint. Supply the children with paintbrushes, cups of water and paper towels.

5. Instruct the kids to choose their first area to paint. For example, paint the green tops of the trees first. Ask the students what two colors they would need to make the tree green. Wait for someone to give the correct answer of blue and yellow. Then instruct the children to dip their brush in the blue paint and dab it onto the treetop area. They should make a bunch of little blue dots within the outline of the treetop. Then they can rinse their brush and do the same with the yellow paint. The children will be amazed to see the tree turn green right in front of them.

6. Repeat the previous step with all other areas of the painting. Encourage kids to experiment with the lighter colors as well, creating highlights in their painting. When everyone is finished and the paint is dry, hang the pictures up on a wall. Then everyone can stand back and look at the pictures from a distance to see how pointillism makes dots of color blend together.

References

• The Art Classroom: Primary Pointillism

Resources

• ViaTouch.com: An Exploration of Van Gogh's Art Techniques