"With a subject matter as broad as life itself, the arts easily relate to aspects of almost everything else that is taught." —Charles Fowler
At Playful Learning, we believe that art plays an essential role in learning. Making and appreciating art is one of life’s most fulfilling pleasures, and when we give children access to inspiring materials, they are better able to share what they are learning with the world. Just as importantly, when they participate in a variety of meaningful creative experiences, children can maintain an uninhibited approach to art throughout their entire lives.
Introducing Collage to Young Children
As a classroom teacher, I was always amazed at the opportunities my students had in the art room. Art was a vital part of the curriculum in the schoo...MORE
It’s Element-ary: Looking at Lines
Swirly, twirly, zig zag, straight—artists use all kinds of lines as they paint, draw, sculpt, and more. I often teach children that just like there...MORE
5 Digital Art Resources for Older Kids
In the early years of my children’s education art was a no brainer. We crafted, painted, drew and molded. We put googly eyes on everything we c...MORE
Me: In Poetry, Song, and Art
When I was a classroom teacher, one of the most relaxing, yet beneficial professional development opportunities I attended was a “Picture Book Read...MORE
Art for Toddlers: Smooshy Blob Painting
Give a toddler a paintbrush, and she’ll ask for more paint. Give her more paint, and she’ll probably make a mess. And with that mess comes all ki...MORE
Art for Kids: Fun with Matisse
Using the work of a specific artist as inspiration can be a fun activity with budding young creatives. Recently, I’ve become quite involved wit...MORE
Drawing Inspiration for Young Artists
I have a confession—I’m an art teacher that doesn’t think she can draw. ??!! Now before you think you need to report me to the Art Teaching Offi...MORE
Painting with Toddlers: Black and White
“Before launching into the full spectrum of color, stand at its edge with white and black, the beginning and the end of color. Black and wh...MORE
Crafts for Kids: Make a Collage Bookmark
Our Summer Book Clubs are well under way and we thought it would be fun to build on the experience by making some inspiring bookmarks! Here is a fun...MORE
Flower Print + Scrape Painting
With blizzards, cold fronts and low temperatures blanketing much of the country, spring and its promise of warm days and flowers poking up through the...MORE
Zen and the Art of Classroom Maintenance
Each classroom has a rhythm. For my fourth grade class, the stretch from winter until spring break develops a rhythm that can only be described as cha...MORE
Sense of Place: Favorite Places Map Hearts
Do you and your family have favorite places that you visit frequently or that you have special memories of? Most of us do. Whether they are in ou...MORE
Drawing Connections: Music Inspired Art
As a musician and someone who deals in the visual arts, it’s not hard for me to draw a natural connection between music and art. Both deal in t...MORE
Integrating Math & Art: Calculating Area + Perimeter with Piet Mondrian
Learning to calculate the area and perimeter of rectangular shapes is a required skill in third grade math. The integration of art makes perfect sense...MORE
DIY Digital Gifts for Kids
DIY gifts are an engaging way to involve children in the spirit of giving at Christmas. These digital DIY gifts are perfect for the budding photograph...MORE
Protractor Art: Window Transparencies
So much can be learned when making art, so today I have a project that will not only brighten your winter windows but will show your child how to use...MORE
The Art Cart
As the girls get older I am making a slight shift in my outlook on creating spaces for them… With younger children I recommend a more curated c...MORE
The Daily Draw
Drawing is a language of expression. It is a way for children to make their individual creativity visible. Children can represent ideas with drawing....MORE
Connect Literacy to Wonder: Letter Drawings
Can letter-sound correspondence be learned from imaginative play? Yes! Here’s how. Most young children learn the alphabet and corresponding lett...MORE
Picture Book Project: The Bear’s Song
Having three children under the age of seven in the house amounts to a lot of picture book reading! Every now and then we come across a picture book...MORE
Sense-sational Painting
I still remember the day I got my first pair of eyeglasses. I was in third grade and really nervous about my classmates making fun of my new accessor...MORE
Lino Block Printing for Kids
Kate from An Everyday Story is with us today to share a great DIY on block printing with the budding young artists in our lives. Lino block printing...MORE
6 Games to Play With Your Child at the Museum
Nuria from the The Adventures Archive is here today to share some great ideas for learning through play at art museums. Are you visiting an art museu...MORE
Picture Book Projects: Extra Yarn
Randi from Swoon is with us today to share a fun project to compliment the inspiring book, Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett. Being displaced and living with...MORE
Collaborating with Nature
Kate from An Everyday Story is with us today to share a fun way to bring together an appreciation of nature and our creative spirits… It starte...MORE
An Invitation to Independently Explore
Joey from Made by Joey is with us today to share some great tips on encouraging independent explorations with your children. In an age where more and...MORE
How to Kill Your Child’s Creativity
Kids are born creative geniuses. But unfortunately, by the time they reach the third or fourth grade, their creativity has sunk. With intelligence, t...MORE
Growing Your Child’s Creativity With Constructive Criticism
Nuria from the The Adventures Archive is here today to share some great advice on giving our children honest and useful feedback. By now we all know...MORE
Crafts For Kids: DIY Springtime Masks
Randi from Swoon is with us today to share some easy and fun springtime masks for the little bunnies in our lives. The transition from winter...MORE
Meaningful Literacy: Vegetable Stones for the Kitchen Garden
I think the dream to carve out a little spot in our yards to grow our own produce is a common one. Growing and nurturing something with our own hands...MORE
Nature in Your Craft Box
Joey from Made by Joey is with us today to share some ideas and inspiration for encouraging the little makers in our lives. Including natural object...MORE
Weaving 101
Heather of Poppy Haus is with us today to share a DIY on a wonderful weaving project for kids and grown-ups… I can’t wait to try it! In...MORE
Ideas + Resources for Collaborative Art
Rebecca from Thirteen Red Shoes is with us today to share some inspiring resources for creating collaborative art with the budding young makers in ou...MORE
Starting a Communal Loom
Rebecca from Thirteen Red Shoes is with us today to share a wonderful community building, art making activity—starting a communal loom. Re...MORE
Color Theory for Little Ones
Randi from Swoon is with us today to share some fun tips for exploring color with children. Don’t forget to watch the video with your aspiring...MORE
Printable Bookmarks Two Ways
Monique of Green Acorns is with us today to share useful bookmark printables to inspire the young readers in our lives… There have been so many...MORE
Crafts for Kids: Painted Stick Mobiles
Monique of Green Acorns is with us today to share a lovely craft that puts all of the cool sticks we find on our nature expeditions to good use! Toda...MORE
Crafts for Kids: Needle Felted Acorns
Joey from Made by Joey is with us today to share an inspiring fall craft activity, needle felted acorns. I am already picturing a big bowl of these l...MORE
DIY Tear Off Notepads
Around here we are pretty serious about paper. It seems as if we never have enough! Like most families, we love to have notepads handy to make lists,...MORE
Picture Book Project: The Dot
Rebecca from Thirteen Red Shoes is with us to share some creative project ideas for one of our favorite children’s books, The Dot by Peter H...MORE
DIY Chalkboard Shadowboxes
Randi from Swoon is with us today with a lovely DIY for making Chalkboard Shadowboxes! They look like just the thing for a fun afternoon of open-ende...MORE
Crafts for Kids: Recycled Bird Feeder
Bird Feeders are a constant source of inspiration for our family. Kate from An Everyday Story is here to share a lovely DIY on how to create one from...MORE
10 Ways to Beat Summer Boredom
Randi from Swoon is with us today with a lovely list of activities that we can share with our children during these precious summer months… Ha...MORE
Scissor Practice for Preschoolers
If an activity is a good developmental fit for a child it becomes evident in the amount of time he spends on it. Often a child will want to repeat th...MORE
Authentic Art Materials for Toddlers Part Four: Chalk Pastels
Kate from An Everyday Story is here to share the next post in her series about introducing authentic art materials to toddlers. Today she is explorin...MORE
All Natural Tie-Dye DIY
You are in for a real treat today! Randi from Swoon is sharing some great recipes and techniques for making lovely natural tie-dye creations… O...MORE
Homemade Gluten-free Play Clay
Annie from Alphabet Glue is with us to share a fun gluten-free play clay recipe. Over the last few months I have slowly started to remove gluten from...MORE
Authentic Art Materials for Toddlers Part 3: Paint
Kate from An Everyday Story is here to share the next post in her series about introducing authentic art materials to toddlers. Today she is explorin...MORE
Art on a Whim… Building an Art Library and How to Use It
Becky from a Sweet Hot Mess is with us today to share all of her favorite resources for exploring art and artists with children… My children lo...MORE
Collaborative Art: Making a Masterpiece Together
My favorite thing about art is how it transcends the normal lines that divide us. You don’t have to have incredible technique to create somethi...MORE
Learning with Circles
Joey from Made by Joey is with us today to share lots of inviting ways to engage our young mathematicians in meaningful and educational activities...MORE
Authentic Art Materials for Toddlers Part 2: Charcoal
Kate from An Everyday Story is here to share the next post in her series about introducing authentic art materials to toddlers. Today she is explorin...MORE
DIY Tin-Can Stilts
Randi from Swoon is with us today to share a wonderfully nostalgic DIY on how to make stilts for the children in our lives… If your children ar...MORE
Make Your Own Sidewalk Chalk!
Since I started making my own play dough last year, I’ve been wanting to try out more homemade versions of childhood favorites. Sidewalk chalk is...MORE
From the Bin: Paper Bag Lantern
Heather from Poppy Haus is with us today with another inspiring DIY project using re-purposed products from the the recycling bin. I don’t know...MORE
Authentic Art Materials for Toddlers: Introducing Clay
Kate from An Everyday Story is here to share the first in a series of posts about introducing authentic art materials to toddlers. Today she is explo...MORE
Crafts for Kids: Animal Mosaics
Randi from Swoon is with us today and is sharing a wonderful mosaic project that is not only good for developing fine motor skills, but serves and a...MORE
From the Bin: DIY Recycled Vases & Flowers
Heather from Poppy Haus is back today with another creative craft project, where the materials can be gathered directly from your recycling bin. I lo...MORE
From the Bin: DIY Art Caddy
I am so happy to welcome our newest contributor Heather Jennings, who is the creative force behind the inspiring blog Poppy Haus. She is sharing a gr...MORE
Crafts for Kids: Printable Bunny Mask
Now that Valentine’s Day is behind us, we have a serious case of Spring fever around here. When stuck indoors for many days in a row, finding t...MORE
Small Acts: Love Letters to Your Children
We can all look back on a time in our lives when an encouraging note or “love letter” had a huge impact on us. Letters are a great way to...MORE
Small Acts: Simple Origami Hearts
I have been pondering the approaching Valentine’s Day season. This year I thought it would be fun to focus on simple, small acts that remind th...MORE
Holiday Crafts with Kids: Winter Dioramas
We have Randi from Swoon with us today to share another fun project that families can enjoy together during the holiday season. We can’t wait t...MORE
Holiday Crafts with Kids: Frosted Windows
We have Randi from Swoon with us today to share a fun project that families can enjoy together during the holiday season. You may have heard of proje...MORE
Holiday Crafts with Kids: Paper Trees
We have Randi from Swoon with us today to share a sweet holiday craft that families can create and enjoy together during the holiday season. During...MORE
Story Machines
Annie Riechmann from Alphabet Glue and Bird and Little Bird is with us today to share a lovely activity that will bring a new level of excitement to...MORE
12 Creative Apps for Kids
I am thrilled to have Rebecca from ThirteenRedShoes back with us today. She has a great list of creative app recommendations for the budding young ar...MORE
Tabletop Puppet Theater
Our beloved puppet theater has been a source of hours of creative play for our family… Today Randi from Swoon is with us to share a lovely hand...MORE
My Little Dress Up Book
Randi from Swoon! is with us today to share the lovely little dress up book that she created for her daughters. I can see that this little book could...MORE
Handmade City Play Mat
If I had to pick a theme to describe the phase of learning my girls are in, it would definitely be “imaginative play!” As young children,...MORE
All the Colors We Are: Self-Portraits
One of our favorite books is All the Colors We Are: The Story of How We Get Our Skin Color by Katie Kissinger. It explains, in very simple terms, h...MORE