Art Parts: A Child's Introduction to the Elements of Art

by Kim Bogren Owen

Using simple text and children's art, Art Parts introduces children to 6 elements of art. Designed for children between the ages of 3 and 8, it includes blank pages after each element where children can experiment with the concepts of line, color, shape, texture, space, and emotion.

These blank pages allow children to personalize the book while making it a keepsake to treasure, and a wonderful gift for that special child in your life. It would, also, be a great asset to any classroom to add to the art center with materials that allow children to investigate the concepts contained throughout Art Parts.

In addition, Art Parts includes an activities page for parents and teachers to expand on concepts in the book. These activities include suggestions for special projects, as well as things parents and teachers can do during everyday routines.

Genres: Childrens, Nonfiction

34 pages, Hardcover

Published April 1, 2016

Reviews

[Stace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Art Parts is a creative, educational book for children. Most children love drawing (I say most as my youngest two hated it), but the techniques they use in their drawing often goes unnoticed.

This book is all about getting the children to open their imagination and learn about the six different elements of art.

This is done by showing the children other kids’ pictures and the type of art that they have used, then getting the child who is reading the book to draw their own picture, using the same techniques, on the blank page.

The book starts with teaching the child about different types of lines that there are, wavy, curved, straight etc, and then asks the child to draw their own lines on the next two blank pages.

There are nine masterpieces for children, ranging in age from two to six years old. These were sweet drawings and I loved looking at them.

This will be a great keepsake for the kids, and with being hardback and sturdy, the child’s creative skills will be kept safe.

Reviewed by Stacey at www.whisperingstories.com

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the idea of Art Parts. It is so good for children to see that there are many different elements that come together to make art. I also really enjoyed the fact that every other page has space for a child to try out the element that was shared. I did struggle with the fact that there wasn't an explanation for each element. Some of the pictures did not clearly differentiate between the different styles and so it was hard for the children to clearly see what the author was expressing. A little blurb about each (for example explaining a little about hard texture and ways that it is created) would help expand on a child's understanding of the element.

[Deana Metzke · Rating 4 out of 5]

My two kids (8 and 6) and I read this book together and completed the activities. This book introduces kids to the different parts of art, lines, shapes, and the like. We had a great time and you can read about our experience reading it together here: https://raisingreaderssite.wordpress....

*I did receive a free copy of the book and the journals in exchange for an honest review.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let's start with the good parts. I think the idea of an art book for kids is fantastic. Art and creativity are so important for so many reasons - self expression, understanding our world as we see it and as others see and experience it, beauty and so forth. Opening this world to the young or young of heart with such a simple, easy-to-grasp introduction can form a good foundation for understanding, viewing, creating and interpreting. I believe the notes/recommendations to parents at the end of the book are great and helpful. I only wish that she had incorporated more of these ideas in the core of the book itself. For example, one suggestion is to "observe how sunlight changes colors or how things look throughout the day. This is an especially great activity while cloud watching or watching the sunset." I think this is marvelous and inspiring. I believe a child would too so why not bring this thought directly to the child's consideration in the text itself? I like that Ms. Owen has left ample white space for the child to draw on his or her own. The fact that these opportunities are in spread format (two blank pages facing one another) can be seen as a way to free up the child from the influence of other images in the book. Though I do believe, perhaps, more of a creative prompt could have been provided. Unfortunately, in total, I believe the author could have done so much more. Though I appreciate the use of children's are as illustration in the book, I found the tone of the book and many of the works of art chosen to be darker and even a bit morose or, I hate to say it, even creepy. This darker feeling even extends to the colors used for simple examples, such as the burnt orange color used to convey (not very effectively in my opinion) the idea of texture in art or the forest and olive greens used to depict colors -- why are they all depressing shades of green? I didn't find much difference (or joy) in the samples used for light or muted and the bright one was astoundingly not bright. I also did not feel that the illustration of the idea of "art is texture" to be that helpful. I understand we are dealing with a flat two dimensional surface but the color swipes chosen (in a depressing burnt orange as previously mentioned) do not, to me, adequately clarify the point. This also goes for the page discussing "art is feelings." The color is, perhaps, a deep mauve (a fairly sad, sedate color when one is thinking of an audience of children) but, more that that, the illustrations of the simple line drawings of eyes, nose and mouth to depict sad, joyful, angry and peaceful feelings are again, fairly off putting and unsettling. Not to offend little Timothy, age 4, who contributed his drawing to this page, but, wow, the faces are pretty frightening and drawn in black with slashes of orange. One snowman looks like it is crying for help out of terror and the figure behind it is probably the reason why as it is very angry looking with a menacing scowl. I am not sure why these or the other illustrations were selected. Again, the vast majority of them are fairly dark and depressing. I also wonder why the examples and illustrations are limited to the mediums of paint/marker/pen/crayon when the book is supposed to be about art in general? Why not include any other art form such as sculpture, photography, collage, etc? I have reviewed other art books for children which I would recommend in place of Art Parts. Though I strongly applaud the idea behind this book, I do not at all like the execution.

Thank you to Kim Bogren Owen for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Tonja Drecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kids and art seem to go hand in hand--at least, my kids have always loved to draw, color, sketch and paste until they've used every piece of blank paper they can find in the house.

This book is a celebration of exactly that. Through simple themes, kids are introduced to the basics of art. The wording is easy enough for even the youngest artists to understand, and it encourages them to try their hand at making art as well. After each basic structure is introduced, a blank page awaits for kids to fill themselves.

Much of the artwork is done by children, giving young artists the opportunity to see the examples at a level they can relate to. The pictures are sweet, colorful and bring out exactly that which the explanations are trying to point out. They invite kids to gaze through them again and again, and try to make an artwork all on their own.

Summed up: this is a great way to introduce the very basic structures of art to kids ages 3 and up.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[KarnagesMistress · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways. It is autographed. I am excited to pass this book along to my niece. I had a similar book when I was her age, but it was not as good as this book. Art Parts is very sturdily put together, hardbound with glossy pages, so that the book will be a keepsake. The illustrations are artworks in a variety of mediums created by actual children-- and they aren't perfect! This is my favorite part of the book: it's not intimidating. With my book, when I got older, I looked back, comparing my art with the professional illustrations, and it made me sad. Art Parts, in contrast, is empowering in its use of real art from real children. The lessons are simple, and any parent with an inexpensive box of crayons can work through them with any child. I recommend this book to all families.

[Suzie Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book easy to read and easy to present to a group of young children and children with fine motor skill challenges. It was short and offered an appropriate amount of detail to keep the children engaged in learning about art. The visual pictures and descriptive display of the six elements enabled the ability to connect the elements to the art the children created. The children and I completed a week long activity stemming from this book by making their own "Art Parts" book. I collected the children's pages they completed and affixed them together into a book to take home to their parents. I added the verbiage to their book to show the families what we worked on. The last page was a completed picture displaying the skills the children took away from this lesson. The small group of children this included is from age 18 months to 6 years old.

[T.J. Puritz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a giveaway from the author through Goodreads.
This book is exactly what it is explained to be in the description. It is not a very long book and is very simple - which makes it perfect for the ages of 3 to 8yrs. It is wonderful to have the simplified explanation of each technique followed by the space for the child to use that technique on their own. At the same time, this makes the book a personal copy to the child and probably not as enjoyable for a second reader.
The back page of suggested activities are a huge bonus for this resource. They activities are clear, easy to complete and are a great follow up for the lessons learned in the book.

[Missus B's Picture Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Art Parts' introduces children to the elements of art - lines, shapes, colour, texture, space and feelings. The book is a mix of drawings by children, samples to demonstrate art elements and blank pages which invite children to express their own artistic ideas. Perfect as a gift or keepsake, the book is also a valuable share in a group setting . Click on my blog link to read more and see my little artists in action....
http://missusbspicturebookreviews.blo...

[Gayle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book to get children interested in Art. The book breaks down Art into parts such as shapes, colors, textures, etc. As the book explains those it has a blank page that lets children try their hand at what was just explained to them on the preceding page. At the end it leads them to use their imagination by combining all the items given to them. This is a book that should help children to come up with their own ideas and help them to enjoy Art.
I got this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

[Nadine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Art Parts is an excellent short book to introduce art concepts to youngsters. On the blank pages where a child is to draw, I'm going to do something a bit archival-have a child draw on a piece of paper that can be put on the book for that given concept repeatedly at 4 year intervals or so to show artistic growth resulting in a wonderful keepsake.
I received a copy of the book for review from the author through the Goodreads giveaway program.

[Sian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great little book for introducing children to the elements of art. Introduces a topic, explains in pictures and then provides space for a child to practice the skill.
I won this in a Goodreads giveaway.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a goodreads.com free book... a great little art book for children .

[Raven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute book! Thank you Goodreads for the wonderful contests. I really enjoyed winning this one.