Need some ideas to get your child involved in art? Here are some to try:

1. Set aside time with your children for creating home-made decorations. As a community service project, you could make extra to take to a local nursing home or assisted living center. There are lots of craft ideas in magazines or online. Try sites like Crayola.com and Family Fun.com.
2. Submit your child’s artwork to your local newspaper or a magazine. Highlights Magazine for Children, for example, has a page where they publish poems and artwork.
3. Some art projects can be centered around the holidays. Organize a Christmas club, where four to five students meet once or twice a month to work on Christmas gifts like paintings, ceramics, or other crafts.
4. Take a walk as a family along a trail or wooded path. Pick up interesting bits of nature: nuts, seeds, leaves, etc. Create your own wreaths or centerpieces for the holidays.
5. Give older children the responsibility of planning a birthday party for a younger sibling. Show them how to organize the party around a theme, such as the jungle, the beach, or the zoo, and let them make the decorations to go with it.
6. Plan a visit your local art museum. Before you go, find out which artists are represented and research them in the library.
7. Have your child research two famous artists, such as Monet and van Gogh. Then have them draw any picture they choose, drawing it once in the style of the first artist, then in the style of the second.
8. Check out your local library for drawing, painting, and craft books. There are a lot of books out there for children!

What are some ways you’ve gotten your kids involved in art?