These eight art picture books with craft ideas for kids are sure to keep your toddlers and preschoolers busy having fun (and learning, of course)! Each book includes an artistic element of its own – colors, drawing, painting, etc. Explore these amazing picture books and try the craft ideas (they’re all process art – perfect for kids under 5 years old)!
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Mix It Up by Herve Tullet
MIX COLORS
I love Mix it Up because 1) It is the perfect introduction to color theory; 2) With only a few words on each page, it keeps kids focused; 3) It’s highly interactive. These traits add up to equal a great art picture book!
Practice mixing the primary colors with paint and then paint a picture with your new colors!
Louise Loves Art by Kelly Light
PAPER PEOPLE CHAIN
Louise Loves Art is an endearing art picture book about a sister who is annoyed with her little brother (named Art) for ruining her art. It, of course, has a happy ending with Louise loving Art and his artwork (pun intended, I believe).
Cutting paper people chains might be a little too challenging for toddlers and preschoolers, so I cut ours ahead of time. But for older kids, they’ll love unfolding the paper they cut and finding a bunch of people. We decorated ours with everything red because the book’s main color is red. We used feathers, markers, pom-poms, etc.
Blue Chicken by Deborah Freedman
WATERCOLOR AND MARKER ART
Blue Chicken is a minimal text story about a chicken who accidentally spills blue paint all over the farm and the animals. It’s adorable, and young kids will follow and older kids will laugh.
Practice small motor skills by using black permanent markers to doodle on a canvas board. Then, use droppers to add blue liquid watercolor paint. So simple, so fun.
A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni
ILLUSTRATED BOOKS
The chameleon feels sad and left out because he isn’t the same color all of the time, like pigs are pink and elephants are gray. But when he finds a chameleon friend, he realizes that they will always be the same color as long as they’re together. It’s a great art picture book for introducing color concepts, and it has simple text.
These little books will have your little ones showing off their illustrations to everyone. They’ll be so proud! *The template we used for the chameleon picture came from Academy at the Lakes.
I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More by Leo Lionni
FULL BODY PORTRAITS
What a silly art picture book about a boy who just can’t stay out of the paints! A lot of kids will relate to his desire to paint himself and a lot of parents will relate to the mom’s frustration with paint everywhere. The text has rhythm to it and will capture everyone’s attention.
Allow the kids to paint themselves! ….just not in the way they may be hoping. Use tracings of their bodies on the sidewalk or on a big piece of bulletin board paper and let them paint “themselves” however they’d like.
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
PURPLE, PURPLE, PURPLE ART
Harold and the Purple Crayon is a classic art picture book that has been loved for generations. Harold uses his imagination and draws an amazing journey with his purple crayon. Younger kids will love it and older kids will get a lot out of it.
*This idea came from The Museum School. We modified it a little bit by changing out a few different art supplies to accommodate what we had. We gathered up all of our purple craft supplies and got to work making a giant purple art collage with purple crayons, markers, paint, feathers, craft poms, pipe cleaners, etc.
Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg
DOODLES
Beautiful Oops is another art picture book I love! It’s about turning splotches and marks and general “oops” moments into something new and beautiful. It’s simple and fun.
Encourage the kids to draw whatever they’d like! If they’re not happy with how something turns out, help them turn it into something different, just like in the book!
*Edited to add: I also found this really fun companion journal, My Book of Beautiful Oops! A Scribble It, Smear It, Fold It, Tear It Journal for Young Artists by Barney Saltzberg
Dog Loves Drawing by Louise Yates
SKETCHBOOKS
Dog receives a sketchbook and draws himself into a whole new world.
Each child received a blank notebook and were encouraged to draw whatever they wanted.
There you have it – some of my very favorite art picture books!