The Artful Parent: Simple Ways to Fill Your Family's Life with Art and Creativity

With so many gimicky books out there these that sit and collect dust, this book is truly deserving of its five stars! What a wonderful art book for parents! These are projects that are truly doable, accessible for even parents who are not art inclined. If you are a parent who wants to incorporate art into your child’s day, this is truly the book for you! No need for any other. It will get you organized and get you started right away with lots of inspiration. It is a cozy and enjoyable style as well. I recommend this and also an Artful Year by the same writer. It takes the same style and applies it to building seasonal traditions with your children with doable projects. Just beautiful! Thank you so much to this writer for making art-time realistic and special for children and their at times overwhelmed parents

I have been following Jean's blog, the artful parent for a few years now. She has been an important part of my families life by bringing art to us in an accessible, interesting, fun and creative way. She believes in process, not product which is really important in the early years, yet, even with this philosophy much of the outcome is so unique and beautiful. Although her blog and e-books are chock full of activities, her book equally brings new, fresh projects for you to choose from. Add to that her inspiring writing on why children should be involved in making art and ways to add it to their life and you get a well rounded resource to go back to again and again! This book will help you enrich your child's life as well as give you the chance to be creative yourself in a sometimes not so artful day to day. It's been so fun to share this with my daughter and to see the joy on her face when she is creating. The artful parent is a gem!!

Not exactly tipping the scales here ...one of the highest rated books on Amazon. Yet, not overrated. Jean hits all of my buttons in terms of what I look for in a pedagogical approach to creative activity for kids. It's a human approach where exploration and experience in use of simple methods, graphic tools and materials weave together in moments of playful and spontaneous creative process and activity. The guidance in the book is both practical (hands-on examples) and theoretical. There is appropriate depth and context from a number of sources and educational expert contributors. What are your kids doing? With this book, you come away with a foundation and a set of recipes for doing, making, and taking action - with your kids. Jean gives us a framework for better supporting their creative instincts by giving them work space, materials, guidance, and encouragement as curious explorers. And the great thing is that this adventurous approach for supporting our kids offers so much to us as adults. I think Jean may agree with me that we could learn from our children that to be human is to play and explore.

I've followed Jean Van't Hul's blog, The Artful Parent, since the beginning. When I learned there was to be a book, I was thrilled - the blog is wonderful but there is something about leafing through a hard copy of a book that is so much more appealing to me. Although some of the projects are similar to ideas she has explored on the blog, none of it feels old or tired, the material is still fresh and exciting. The pictures and projects are inspiring for both kids and adults alike. The text is written in an accessible and friendly, almost familial way. In addition there is lots of great information on art supplies and spaces, as well as essays by other artists and experts in various areas of creativity and art making. I think this book would be the perfect gift for a new parent, someone who already has kids/grandkids, or teachers - especially teachers in the preschool age range where art exploration and open ended projects should be a staple. Thanks Jean for sharing your time and talents with all of us!

Jean's book is chock full of information on how to become more creative with kids. The topics I most loved in the book are her art supply lists, practical reasons why art and creativity enrich households, and of course, the actual projects. There are TONS of projects in this book. I had not seen the majority of them, showing that she has carefully kept many 'under wraps' and they are not available on her blog. The book is very bright and colorful throughout, and Jean's passion for art discovery for children and adults alike just rings throughout the book. I homeschool my kids and will be using this book's projects as a broad umbrella for our art curriculum. Most craft projects do not require items that are hard to find or expensive, though for the ones that do--there is a great supply store list in the book. The reason I gave this book four stars as opposed to five is that it is not user-friendly for children. An adult really has to read through the instructions in the book, and help, but I think it is also left that way for the project to be open-ended. My own children would have a tough time opening this book, and understanding the instructions instead of settling down to work and seeing a number or step-with-photos process, creating art independently. I really like this book and it comes highly recommended.

Había leído muy buenos comentarios de este libro y me alegra haberlo adquirido, contiene muy buenas ideas y, lo que más me gustó, muchas recomendaciones para llevar a cabo proyectos de arte con tus niños. Las recomendaciones de cómo hacerlos, cómo hablar con tus hijos acerca de sus proyectos y qué materiales utilizar se dividen por grupos de edad, ya que las expectativas, actividades y necesidades de los niños cambian mucho en los primeros años.

Such an inspiring book that is about just adding art to your lives and not just very specific crafty projects which I find limiting. This just made me excited about getting my toddler just doing stuff, whatever it is, just drawing on the window or painting rocks or anything. It opens your mind up to the possibilities available around you and makes crafting with your kids much less daunting than a lot of the kids craft books out there. I LOVE it.

Excelente producto para trabajar la expresión artística con niños, ya sea en casa o en la escuela. Escrito con rigor y mucha sensibilidad.

consiglio questo libro a tutti quei genitori che hanno voglia di trascorrere tempo con i propri figli facendo cose belle e creative.Inoltre non è necessario essere grandi artisti per realizzare quello che l'autrice propone. Non è stato tradotto in italiano.

I definitely love this book. Full of creative, funny, low-cost suggestions for kids and their parents.