Art Lessons for young kids?

MollyylloM · #1 02-10-2004, 11:17 PM

I am an artist, (I paint the most frequently), and a friend recently asked me if I would be interested in giving art lessons to his children the week of spring break.

My question is:

What are appropriate art lessons for an 8 yr. old?

What about a 5 year old?

How long should the classes be?

Any ideas or suggestions would be wonderful.

LarrySeiler · #2 02-11-2004, 12:46 PM

in the 80's, I gave private tennis lessons for $20, per hour...
I teach guitar lessons on the side now...and lessons in many places are about $13 for 1/2 hour. The local school district has a grant and pays me $20 per hour for such lessons.

I never gave private art lessons to small children, but I have done private lessons with plein air...and week long workshops.

Its really hard to say what you should charge, how bad someone wants lessons, the kinds of things you'll teach, the materials you decide appropriate and necessary. Anything less than $20 for an hour's time though (and that's on top of material's costs)...would be underpaid, IMO....

Larry

**Alan Cross** · #3 02-12-2004, 01:23 AM

To add to what Larry said you are also with a 5 year old doing the roll of a baby sitter .....I would say this is worth $20 an hour for me as you are not going to get that much out of it....I would go very basic, lots of paper, pencils something to color with and maybe some watercolors they are always fun to play with. Pick simple things for them to draw and color, kids love to draw.....let them have fun.
Alan

Mkent41616 · #4 02-12-2004, 08:04 AM

the most appropriate thing that both of the children can learn would be drawing with shapes and the color wheel. Also usually younger children have a finite attention span of about an hour maximum but 30 minutes is about average. you could do a combination for the lesson of drawing and the color wheel. I suggest crayons and watercolor for materials, as they are easy to clean up and are fairly common materials that they probably have at home. once you foster the idea that they are materials that can be used on a regular basis the children can create art any where they go.

baquitania · #5 02-14-2004, 01:13 AM

The 5 year old I can understand will require you to hold their hand. But if you have an intelligent 8 year old on your hands, and by intelligent I really mean enthusiastic, they will be bored to tears working on the same thing a 5 yr old would.

For the 5 yr old, a simple collage or drawing of what they know in the world. I would also stress with them the size of things, as most will want to draw smack in the middle of the page, and you will soon be out of materials. Break up a large sheet into a grid, ask them to use certain colors in each area. A great thing to do would be to coordinate it to music. May I suggest something without words, but lively enough to peak their tapping toes.

For the 8yr old, there is no reason you cannot forge into a more adult approach, given that what they will take away from it is very different to what you and I will. I did a simple crayon wax resist card with watercolors to teach 3rd and 4th graders about stain glass. And may I suggest cutting out ALOT of pictures. You will need alot of visual aids to get them going.

In the fashion industry, designers often create what is called a Mood Board. It is a collage of colors, images, faces, etc, to give the designer the other all idea of the mood they want to set for their finished piece. Say I wanted to creat a dress based on a bowl of fruit. My mood board could have lushes colors, textures, organic shapes to inspire me. You could easily take this very adult idea, and tell the 8yr old, let's create a mood board, and our theme is...

a fairy tale
the ocean
a summer night

The possibilities are endless. What I am getting at here, is that you are not just teaching Jerry & Jane to draw trees. You are pulling out of their individual experience what they think a tree is, there's no reason NOT to take a smart approach, and apply some adult methods to the problem. The results will amaze you.

Good luck!

Bobby

Aibrean · #6 02-26-2004, 08:58 PM

Go through the color palette and then describe cool colors and warm colors..Then have them do a piece in just warm colors and one in cool colors and have them compare the two.

Krysia · #7 03-02-2004, 02:03 PM

This past weekend, i painted with a 5 and a 6 year old. We had an hour and that was enough for them... i tore up watercolour paper into 3" x 4". i had applied rubber cement to the outer 1/4" to act as a frame - i had let it dry. it will rub off just like frisket and cheaper.

then with a huge brush, the children wet the paper, then with smaller brushes, dabbed colours inside the frame - we called them explosions.... and we watched as the colours bled all over the paper and into each other... great fun and those puddles ... well, we wicked them up with toilet paper ... also great fun - that sort made them aware of what was happening on areas away from their explosions... so they had to keep an open eye.... then when they had had enough explosions, we set that paper aside and went on to the next one... To speed the drying process, i used a hair dryer.... so towards the end of the hour, we went on with a fine black marker and outlined some of our shapes - now dry - that was fun... most were abstract,... some were flowers.... and then they signed their names and although i did not think of it then, i think you can buy inexpensive photo albums, and they could put their paintings into these small books and carry them around for show and tell or to grandma's etc.....
their mom was absolutely thrilled with their paintings.... probably framing some....
good luck , my piano teacher charges $18 for half an hour... and there is no real prep for her... you have to get the materials together so that is extra.... and there is the time to get to site... remember,,, the plumber charges the time it takes to get to your place as well as the time to leave as well as the time there...... and your bill will exceed probably 100 for that hour or so... your time and talent is valuable--- you are not simply a babysitter.

krysia

gabymerediz · #8 03-10-2004, 04:02 PM

I don't know if this is too late. it depends on the area of the country you are in. I took violin lessons at least 10 years ago, and then, they were charging betweek $30-$50 an hour.

I teach art to two 7 year olds right now and charge $30 per child, per hour.

sharilynn1999 · #9 03-11-2004, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MollyylloM

I am an artist, (I paint the most frequently), and a friend recently asked me if I would be interested in giving art lessons to his children the week of spring break.

My question is:

What are appropriate art lessons for an 8 yr. old?

What about a 5 year old?

How long should the classes be?

Any ideas or suggestions would be wonderful.

Hi Molly,

I currently teach younger students privately. At one time I had a 5 yr old. I started with simple drawing of a landscape. I told her it was 3D drawing and that seemed to keep her attention. I used watercolor pencils and also told her that when we were done drawing and coloring it, it'll be a home-made coloring book page that we can use a paint brush on. That was the clincher. She lasted 2.5 hrs LOL then her attention span gave way. Her sister was there as well and she was 9 yrs and was just as enthusiastic. Later on in the day after one of the art lessons, she came by to "visit" and see what I was doing and just sat there and watched me put a sky wash on a watercolor I was working on. That is when the questions came flying lol I charge $25 for 2 hrs with an addendum of $10 per half hour over the initial time. The parents of all my students are ok with that and for the most part has kept them in-line with lesson ending times and they are on the nose lol Also, if you are considering teaching kids, plan on increasing your rates within a few months of starting teaching. Another thing that works for me is the odd now and again where I have a "coupon special" 5 for the price of 4 and I get enrollment up that way also. Good luck!

p.s. I also had her and her sister picking out true pigment on leaves and such to show them what color mixing does in nature. This not only helped them "mix" their watercolor pencil colors but also helped them to pick out the colors it took to achieve that color. They both were quite good at picking out the blues and yellows of several different hostas in the garden!

Now I also have an 8yr old and 12 yr old in a watersoluble oil class! And I must say, it's like having mini-van goghs to teach and I am loving it! We're doing "wet on wet" with WS oils and landscapes with moody skies, mountains, lakes, trees (lots of trees), and I wouldnt trade it for the world!! We're ALL having a ball at it!

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