ARTistic Pursuits (A REVIEW)

It's no secret that we love art at our house. We also have loved using ARTistic Pursuits Inc. for many years, so I was really excited to have the opportunity to try out another book from their new series K-3rd Grade Level, Volumes 1-8. Each book in this new series focuses on a time in history, the art from that time period, and art projects that bring it all alive. From the 8 books we chose Art of the Middle Ages, K-3 Vol. 3.

We received a beautiful full-color hard-cover book complete with a DVD and Blu-ray for the video art instructions. The pages are full of beautiful art pieces from history, examples for projects, and text to guide us through it all. The lesson/reading is short, about 1-3 pages followed by an example of what the art project will be. Finally, there is a video portion with step by step instructions on how to do the art project. These lessons are simple to follow, but some of the art projects can be a bit complex. Depending on the age of the child there is a good amount of parent involvement too. These lessons are wonderful to read together, and some children (especially younger ones) will need some help with some of the steps from these projects. They use some awesome materials that go beyond paint, crayons, and markers.

All of our materials ready for the first lesson

For example, our first lesson in Volume 3 uses paper for weaving, but it also involves some tricky maneuvering and measuring to make sure that things will work out in the end. My 2nd grader definitely needed me by his side through the whole process, but it was great for him. He has never done weaving before, and it also included some measuring that he's never really used before too.

The DVD also introduces the middle ages in a fun imaginative way.

After we read the lesson together, and talked about the time period of the Middle Ages, we moved onto the DVD portion to do the art project. It worked best for us to use the laptop at the table.

The step-by-step process on the DVD is perfect. We have the ability to pause if needed, and we did! When we paused we talked about the steps, and what he thought might happen next.

Art Project: Paper Loom Weave

Started out by cutting the paper in a special way.

He was amazed at how that worked!

Having a video lesson for the art project really helps with the visual part of art, and following difficult steps.

Followed the video to start the weaving process.

He's up for this challenge, and actually finds weaving kind of fun.

The end product!

That set the stage for the more difficult project of weaving a crown.

It loooks like it took a really long time to make, but it actually went pretty fast. Especially since he had just learned how to weave the regular paper. The steps are quick, but still involved.

Voila! A crown for a proud boy.

This is the 2nd book in this series we have tried (we reviewed the first one previously), and we have loved both. I am looking forward to collecting them all, as they all look like they have some great art and history lessons. If you want to see what the other books might offer, the review crew each received different books, so click on the image below to see what some of the other volumes offer.