Pointillism for Kids

Georges-Pierre Seurat was a famous French painter who is celebrated today for his use of pointillism. His signature painting technique involved the placement of closely-spaced dots, rather than mixing colors together, in order to achieve a blended effect. Introduce your child to the work and technique of this legendary artist as she develops her own artistic skills with this painting activity. Suggest that she peers into her own backyard for inspiration to turn a sight she sees everyday into pointillism perfection!

What You Need:

• Markers
• Pencil
• Blank white paper

What You Do:

1. Before beginning this activity, have your child look up the work of Seurat online or at the local library. Point out that when viewing his paintings closely, distinct dots are very apparent, but as one moves away from the paintings, the colors seem to blend together.
2. Have your child look out the window into your backyard. Ask her to imagine that the edges of her paper are the edges of the window. She should use her pencil to divide the paper into several window panes.
3. Encourage her to focus on one section of the window at a time. Starting in one corner, ask her to begin filling in the colors she sees, dot -by-dot, with markers. Remind her to stay true to the technique by focusing on individual colors that she sees, not on objects and shapes.
4. Invite her to try adding blues and yellows to the green areas, and reds and yellows to the orange areas. Ask her to watch as she moves away from the pointillist picture. The colors seem to blend right together!

Once your child has covered the entire paper with dots, she's finished! Display your child’s picture in a prominent area of the house so she can take pride in what she’s created!