Author: Tricia Hodges

Are you looking for a summer art camp for your kiddo this year? How about an online summer art camp chocked full of artful activities? With just a little bit of planning you can create an online summer camp right from the comfort of your own home!

Online Summer Art Camp for Kids

Even if you can’t get your children to a “real” summer art camp this year, I want to encourage you to explore an online camp. With the wonders of technology at our fingertips, this can be an amazing option for many families to choose from. Plus, art camp can be an easy way for kids to learn to express themselves this summer. That’s because art gives children the chance to be creative, carefree, and engaged. Your child will gain self-confidence as they develop the skills and techniques to bring their creations to fruition. No artistic talent needed. Just an openness to creative expression!

Summer Art Camp with Chalk Pastels

The first step in creating a fantastic online summer art camp to decide how long you want your summer art camp to be. Maybe you want to do one artistic thing with your kiddos per day for a whole week, or maybe you would prefer to have multiple lessons on only a single day. Do what works for you and your kids!

Next, gather your art supplies! We adore Chalk Pastels! They are so easy to use that preschoolers through adults can enjoy this wonderful art medium. Chalk Pastels make gathering needed art supplies easy. All you need is a set of chalk pastels, construction paper and the You Are An Artist Clubhouse Membership!

With the You Are An Artist Clubhouse Membership, you have access to a bank of art lessons for all ages, a wonderful art community; plus new art lessons from “Nana”, including themed art events throughout the year! You don’t have to worry about being the teacher, “Nana” has got your covered!

Let Kids Choose the Chalk Pastel Videos

My kid’s love “Nana” and her videos! She is such a wonderful art teacher and with every lesson she always reminds us that, “You Are An Artist!”

Another aspect that brings my children joy is that they get to choose which art video lessons they want to explore. The Complete You Are An Artist Clubhouse Membership offers you endless access to the ENTIRE Chalk Pastel library of courses! Clubhouse members enjoy a monthly curated calendar with lessons chosen for you, should you choose to access it. Members also receive exclusive, new Summer Art Camp lessons.

 That means your kiddos could choose:

• Summer Camp Video Art Lessons which include camping, camp tree house, bubbles, canoes, hammocks, and pools!
• Nature courses such as Sharks, Seashore, Forest Nature, Spring, Garden Nature, Backyard Nature, Pond Nature, and more! Many of these Nature lessons contain everything kids love about summer – lightning bugs, beach vacations, bullfrogs, dragonflies, flowers, and dandelions.
• Famous Artists series explores Michelangelo, da Vinci, Monet, and Rembrandt.
• American Landmarks Lessons include the Liberty Bell, Washington Monument, Niagara Falls, and loads more landmarks you’d only see on summer road trips.
• Plus, so much more!!!

Making Summer Camp Special

So, how can you make your kiddo’s online summer art camp just a little bit extra special?

• Set the table with a fun tablecloth or strip of fabric. I used an old top to a quilt that was never finished. The colorful squares just screamed summer picnic!
• I added a vase of flowers to the table that I had picked earlier from our yard.
• Light some candles, tealights, or string a few Christmas lights to give off that “campfire” glow.
• Following the summer camp/picnic theme I let the children make their own S’mores in the microwave. If you’ve got the time and the day is nice and sunny, you could always let your kiddos make Solar Oven S’mores before getting started with their art.
• Nothing says summertime like S’mores and Root Beer Floats; however, any treat and favorite beverage will do. It doesn’t have to be fancy!

Summer Art Camp Fun

I like to include the poetry teatime aspect to our art time by making it enjoyable with treats, beverages, and twinkle lights or candles. The ambiance and fun factor can change a child’s perception of art! It doesn’t matter what the art looks like. It doesn’t have to be perfect. All that matters is that your children are finding joy and making memories. I always quote Miss Frizzle to my kids, “get messy, make mistakes!”

But keep a roll of moistened paper towels nearby.

Easy Online Summer Art Camp

Summertime is the perfect time for kids to explore and get excited about art! With endless chalk pastel lessons to choose from, your kiddos are going to love celebrating these lazy months in new creative ways.

An art camp is perfect for kids this summer as it provides a wonderful artistic outlet!

So, call the kids in from the heat and watch as they learn, explore, and grow their imaginative talents! Your children are going to enjoy traversing the world of chalk pastels. There is so much to discover about color, technique, and self-expression with an online summer art camp! Additionally, at the end of each lesson they will always be reminded that they ARE an artist!

You might also like:

• Easy Mommy and Me Art Time
• Christmas Chalk Pastel Joy
• The Ultimate List of Art Marathons

Erin is a writer, blogger, and homeschooler to two intense kids. Her blog is filled with information to help you explore a child led education while making meaningful connections with your children. Discover favorite read alouds, seasonal books, games, art projects, hands-on activities, and learn to just breathe through the ups and downs of life. She loves nature, farm life, good books, knitting, new pens, and hot coffee. Erin is a contributing writer for Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers. Her work has also been featured on Simple Homeschool and Book Shark.  

Often we hear of our artists going through many of Nana’s video art lessons in one sitting. We know that sometimes students are interested in enjoying ALL of the lessons on a certain topic simply because it is their favorite thing right now. So we created the ultimate list of art marathons to make it even easier for you to plan.

Of course the easiest way to enjoy an art marathon is to join the You ARE an Artist Complete Clubhouse so you have immediate access to ALL of Nana’s video art lessons. Our members receive specific plans and lists of lesson marathons.

Ultimate List of Art Marathons

• Advent Art Marathon
• Acrylics Art Marathon
• Backyard Birds Art Marathon – with acrylics and chalk pastels

• Chalk Pastels at the Movies (a bonus full of art lessons for movies and favorite books – with Artist Clubhouse membership) – here are just a few:  Star Wars (a whole marathon of its own!), Incredibles, Minions, Finding Nemo and Finding Dory, The Grinch, Frozen, Mary Poppins, How to Train Your Dragon, Jaws (Sharks art lessons) Pooh, Narnia, Green Ember, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Madeline, Charlie Brown, How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World, Cars, Harry Potter, Dr. Seuss, Harold and the Purple Crayon , Angry Birds and many more!
• Composers Art Marathon (member exclusive continuing series) John Williams (and all that movie music!), Symphony Conductor, Beethoven, Aaron Copland Lincoln Portrait, Handel’s For Unto Us a Child is Born, Beatles, Jazz Composers, Vivaldi Spring

• Easter Art Marathon

• Famous Artists Art Marathon (member exclusive continuing series)

• Green Ember Art Marathon
• Harry Potter Art Marathon
• Holiday Art Marathon
• History Art Marathon
• Hymns Art Marathon (member exclusive continuing series)
• I Drew It Then I Knew It
• Little House on the Prairie (member exclusive continuing series)

• Maps Art Marathon – (member exclusive, including Me on The Map)
• Master Classes Art Marathon (member exclusive)
• Modern History Art Marathon
• Movie Art Marathon
• Nature Art Marathon

• Preschool Art Marathon
• Presidents Art Marathon (member exclusive)
• Science and Art Marathon and Curriculum Match Up – space, inventors, nature and SO much more!!
• Seasons Art Marathon – winter, spring, summer, fall

• Sharks Art Marathon
• Space Art Marathon
• Spring Art Marathon
• St. Patrick’s Day Art Marathon

• Star Wars Art Marathon
• Summer Art Camp Marathon
• Tea Time Art Marathon
• Travel Art Marathon (member exclusive)
• Weather Art Marathon (member exclusive)

You might also like:

• Homeschool Curriculum Match Up Checklist
• You ARE an Artist Planner (bonus with Clubhouse membership)

We have a handy, dandy Homeschool Science Curriculum Match Up Checklist for your science curriculum. All of Nana’s I Drew It Then I Knew It science and her nature video art lessons are listed – including inventors, space and more!

Matching Nana’s You ARE an Artist video art lessons to your homeschool science curriculum just got so much easier!

This homeschool science and art curriculum match up checklist has plenty of planning space for you to add your corresponding science lesson or to jot down a date, note or page number.

Homeschool Science and Art Curriculum Match Up

We hope this helps makes it easier for you to expand your science learning with art! Download yours here!

*Once you use your new handy, dandy curriculum planning sheet, please tag us in your photo at @chalkpastelart – we would love to see how Nana’s lessons match up with your studies and feature you!

Find the full list of all of the 50+ courses here and the You ARE an Artist Clubhouse here.

You might also like:

• Why Adding Art to Academics Helps Children Learn by Shawna Wingert
• Art the Charlotte Mason Way by Jeannie Fulbright

Giveaway!

Apologia has generously offered one (1) winner a choice of an Apologia science course! Simply follow the instructions in the rafflecopter widget, below:

When I was in seventh grade, we were all assigned a different country to learn about and present back to the class. The presentation itself required more than just a standard book report. It required us to combine art and academics. We had to create a salt dough map, and then use the map to guide the class around our assigned country.  I was given Italy and spent days preparing for my presentation and painting that map. Twenty years later, I still know more about Italian geography than any other country in the world outside my own.

I share this example, because my guess is, you likely have one too from your own school experience. The diorama, the science fair presentation, or that one cool teacher who let you create a project instead of submitting a written report – when we think of them now, we smile, and we actually remember what we learned. 

This illustrates perfectly the power of using art to aid academic learning.

Why Combine Art and Academics?

Adding art to a more formal learning assignment has two essential benefits for learners.

1. It creates a multi-sensory experience.
2. Creativity leads to ownership.

Art and Academics with Multi-sensory Learning

Multi-sensory learning is typically defined as an approach to learning that uses more than one sense (seeing, hearing, touching, doing).

Research has repeatedly shown that this type of learning is far more successful, because it allows the child to access the information in different ways.

“… when we engage in creative activities, we change the neurochemistry of our brain in ways that a drug can change the neurochemistry of our brain.” Kelly Lambert,  neuroscientist at the University of Richmond.

This is one of the reasons why I Drew It and Then I Knew It lessons work so well for my son. 

The audio of Nana’s instruction, the visual input from the computer screen and from the colors as my child paints, as well as the obvious tactile experience of holding the chalk and blurring the lines on the page – all work together to create a seamless, multi-sensory experience for my son. This type of multisensory learning leads to greater comprehension and retention for all children, and especially those who have learning differences.

Creativity Increases Ownership

When we create something, anything, it requires a certain level of commitment from us. The same is true of our children. It forms a much more personal relationship to what is being learned and goes far beyond what a simple worksheet or quiz can provide.

This increased ownership is another contributor to the increased retention and comprehension we see when we add art to academic learning. It’s one of the reasons why we all remember what we learned from those more creative assignments back in school.

Adding Art To Academics in Our Homeschool

As homeschoolers, we are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to create these types of learning experiences all the time. Rather than just the one or two projects I remember from my school days, I am excited to incorporate this type of approach into our learning as much as possible.

Here is a recent example from my own home:

1. My son saw a hummingbird outside and we decided to learn more.
2. We read a book together about birds.
3. We watched a  video online about hummingbirds.
4. We added an element of creativity with You Are An Artist Chalk Pastel Bird Study,
5. As my son created his picture, we listened to Nana talking about hummingbirds and we reviewed what we’d learned.

It may seem simple, and I guess it is. But the truth is, my son has comprehended and retained this learning far more than had we just completed the chapter in his science book.

You Are An Artist is an easy and incredibly effective way to combine art and academics in our homes. The lessons are designed to foster the ownership creativity brings, along with the multi-sensory approach that stimulates more effective learning. 

What a wonderful and seamless way to incorporate art into our academic learning.

You might also like:

• Why Art is So Powerful in Helping Struggling Learners
• Easy Mommy and Me Art Time
• You ARE an Artist Clubhouse Course Listing
• 10 Benefits of Artist Clubhouse Membership
• Free Homeschool Curriculum Match Up Checklist download to make planning art time easier

Shawna Wingert is a special education teacher turned writer, speaker and consultant. She is also a homeschooling mom of two brilliant boys with differences and special needs.  Shawna has written four books for parents – Everyday Autism, Special Education at Home, Parenting Chaos and her latest, Homeschooling Your Child With Special Needs. She helps parents of children with learning differences, behavioral challenges and special needs every day at DifferentByDesignLearning.com.