Art Appreciation with Kindergarteners!

I printed a few of my favorite pieces of artwork and displayed it on my metal cabinets with magnets (so I can easily pull them out when I need to).  I always refer to at least one or two of them during our art appreciation lessons. I also printed discussion prompts that help guide little ones in our talk!  

My first lesson this year revolved around Piet Mondrian's artwork. I showed them Piet Mondrian's Composition II in Red, Blue and Yellow. I asked the students to tell me what they saw. We discussed geometric shapes, colors, the 3 "buddy colors" or Primary Colors, straight lines, and so on. Every student got a turn to say something about the art, and we tried not to repeat what the other classmates said...."I see a blue square", "I see lots of red", "I see a teeny tiny yellow square".........

I then asked them what they thought the painting meant or was about...and of course, everyone had their own opinions! And this my dear readers, was the perfect way to lead into the explanation of abstract art! I asked them, if this was a picture of something they recognized. "It could be a window" one replied. "No, it could be an eye", "It's probably a fish if you move the picture sideways" a clever one stated. "I see the letter L!" "I see the letter I!" "It's a kite!" They had to be nudged into thinking out of the "box"....but when they got there, there was no stopping them, the sky was the limit! 

They understood that abstract art could mean anything the viewer interprets it as. I then compared Piet Mondrian's art with Van Gogh's sunflower painting to help little Kindergarteners know the difference between abstract artform and realistic style paintings! I asked them what the sunflower painting was about, and everyone agreed in unison that it was indeed a painting of sunflowers. No confusion there! We then looked at other paintings of Piet Mondrian's and saw how his abstract art had so many similarities. 

Every now and then, I will throw in a realistic style painting to assess their understanding of abstract art....and Voila, my little ones can identify it immediately! I am a happy camper....and that is what I achieved in my first week of teaching art to Kindergartners!