Art and the Bible for Children

Art and the Bible for Children is one hardcover book with colorful illustrations and clear directions. The pages are a thick, glossy material that will withstand years of use. The purpose of this curriculum is to teach children art using Bible stories. It starts out at a very simple level and gets progressively more difficult throughout the book. Some examples of projects include creating a unique animal (Adam naming the animals), drawing a coat of many colors for Joseph, learning how to draw expressions on faces, overlapping, and contrasting light and dark to show depth.

The illustrations in the book are colorful and interesting. They are all pictures of artwork done by children, and some are very creative and fun to look at. I think this book would be more suitable for younger children (Kindergarten-3rd grade), because the lessons are incredibly easy and even though the book progresses, it doesn’t teach more advanced art techniques like shading or dimensions. I am not very art savvy so I was hoping for something that would give more art instruction than just drawing and coloring with colored pencils. On the other hand, the samples of art in the book are so creative you could easily get ideas from those examples for a more varied art experience.

Another thing to consider with this art curriculum is that the lessons are very short and easy. I combine three or more lessons into one lesson and it still only takes about 15 minutes to complete, including reading the story and doing the activities. But my children enjoy it and ask to do art often. I bought them each a 1-inch binder, with plain printer paper punched with holes on the side in it, so they could keep all of their work in one place.

We will continue to use this through the year, but I plan to use other media than the colored pencils that are suggested, to please my children who are more art-inclined.