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Kids Art History Board Game Ideas

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

If you’re looking for fun kids art history board game ideas. you’ll love Professor Noggins. Also, look at the other History Games on my page.

Too, sometimes instead of an art history board game, you can substitute a card game and that is what we did.

I love the Professor Noggin games because they contain a wealth of information in an easy to play format and cover a huge variety of topics.

Kids Art History Board Game Ideas

In addition, the games cover nature, science, animals, birds, reptiles, history, and geography.

Today we are going to look closer at Professor Noggin’s History of Art.

Games teach children, critical thinking, curiosity, accepting failure, creativity, innovation, and more.

9 Things to Love About Art History

However, look at these nine things I love about Professor Noggin’s History of Art.

  1. Teach on a specific subject in a fun way.
  2. Are easy to learn and play.
  3. Build observation and memory skills.
  4. Have a quick play time.
  5. Are portable for road trips and waiting at doctors offices/restaurants.
  6. Have a great price point- around $10- $15
  7. Cover an excellent variety of topics- currently 39 titles on their website.
  8. Have two levels of play for players of different skill levels.
  9. Games have a variety of trivia, true or false, and multiple-choice questions.
Kids Art History Board Game Ideas

The only drawback is that they are small games with limited questions.

I like to get as much value out of things as I can so I started thinking of other ways we could use the games beyond their intended use.

First, look at some of these other fun history games.

Fun History Games Resources

Look at them below.

Moreover, Professor Noggin’s History of Art is an easy way to introduce artists and their masterpieces to kids of any age and ability.

Even if you do not know a lot about art, you can learn art history through a game.

Too, when you use this game, you teach so much more than just a particular artist or style of art.

Through art history you learn geography, get a better understanding of various time periods throughout history, improve reading and research skills, and more.

About Professor Noggin’s History of Art Game

However, look first at a few facts about how the game is intended to be played.

Professor Noggin History of Art comes with 30 cards.

The cards contain a famous artwork on one side and 6 questions on the other.

In addition, there are three questions for the younger or newer student and three for older children or more knowledgeable players.

Also, it’s recommended for ages 8 and up.

From this game you will learn about.

  • Famous artists
  • Major art periods
  • Works of Art
  • Art techniques
  • World architecture
Kids Art History Board Game Ideas

Next, look at these there creative and fun ways you can use the game to turn into a learning day.

8 Ways to Use a Art History Game

I have come up with 8 fun and educational additional activities  to do with this art history game to extend the basic game,

1. Get Artsy Fartsy

If you are not using a formal art curriculum, games like this are a great choice.

First, you can choose cards and have your child attempt to recreate the art piece including using the same medium.

These little tubes of acrylic paints really help you feel like an artist.

Next, do an artist study.

Kids Art History Board Game Ideas

However, I also want you to know about this wonderful Art History for Kids curriculum.

2. Do an Artist Study

Randomly choose a card and study that artist for the week.

Focus on their art, techniques, life story, what period or style they were.

Kids Art History Board Game Ideas

Add in this fun book The Story of Paintings.

3. Focus on Art Period Definitions

Additionally, there are plenty of great vocabulary and spelling words to choose from in this game.

Flip through cards to list all the great art periods and list them. Have your child define each one.

4. Guess the Story

Further, have your child write a poem or a story about an art piece before they learn anything about it.

Then check out the real story or at least the name behind it and see how close they were.

5. Reverse Pictionary

Another one is to pull a random card or one of your choosing and describe the photo for your child and have them draw it from your description.

Kids Art History Board Game Ideas

This can end up being funny and entertaining.

6. Teach Geography or World Culture

Also, pull a random card and locate the country on the map where the artist is from as well as the museum where their artwork is displayed.

Kids Art History Board Game Ideas

This scrunch map gets a lot of use as a favorite resource for just about any theme we choose.

7. Place the Cards in Timeline Order

Give your child a stack of 5 random cards and have them lay them out in timeline order.

Kids Art History Board Game Ideas

They either from memory if they can or allow them to research the time periods in a book or online.

8. Host a Fun Share and Tell

Finally, host a share and tell.

Go through the stack of cards with your child.

Each of you choose your favorite artwork, share it and tell why. And you can include extended family members.

Kids Art History Board Game Ideas

Encourage your child to use descriptive words to help strengthen their vocabulary.

What do you think? Ready to turn a game into a fun and full day of learning?

The BEST Resources for Teaching Art at Home (K to Gray)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

If you’re like me you love art, but teaching art at home can be intimidating. Finding a quick starting point, resources for all ages, and working it into your full homeschool schedule is frustrating.

So I rounded up some homeschool art resources and organized them here so you have a place to start while keeping it easy.

Some resources are free, others are worth their weight in gold when I’ve paid for them.

All of them will making teaching art at home a delight like it should be.

The Best Resources for Teaching Art at Home at Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Worth mentioning at this point too is that your definition of what is art influences your teaching.

Whether it’s art history or pencil drawing, I’ve rounded up a bit of everything to give you a palette (corny pun intended) to choose from.

Homeschool Art Curriculum and Lessons

Atelier is one I’ve used and loved because it’s thorough, has curriculum in pdf format, is video based teaching, and my kids could do it independently.

Also, I loved the fact that in the older grades art history is included.

If you’re overwhelmed with teaching and want to cover art with attention to basics and to be able to count it as art for the high school years, you’ll love this easy to use curriculum. It has been worth every penny I spent.

From free lesson plans for each age group to ideas organized by art period, you’ll find something fun.

You’ll have no shortage of ideas to go with your unit studies or ideas to stand alone.

Because there is so much to navigate on this site, one important tip is to click on the age AND then look at the art period.

Art for All Ages Bundle

Chalk pastel art rocks and You Are an Artist by a homeschool mom makes it easy to get started. I love the fact that you don’t need but a handful of supplies to get started.

We loved the chalk pastel sticks and through the years expanded our art supplies. But chalk pastel art allows you to quickly jump into art with minimal supplies.

This is good if you’re looking for a fun and fuss free fix.

More Art at Home Curriculum and Lessons

Also, some kids have a perfectionist streak which can be crippling when you want them to focus on the process instead of the product.

What I’ve learned through the years in teaching art (from a believe me I’m not an art mom) is that our kids need to know that art is self-expression.

Art is not copy and paste, but we can use models to express our creativity.

Looking at art galleries helped my kids to understand that self-expression comes in many different forms.

I used real life objects for my kids to draw so they didn’t always compare to another drawing or painting.

Reminding my kids constantly that we use other art as a way to learn how many different ways people self-express gives a child room to accept his artwork.

  • Art for Kids Hub.From the site: “Art lessons for kids, including how to draw for kids, even painting and origami for kids.”
  • Artful Parent. Ideas and lessons for younger kids
  • Kinderart. Not just for kindergarten. Lessons from K to High School.

Next, another homeschool fave of mine is ARTistic Pursuits. It’s been around for a while and there is a reason for that. Some kids especially older kids just love to pick up a book and learn without watching a video.

ARTistic Pursuits helped my boys as they got older to learn about technique, art appreciation, and art history. They wanted background information to round out their study.

ARTistic Pursuits has books from PreK to 12. You’ll love my review here of ARTistic Pursuits, Middle School 6-8: Book One -The Elements of Art and Composition

YouTube Homeschool Art

Art is subjective and I’ve tried my best to screen through channels that are appropriate for all ages, but ultimately you need to decide which channels work for your family.

I simply want to give you lots to choose from for every age because we love the school of YouTube.

Also one more tip – pause the videos as you go along. There is no sense in frustrating kids if they want to take art at a slower pace.

Look at the variety of art YouTube channels below:

  • Mr. Otter Studio. From the site: “We provide free tutorials for people of all ages and all interests. From watercolor painting to cardboard sculpting, our tutorials are broken down into simple steps.”
  • LUNCH DOODLES with Mo Willems! Children’s author who gives drawing lessons.
  • Alphonso Dunn. Helping you develop and refine your drawing, pen and ink, and watercolor painting skills and techniques.
  • Emmy Kalia. Pencil drawings and watercolor paintings.
  • The Art Sherpa. Easy acrylic step by step painting tutorials for. beginning artists.
  • Bob Ross. Learn how to paint for older kids.

Homeschool Art History

If you love unit studies, history, and rabbit trails like I do, you’ll want to take a look at Art History For Kids.

It’s great for the non-artsy parents who wants art projects which tie into other subjects like math and science.

You’ll want to look at The Studio Art History which is a monthly membership that introduces you and your kids to a new (super fun and engaging) art history topic each month.

Want your unit studies planned? You’ll love this. The art projects are designed with 5-12 year old kids in mind, but they’re flexible to adjust up and down.

Art Games

We love the whole Professor Noggin series and the History of Art is no exception.

You’ll love the fun and printable art games at Artsology. From a Paris Street Art game, The Salvador Dali Surrealist Exile Game, and Andy Warhol Word Find to a Tjapanangka Desert Game, you’ll find something fun.

Sketch Artist Game. Download the pdf. From the site: “2-3 people play the game, one person is the “witness” and the others are the Sketch Artist(s).”

Learn about 30 of the world’s most famous paintings with these Famous Paintings Cards.

Homeschool Art Field Trips

Check out the 10 virtual tour of art museums around the world.

  • Take your teens on an architecture walk.
  • An aquarium is a great place for ideas to spark art.
  • Another time when we lived in South America, we took our sketch pads to watch the street performers and musicians downtown. Look for opportunities to watch for street performers.

The Museum of Modern Art YouTube. From the site: Our goal is to introduce you to as many artists and artworks of our time as possible.

  • We lived near a very old courthouse and tons of historic buildings which are great to ignite an idea or two.
  • Of course nature has been one of our best art teachers.

Art Coloring Pages, Images, & Tools

Art Books, Reference, & Journals

Then of course there are lot of great art books, but a few make teaching art a bit easier.

This next book is a keeper too. It’s Vincent’s Starry Night and Other Stories: A Children’s History of Art. A great way to introduce art through stories. It starts with the earliest of times and goes through current times.

A Child’s Introduction to Art: The World’s Greatest Paintings and Sculptures is for kids ages 9 to 12 and another great book to introduce the most famous painters, styles, and periods.

Complete Book of Art Ideas. Lots of art ideas and how to keep art supplies too.

Journal Sparks: Fire Up Your Creativity with Spontaneous Art, Wild Writing, and Inventive Thinking.

Drawing With Children: A Creative Method for Adult Beginners, Too is an easy-to-follow, lesson-by-lesson approach for drawing for children of all ages and beginning adults. 

Here is a really fun spin on learning art. ” This one-of-a-kind book, Art Fraud Detective, combines a mystery story, fun spot-the-difference puzzles, and a fantastic introduction to some of the world’s greatest art.”

Homeschool Much-Loved Art Supplies

Because art is about creativity, expression, and experimenting you want to have a good variety of materials to feed your children’s creativity.

As a matter of fact you don’t really have to spend a lot of money. I just purchased inexpensive ones to see what my kids liked best, but don’t do that for a long time.

Kids know good quality and if you buy something high quality it makes a difference in how artwork turns out. So if you have a budding artist be sure he or she has some great quality tools. Start with inexpensive materials, but add higher quality tools as the budget allows.

Look at the list below to get you started!

  • sidewalk chalk
  • popsicle sticks
  • glue dots
  • inexpensive construction paper
  • paper plates for mixing palettes
  • oil pastels
  • paint brushes
  • tempera paint
  • toilet paper tubes (empty of course)
  • coffee filters
  • soft pastels
  • scissors
  • colored art tissue
  • stencils
  • colored pencils

My only regret in teaching art through my 20 years of homeschooling is not doing more of it! I know this list will give you an easy starting point. If you see a link you want added, give me a shout.

The Best Resources for Teaching Art at Home (K to Gray) at Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus. You'll love this AWESOME roundup of YouTube art lessons, curriculum, and games. CLICK HERE!

If you need more resources or ultimate lists, you’ll love my other topics:

Hugs and love ya,