Adventures in Art: Art & Craft Experiences for 7- To 14-Year-Olds

This is another excellent book in this Williamson art series for children. The cover says it's for ages 8-13, and I'd like to emphasize that it's definitely not for younger children, although a few can be adapted for younger children. Many projects are challenging enough that high school students and adults should enjoy them also. Many of the projects take a definite commitment to time and care in order to have good results. There are some that require meticulous attention to details and fine motor coordination. Quite a few projects use an exacto knife to cut our small pieces of paper or poster board. There is a soap carving which requires a paring knife. Other potentially difficult and dangerous materials and equipment include glass sheets, turpentine, bleach, nail polish, cooking oil and paraffin heated for making candles, dye, needle and thread, tiny bits of paper for mosaic, wire cutters, pliers, handsaw, drill for a wooden birdhouse, nails for piercing a metal can, vegetable peeler, iron.There are paintings and drawings using special techniques with pencil, paint, charcoal and markers, as well as many 3-dimensional projects that use folding, carving, building and other methods. Although there is an excellent variety of projects that can turn out very satisfyingly, there should be supervision for many of them, especially for younger children.

I highly recommend this art activity book. The ideas are original and fun and yet they are not exhausting to complete. As I homeschool our girls, I have found this book to be a great asset in my thematic approach to learning.