Ms. Wood's Wild Art Adventures Review & GIVEAWAY!!

I am so excited to tell you about Ms. Wood's Wild Art Adventures today and offer one copy to you in a {FREE} giveaway!!  Read all the way to the end to see the giveaway entry form!

This is more than just an art lesson book!  The author is both a professional artist and an experienced teacher who understands the energy, creativity, and attention spans of children.  The art lessons are brilliantly wrapped inside an imaginary journey to the rainforest, and include a wonderful dose of art history and art appreciation!

We were provided a copy of the paperback book to review (see disclosure below for details).  When it arrived, we immediately read through the story and talked about the pictures.  Everyone was anxious to get started!

So far, we have done three of the five step-by-step art projects--and loved every one of them!

Since we've learned how to draw clouds, my daughter is constantly pointing out the different colors in the clouds in the sky.  She is much more aware of how light is traveling through them.  Here's a picture of her working on her cloud painting:

She also really enjoyed discussing different Master Artists like Vincent Van Gogh and Georgia O-Keefe and how they interpreted and drew clouds.  Seeing their different styles has helped her relax some of the stress she feels when her art projects do not turn out in perfect realistic images...yes, I do have a small perfectionist here!

After completing the leaf drawing, she has created her own colored pencil projects almost every day.  Here are two leaves-in-progress, by a 5-year old and a 6-year old:

So far, my 6-year old's favorite project has been the "bugs-eye view" forest, a painting using single point perspective.  She was very proud of her work and enjoyed showing it off to her dad.  Here she is adding the leaves to the trees:

The neat thing about this book is that you can use it to teach children principles of art technique, history, and appreciation; or you could let older children use the tutorials themselves.  The lessons are straight-forward and easy to follow.  The same projects can be done with an inexpensive set of paint or a nicer set of watercolors.  Concepts like vanishing point, single point perspective, shading, light, shadows, and colors are introduced and experimented with.  A monkey and toucan are shown in simple step by step frames.  Styles of art like modernism, pointillism, symbolism, and many more are showcased in a natural way that excites children.

I cannot say enough good things about Ms. Wood's Wild Art Adventures--there is even a list at the end of the book of hidden pictures throughout its pages!  It makes a great art unit by itself, or the topics and themes can easily be expanded to include other subjects.  I love the focus on observation, a skill that will help them in art, science, and other subjects.  My children as young as five and six have thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the lessons.  Our younger friends (three and four years old) did the lessons with us and also enjoyed the activity, though their pictures looked much more abstract!

You can learn more about the author, Jan Wood Harris, by visiting her website here.  You can order the book at her website or on Amazon.  She has also graciously agreed to give one copy of her book away to one of you!!  Simply enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter form below.  Please note that it is limited to the continental United States and will end on Monday, June 24th.



a Rafflecopter giveaway


Disclosure:  I was given a free copy of the book Ms. Wood's Wild Art Adventures to review; no other compensation was made.  All opinions are 100% mine.  I will only recommend products or host giveaways for products that I believe in 100%!




I may share at any of these parties!