I enjoyed the book. There were great suggestions for working with children. This would be a great addition to any library. There were some activities that even adults would enjoy.

This book is full of wonderful art projects for younger children. The projects are easy to replicate, most need only a few basic materials. I liked the essays about creativity and creative minds in between the individual "workshop" chapters.

This is a gorgeous book filled with amazing pictures and inspirational ideas. Just flipping through this book made me want to go craft right away!

The timing of Art Workshop for Children by Barbara Rucci and Betsy McKenna couldn't have been any better. I was offered a advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review and accepted the challenge. With a 3 year old granddaughter quarantined at home for 6 weeks, I was excited to have some new inspiration for crafting projects and I dove in. This book is almost entirely centered around painting activities. Based on the activities and pictures, it appears to be focused on group work such as preschool settings. The first chapter is filled with information on creating and stocking an art space (similar to a classroom) and the rest of the book goes into projects. Each project is broken down into steps. Process, observations and variations are discussed in detail with every project and quotes overheard from children are added in. My favorite project is a self portrait that I look forward to trying at home with my grandchild. I can see this book being a useful resource for a daycare center or preschool program and I thank Quarry Books and Netgally for the opportunity to read this ARC.

“Art Workshop for Children” has many strong points, but I like the beautiful color photos the best! This book serves as a practical yet enjoyable resource for parents, teachers, librarians, or anyone who wants to prepare an art space for children. The book includes lists of materials for each workshop, along with clear instructions for preparing and then conducting the art sessions. The color photos demonstrate the layout of the art space, as well as finished products and ways to display them. The photos of children at work add motion and liveliness to this very thoughtful and useful resource. Instructive and reflective essays interspersed between the workshops help readers to understand the child development concepts underlying the art workshops. Age-appropriate projects help children to develop interest in artistic expression, as well as thinking and teamwork skills and eye-hand coordination. Finally, the pages include quotes from children as they worked on the projects, which add a feeling of “realness” and delight to this resource.

I received this book from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

What a perfect time to get my hands on Barbara Rucci's book, Art Workshop for Children. While my 7 year old is "in school" for the mornings, my 4-almost-5 year old gets pretty bored while Dad works from the home office and Mama takes care of things around the house. He is going to love this.

I love how detailed the book is for setting up each project/workshop. There are lists & pictures...and this makes my overly-organized heart so very happy. Also, within each workshop, there is practically a script written for you on ways to engage your child mentally and emotionally in the art work they are making. These are Art Class Lesson Plans...and that makes my Teacher Heart so very happy, too.

Within the pages, you will also find essays written by Betsy McKenna, a Reggio-inspired educator. These beautiful pieces help us reflect on such things as our jobs as parents, how to raise creative thinkers, and how to talk to children about their art.

Think you'll run out of ways to use the book once you've finished all the projects? Wrong! At the end of each lesson you will find several variations to keep the artsy fun going. Genius!

I want to send a HUGE Thank You to NetGalley and the Quarto Publishing Group for giving me the opportunity to read and review this wonderful and creative book. I've already ordered a physical copy for myself (which is spiral bound!) and cannot wait to use it with my boys.

An aesthetically-pleasing collection of art projects for children, Art Worksop for Children is a great addition to any household looking for new art projects. Using recycled materials and everyday art supplies, Rucci and McKenna have compiled a wonderful book of new ideas. Personally, I send my children to a Reggio-inspired preschool, so I loved their connection to the philosophy. This book has definitely inspired me to undertake some new projects with my kids! Ages toddler-older elementary.

I received an electronic copy from Quarto Publishing Group through NetGalley.
Rucci emphasizes creativity in these workshops for kids. The materials are simple to find or purchase and can be combined in innumerable ways.
The emphasis on allowing children to play, explore and create resonates for me. Yes, there is some repetition in materials but reading the rationale behind each workshop explains this clearly as further skill development.
The Introduction includes this quote:
"Creativity is our greatest asset. It lurks within our core, whether you know it or not."
It's critical to remember this and instill this in our toddlers and preschoolers on through our elderly. The activities included in this book can be adapted for any age and any environment.

This is good information for those who are really new to doing art with very young children. The author runs art workshops for preschoolers in her home and also has a successful blog. I wholeheartedly agree that art should be open-ended and child-led, which is the main premise of this book. The projects are very simple things with household objects and lots of paint (mostly watercolors and tempera). They are the typical nursery school art projects -- cut up cardboard shapes that the kids can glue to something and paint, paint a milk carton to look like a house, make a wall hanging with a stick and beads that kids paint, etc. The one clever idea that I did make note of was using a plexiglass box frame for print making -- paint on the frame and then position a piece of paper over it, rub and lift off. Clean the plexiglass and make another. For the most part, though, these are the simple sorts of projects that I naturally came up with for my children when they were very young. Still, it's a good reminder that art should be about exploration instead of end results, and there are lots of bright photos for all of the projects.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

Art Workshop for Children
How to Foster Original Thinking with more than 25 Process Art Experiences
by Barbara Rucci, Betsy McKenna
This book was full of creative ideas and activities to do with your children. The idea of setting up an open and creative space for your children to learn and express themselves is evident throughout the pages of this book. There is personal advice, quotes about art, and education on how to have a mindset towards helping this your children through this creative process. All this being said I felt that the materials used were a bit much. I am a painter and avid crafter; I love letting my boys’ experiment with different and new mediums but the average home is not equipped with so many different paper or paint varieties and certainly not rollers. I think important take away from this book is the diagram of this process for parents: quietly observe, listen carefully, ask guiding questions, provide supportive response.
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review shared here.

Art Workshop For Children is a lovely book and not as I'd first expected. With many art books being step by step instructions it is refreshing to see a book which is all about the process of art rather than the end result.

I think this is a great aspect of the book as with most art and craft books projects never turn out how you'd like anyway and they give children very little chance to put their creative mark on it. The projects in this book are very basic and for the most part won't be anything you haven't seen before but the way they are shown through the vibrant photographs and the explanations alongside them are fantastic. I think it's great to see so many alternatives to one craft as this really allows you to consider what will work well for your children and having observations and some small quotes from children are a lovely touch.

The informative pages through the book are fascinating and definitely worth a read, I particularly liked the page about how we talk to children regarding their creations. I have definitely praised their picture incorrectly sometimes (it's hard to tell what it is sometimes and you're only left with a guess!) and knowing to talk about the process rather than try and hazard a guess on what it is is enlightening.

I have really enjoyed reading this book and i love how it shows the importance of the process rather than the end result, in a world where we expect young children to create a perfect replica of what we show them it is great to see a book like this that wants to encourage creativity rather than putting children off it. Even if a painting looks a mess to an adult the child will be proud of it and that's what matters most!

Art Workshop for Children is a beautiful book that will help parents, teachers and families focus on the process of art and not the product. The explanations for the why, what and how are not just well defined but beautifully presented. I immediately ordered the book and can't wait to put it to use in my current home learning environment.

All of the projects in this book deal with painting. I work with children in a Public Library and was looking for ideas that could be done in this setting. Unfortunately this book does not have a large enough variety of mediums used.

This book would probably be lovely for parents/carers or childminders, rather than a classroom or with a larger group of children, where it would be quite impractical. The ideas are lovely and encourage free expression and exploration of different materials and would be a great resource for small groups or individual children. The main reason for this is the vast amount of resources, storage space and preparation required, which is lovely but quite labour intensive - painting the cereal boxes white the day before the activity, for example, becomes quite a faff with more than a couple of children, once you've saved and stored the boxes, found the time to paint them and found somewhere for them to dry.