A brief overview of elements, principles, and other terms -- Elements -- Principles -- Other terms -- Everywhere -- Sketch diaries -- Observational drawing -- Photography -- Rubbings -- Found objects -- Big questions -- At home -- Color mixing -- Photo design quilt -- Paper-bag puppets and masks -- Paper-plate masks -- Printmaking with styrofoam plates -- Value collage -- Magazine rainbow/color wheel -- Paper houses -- Staring at colors--complements -- Food-colored-string pulling -- What if you illustrated this story? -- Still life/portrait/landscape/genre -- Drawing with black crayon -- Paper weaving with magazine pictures or newspaper -- Interpret values with newspaper -- Using line to create the illusion of form -- Distortion with drawings, magazine pictures, or printouts -- Drawing to music -- Pattern/texture fill -- Vegetable prints -- Homemade play-doh or self-hardening clay -- Building people and cartoon characters from magazine photos -- Imaginary shape -- At the art museum -- Generate a word list -- Autobiography -- Scavenger hunt -- Find the concept -- Write a poem, song, play, or story -- Which is your favorite? why? -- Vanitas hunt -- Drawing in the museum -- How would you arrange your museum? -- In the city -- Find a style -- Look for different forms or shapes -- Drawing on photos for perspective -- Finding letters -- Urban elements and principles -- Find your favorite structure -- City draw and fill -- How would you draw these noises? smells? -- Reduce scenes to shapes and lines--simplify -- Write a poem, song, play, or story -- Photo blowups -- At the park -- Trace and rub leaves -- Fall trees -- Match using only red, yellow, and blue -- Sand-casting -- Rock sculptures -- Drawing trees -- Prose/poetry/play/music -- A naturalist's diary -- How would you interpret smells, sounds, and feelings? -- Snow creatures and sand castles -- Andy Goldsworthy

"An art project and activity book aimed at helping children and adults improve their basic understanding of art, this reference stresses art elements and principles, which in turn promote observation and discovery on a daily basis. Ideal for anyone wanting to bring meaningful, rich, and fun art experiences into children's lives, this work is stocked with 65 artsy activities for the home, park, city, or even museum. Projects include going on a photographic scavenger hunt in search of forms and shapes, writing an imaginary autobiography based solely on a museum portrait, and making a sand casting on a trip to the beach. The projects, which are accessible and require only free or inexpensive materials, are accompanied by a helpful index that categorizes projects by elements and principles"--