25 Jun Pointillism-Inspired Art Projects for Children of All Ages

Some of the greatest magic in our homeschool comes from art. Recently, as part of our Homeschool Picture Study, we’ve been reading about George Seurat and exploring his art. He was instrumental in pioneering the style of art called Pointillism, so we wanted to learn a little more about this style of painting. We will be sharing our pointillism-inspired art projects for children of all ages, from pre-school kids up to homeschool Moms and Dads, who want in on the fun.

Our family follows the educational philosophy of Charlotte Mason who never advocates simply copying the artist’s work, but we have found that exploring the artist’s style helps us to further relate to the artist and their work.

“…these picture studies do not afford much material for actual drawing; they are never copied lest an attempt to copy should lessen a child’s reverence for great work.”  (Vol 6) 

Charlotte Mason (Volume 6, The Home Education Series)

First, Download the FREE Homeschool Picture Study of George Seurat

Once you download and print out the FREE Homeschool Picture Study of George Seurat, you will see that all the information needed to learn about Pointillism is included inside. We typically follow up with art projects once we’ve worked on the Picture Study for a couple of weeks and have a bit of a handle on the artist and the type of art that he does.

Activities to Incorporate Into Your Homeschool Picture Study of George Seurat (Totally Optional!)

Whatever you do, do not get stressed out about these activities. You are in no way required to do these art projects as part of your Picture Study. They are simply available, with simple step-by-step instructions for those of you who have children who want to explore further. If not, the Picture Study that you downloaded is plenty.

If you’re not the crafty sort, and are grateful to pass on these art projects, let me tell you a quick story before you decide to move on. As we were eating lunch the other day, I was describing to my children a little about what to expect with these projects. I was all excited and enthusiastic about them. They, on the other hand, had the nerve to moan and groan. It was very disheartening, but we proceeded on. My son, quickly finished his color wheel, and spent some time examining it at different angles and distance to decide if the colors blended well. And then? He pulled out a project of his own and started painting some pegs that he had “found.” (I’m very nervous that I’m going to find some disassembled furniture somewhere.)

The point of my story is that the act of “spreading a wide feast” for our children, as Charlotte Mason advocates, will often awaken an interest or excitement in them. So, my advice is to always allow room for that burgeoning passion.

Resources for Parents

One of the easiest ways to experiment with Pointillism is to simply color with dots. When the kids are young and have not yet been introduced to color theory etc., there is no need to attempt to blend colors. Keep it simple! You can either draw a simple picture for them, or encourage the child to draw a picture they’d like to color. If they’d rather start with a drawing, you can always pull a page from a coloring book, or print one. Super Coloring is one of my go-tos for printing coloring pages. Here’s a hint to improve your color results with older kids: Some of the prints are pre-shaded. Here are a few examples: tulips (pictured below), a flamingo, an airplane, a dog, fruit, a BMX biker, or an iris,

Pointillism-Inspired Art for the Young Years

Q-Tip Painting

Q-tip painting is one of the simplest projects we attempted. It would be great for the younger kids. All you need is some Q-tips (one for each color used), some acrylic paint, a paint tray (a plastic plate will do, too), and paper to paint on. In general when we are painting, we prefer to use thick, absorbant watercolor paper. We also tried printing out some images on plain paper, and this worked fine. We’re not fancy.

If you are printing out a coloring page, try to find one with less details as the size of the Q-tip doesn’t allow for details. The tip of the Q-tip also tends to get frayed quickly, so it may need occasional changing out, if you’re aiming for precision.

As a bonus, we were able to do this project fairly quickly. Pointillism, as a rule is not something that is done quickly. Remember, George Seurat often took years to complete one painting, and we can see why!

Crayon Tip or Marker Coloring

This project was a little more complex than the Q-tip project. We used pre-shaded coloring sheets and different shades of markers to give a little more dimension. You can make this as simple or as complex as you choose.

Bingo Daubers

When my kids were in their toddler years, I would buy them Bingo Daubers for them to color with. These are much larger and therefore much easier to manipulate. They now sell them with dot coloring books, which is a great way to introduce your kids to pointillism!

Pointillism-Inspired Art for the Middle Years

Create a Color Wheel Using Pointillism

Using pointillism is the perfect way to explore primary, secondary, and tertiary colors with a color wheel. On a very fundamental level, you are exploring the basics of color theory any time you are using the pointillism technique. I created a color wheel design to print out (you can download it here) for the kids. We started with only the primary colors, red, yellow and blue, using pointillism to fill in every fourth section.

This is actually pretty time-consuming and required some level of focus from the kids.

We then attempted as accurately as we could to fill in the adjacent sections with 2/3rd of the color, the next one with 1/2 of the color, and the third with 1/3 of the color.

Our conclusion, when finished, was that this did not show the secondary and tertiary colors that we wanted to see when viewed up close. (Maybe this is why Seurat made giant paintings!) We got much better results when we stepped ‘way back to get the whole picture. We were then able to see the dots and colors blending beautifully.

Melted Crayon Technique

The melted crayon technique was everyone’s favorite. When I first introduced the idea to the kids, there was very little interest, but as we began, interest rose. The very idea of using fire was perhaps risky, but we had a little talk before starting about fire safety.

For this project, remove the paper from the crayon and hold it over a flame for a second or two. As a drip begins to form, press the crayon to the paper. It will result in a large or small (depending on how hard you press) daub of wax. Experiment with different shades of the same color. This gives dimension and interest to your “painting.”

There is something very calming, even meditative about this project. Sitting around the table together, we played some classical music, and it seemed to evaporate all tensions. At one point, Clark declared, “This feels like Christmas!” That made my Momma heart swell, and confirmed my strong belief in the importance and healing power of art.

Make sure you have an abundance of crayons for this project, as it takes a lot. Luci came up with a great solution to using smaller pieces of crayon – she stuck a toothpick into one end, careful not to let the fire get to it. This allowed her to use much more of the crayon without burning her fingers.

I would also suggest giving plenty of time for this project – even plan of doing it over a period of a couple of days, as it can be quite time consumming.

The melted crayons result in a beautifully textured product, which your children will be very proud of. The “paintings” are stunning up close, and if you step back you get a wonderfully blended piece of art that you will want to frame.

My favorite part about painting with melted crayons is that my children loved this, and came to me several days in a row, requesting to do it again, with bigger paper. Luci is now working on a piece for her bedroom.

Pointillism-Inspired Art for the Upper Years

Painting and Shading Using Pointillism

This category is wide open to explore. We used acrylic paints and watercolor paper to make different scenes, mixing multiple colors and shades.

5D Diamond Art

Have you heard of Diamond Art? We became obsessed with this craft while on lock-down during the Pandemic. It’s basically a cross between cross-stitch and paint-by-number. Using a small tool, you apply rhinestones (or drills) to an adhesive, pre-colored canvas. These sets (I get mine from Amazon) are well-priced and come with everything you’ll need to complete the project. There are many canvas options, as well as cards, bookmarks and more.

The big pro for this craft is that it really takes no skill. It’s simple to do, and it’s a great way to relax. Here are a few that we worked on:

As an aside, doing diamond art together is a really great opportunity to bond and talk with your kids. We sat together for hours, enjoying each others’ company and talking about anything and everything.

Learn More About Seurat and Pointillism

Here are some more ways to continue to explore and learn about George Seurat and his painting style, pointillism:

• Do you have the Google Arts and Culture App? It is such a fun way to play with classic art! You can take “art selfies,” see how the art piece would look on your wall, zoom into the art for a close-up, take a virtual tour of museums., and a lot more. There is is a slideshow of Seurat’s works, and even the ability to listen to the sights and sounds of Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. I prefer using a laptop or desktop to view the artwork because of the greater viewing area, and the ability to zoom in closely to get a good look at Seurat’s pointillism technique.

Do you have any ideas on how to explore pointillism? We’d love to hear! Share below in the comments!