Product Description

The ideal beginning art book for little hands with lots to express! Judy Press has an uncanny understanding of how to inspire preschoolers' creative spirits. Instructions are bare minimum, and resulting art is very clever as kids' imaginations take flight with simple materials and only a hint of direction.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #224023 in Books
• Brand: IDEALS PUBLICATIONS/WILLIAMSON PUB
• Published on: 1994-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 3.00 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 156 pages

Review
"There are a mulitude of ideas here ... this book has a place beside the older favorites." -- School Library Journal

The Little Hands Art Book is an ideal beginning art book for little hands ages 2 to 6 with lots to express!. Judy Press has an uncanny understanding of how to inspire preschoolers' creative spirits. Instructions are bare minimum, and resulting art is very clever as kids' imaginations take flight with simple materials and only a hint of direction. Over 70 art projects with introductory poems to stir kids' imaginations ex;ore textures, colors, shapes, moods, and feelings. Introductions to basic media include glue, doughs, paint, paper, markers, and crayons. Unusual crafts feature a paper bag picnic basket, muffin cup birds, milk carton caboose, dough porcupine, popsicle stick flower gardens, and a clothespin splatter paint butterfly. Guidelines for parents, teachers, and caregivers for encouraging truly creative art experiences are of especial value. -- Midwest Book Review

About the Author
Judy Press; Illustrated by Loretta Trezzo Braren

Customer Reviews

By far the best home arts & crafts book for preschoolers
After being disappointed repeatedly by other books of this type, I was lucky enough to find this one. Nothing compares with it in terms of simplicity, creative fun, easy instructions, excellent illustrations, availability of materials at home, variety. My 3 and 4-year olds' favorite afternoon activity is to flip thru the pages and pick out a project - and they are always delighted by the results. My favorite gift to other mothers of preschoolers. Only one word of advise - the clay recipes are not the best - in particular the play dough one - but it's common enough to find elsewhere. If you're going to buy one book in this category, I couldn't recommend this one more.

More Crafts than Art. found here.
As an artist and parent who now teaches art to young children, I think this book has some cute craft ideas but is not the best introduction to art for children. I prefer Scribble Art by Mary Ann Kohl - it has a similar easy-to-read format with projects that can be adapted to almost any age, but Scribble Art involves more open-ended projects that allow for creativity and self-expression. Little Hands is more results oriented - for instance, if you want to make a quick turtle using a plastic bowl, this book will show you how. Many of projects involve a specific end result - a representational image of a pumpkin or porcupine. Granted, there are times for this; however, I prefer an approach to allows children to create their own subject matter, or explore freely within a given material or technique.

Excellent book for daycare providers or at-home moms!
This book not only provides awesome project ideas, but also shows how to make it simpler or more complex based on age AND provides other ideas and/or book suggestions to go along with the project. It takes a the idea of doing a project with your littles ones to a whole new level. An excellent source for daycare providers, stay-at-home moms, and home schoolers!