Arts and Music for Kids
Art, music, dance and drama let us express ideas and feelings in ways words cannot. These lessons introduce colours, painting, sculpture, instruments, dance and filmmaking, with simple explanations, famous artists and creative ideas you can try at home.
All 52 Arts and Music topics
Primary Colours
Red, yellow and blue are the primary colours in painting.
Rhythm and Beat
Rhythm is a pattern of long and short sounds.
Instrument Families
Orchestras have strings (violin), woodwinds (flute), brass (trumpet) and percussion (drums).
Famous Painters
Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa, Vincent van Gogh painted Starry Night and Pablo Picasso co-created Cubism.
Perspective Drawing
Perspective makes drawings look 3D.
Sculpture
Sculptures are 3D artworks made by carving, modelling or building.
Musical Notes
Notes show how high or low a sound is.
Drama and Theatre
In theatre, actors tell stories using voice, movement and costumes.
Warm and Cool Colours
Reds, oranges and yellows are warm colours that feel energetic.
The Colour Wheel
The colour wheel arranges colours in a circle.
Texture and Pattern
Texture is how something feels or looks like it feels: rough, smooth, bumpy.
Collage
A collage is artwork made by sticking different materials like paper, fabric and photos onto a surface.
Cartooning
Cartoonists draw funny or exaggerated characters, often in panels telling a story.
Mosaics
A mosaic is a picture made of many small coloured pieces called tesserae, like tiles or glass.
Pottery
Pottery is made by shaping wet clay and baking it hard in a very hot oven called a kiln.
Street Art
Street art is painted or drawn in public places like walls.
Singing and Your Voice
Your voice comes from vocal cords vibrating in your throat.
Famous Composers
Composers write music.
Dance Around the World
Every culture has dances: bharatanatyam in India, flamenco in Spain, hula in Hawaii and ballet in Europe.
Ballet
Ballet is a graceful dance style that began in Italy and France.
Indian Classical Instruments
India has many classical instruments: the sitar (stringed), tabla (drums), bansuri (flute) and sarod.
Filmmaking
Making a film involves a script, storyboard, actors, camera, lighting, sound and editing.
Animation
Animation makes drawings or models appear to move by showing many slightly different pictures quickly.
Impressionism
Impressionism is a style of painting that began in France in the 1870s.
Cubism
Cubism is an art style in which objects are broken into shapes and seen from several angles at the same time.
Abstract Art
Abstract art does not show things exactly as they look.
Surrealism
Surrealism is an art movement that shows dreamlike and strange images.
Watercolour Painting
Watercolour is a painting method using pigments mixed with water.
Printmaking
Printmaking creates many copies of an image by pressing ink from a carved or etched surface onto paper.
Still Life Drawing
A still life is an artwork of everyday objects, such as fruit, flowers or bottles.
Landscape Painting
A landscape painting shows scenery such as mountains, rivers, fields or the sea.
Portrait Painting
A portrait is a picture of a person, usually focusing on the face and expression.
Photography
Photography captures images by letting light hit a light-sensitive surface, either film or a digital sensor.
Stop-Motion Animation
Stop-motion animation makes objects or models appear to move by taking a photo of each small change in position.
Paper Sculpture
Paper sculpture uses folding, rolling, cutting and layering paper to create three-dimensional art.
Weaving
Weaving is the art of interlacing threads over and under each other on a loom to make cloth.
Embroidery
Embroidery is decorating fabric with threaded needle stitches to make patterns or pictures.
Stained Glass
Stained glass is coloured glass pieces joined together to make pictures or patterns, often in windows of churches and cathedrals.
Jazz
Jazz is a style of music that began in the United States and uses improvisation, swing rhythms and blue notes.
Opera
Opera is a form of theatre where the story is told mostly through singing, with an orchestra playing the music.
The Orchestra
An orchestra is a large group of musicians playing many instruments together.
Piano
The piano is a keyboard instrument where pressing a key causes a hammer to strike a string.
Violin
The violin is a small string instrument played with a bow or by plucking.
Drumming
Drumming is making rhythm by hitting drums or other percussion instruments.
Hip Hop Dance
Hip hop dance is a style with roots in street culture.
Folk Dance
Folk dances are traditional dances passed down through families and communities.
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing dance sequences.
Puppetry
Puppetry is the art of making puppets move and speak to tell a story.
Comics
Comics tell stories using a sequence of drawn panels, speech bubbles and captions.
Graphic Design
Graphic design combines images, words and layout to communicate a message clearly.
Digital Art
Digital art is created on computers or tablets using software and drawing pads.
Music Theory
Music theory explains how music works, including notes, scales, rhythm and chords.
Frequently asked questions about Arts and Music
How can children get better at art?
Draw or paint often, look closely at real objects, experiment with new materials and visit galleries or museums when you can. Practice and curiosity matter more than natural talent.
Do I need expensive supplies to make art?
No. Pencils, paper, recycled materials, paint and glue are enough to start. Many great artworks are made from simple materials.
Is music important for learning?
Yes. Music helps with memory, maths patterns, language and teamwork, and it is enjoyable in its own right.