6 Best Art Courses and Curriculum for K-5

With this being our 8th year of homeschooling, we have been through a fair share of art curriculum. My girls especially enjoy creating using all the favorite art supplies. Here are some of the art courses and curriculum that have helped cultivate a positive attitude towards this habit.

Creating a Masterpiece

This program was recommended to us by Simply Charlotte Mason, and it is a video curriculum for a variety of art mediums. We were able to dive into drawing, soft pastel, charcoal, watercolor, acrylic, gouache, and even sculpture. They provide a supplies list for each lesson, and great video instruction explaining the how to. This course introduced us to a lot of different supplies that I now appreciate having on hand. There is a free lesson available to try it out on their site. I personally enjoyed the exposure we received to so many types of creating.

Yellow Spot: Sun

I chose this video curriculum for the 2021-2022 school year because we were studying Ancient History, and they have history based art courses, which seemed like a great fit! The course we chose was called Architects of the Ancient World for Families. There are short history lessons with photos, followed by a basic lesson like line drawing or geometric shaping, and lastly, a more extensive project where you end up with a nice finished product. In the end, this is a great art curriculum for elementary students, but your middle schoolers may desire for more difficulty.

Emily Lex

Another great video-based watercolor class from Emily Lex. This includes 8 video lessons, and her style is just simple and beautiful. My kids enjoyed the beautiful finished products from these lessons, but just note that it is a short series of lessons that may not last you an entire school year.

Some Free Homeschool Art Curriculum

Let’s Make Art

We received a 3 month subscription for my middle school daughter’s birthday, and it was such a hit! She felt so special with the nice packaging, supplies, and the examples they included. Later on, we realized they had a huge library of free video tutorials available to use. So, once she finished the subscription, she wanted to continue on with all the free art content!

Draw Together

In the heat of the pandemic, an angel of an art teacher, Wendy Mac, started sharing art lessons on Instagram. She called it, “Draw Together,” and gave an art lesson, but also a word of encouragement for the children. My kindergarten daughter absolutely fell in love with Wendy’s class. She was a light during such a scary and dark time. I’ve linked her Youtube channel for you above. Free quality kindergarten art curriculum!

Art for Kids Hub

Widely popular art classes on YouTube, with a fun dad and his kids. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t use and love this channel. Enough said here, right?

What is Next?

I am in the process or seeking out new options for my oldest daughter who has asked me for something more challenging in the next school year. Looking into Lily & Thistle Watercolor School art curriculum now. If you have any suggestions for art curriculum for older elementary to teens, I would appreciate it very much!

Update 2/9/23:

My oldest daughter is now using Lily & Thistle Watercolor School for watercolor practice and technique. She is also taking Adobe Illustrator classes on Skillshare when time permits.