Fun with Kids: Books About Color and Art

Whether it’s painting with water, or busting out our favorite art supplies, we do a lot of creative play at our house. Mostly, because Sophie loves it and it keeps her calm. Milo doesn’t have much attention for the actual coloring most of the time (unless he’s painting with water or allowed to mix every color together to make a striking sludge hue), but both kids LOVE reading about crayons, coloring, paint, and art.

I’ve already done a round-up of our favorite art supplies and ways to get creative, so be sure to check that out if you’re looking for some creative boredom busters for the summer. As for the books…well, I’ve got you covered there, too. Here are a few of our favorites…

Books about Color and Art:

Mix It Up! – We love Herve Tullet. Love him. This is one of our all-time favorite books. We never get tired of it!

The Dot -I love this book, which teaches that anyone can be an artist. It’s one of three books by this author that make up the “Creatrilogy.”

Sky Color – Another in the creatrilogy, I love this book! A great way to look at color more broadly and creatively. We read this one will we couldn’t renew it any more.

Bear Sees Colors – We love the Bear books, and this was a fun one. You can extend the game after the book is over by finding things of a certain color throughout the room.

Red Is a Dragon – I love this international twist on a color book. This was beautiful.

The Day the Crayons Quit – This one’s been around for a while. I love that it explores what would happen if you thought a little outside the (crayon) box. I’m really excited for the sister book (The Day the Crayons Came Home) out later this year.

My Many Colored Days – This is actually a Dr. Seuss book that wasn’t self-illustrated. He had a vision for the book that he didn’t feel he could achieve alone. It’s definitely different than his other books, but lovely.

The Noisy Paint Box – This was wonderful. It’s a semi-biographical book about Kandinsky, the father of abstract art. Sophie asked me to read this over and over. We kept it for as many renewals as the library would allow, and Sophie was still sad to see it go. Some theorize that Kandinsky had synesthesia, which is the body’s transference of one sense to another. For instance, Kandinsky swore he could hear colors and see music. So fascinating, especially when I love a girl whose sensory system doesn’t work the way a typical one would. Really fascinating stuff and a great springboard for being creative!

I typically share a few kids’ books a week over on Instagram if you’re looking for more ideas. For other book lists, check out the Fun with Kids section on the blog. 

What did we miss? Any other favorites to add to the list?