Not Your Parents’ Paint-by-Number
I remember attempting a few paint-by-number kits as a child. They were all huge — 16 x 20 or bigger — with infinitesimally small areas to be filled in with smelly oil paints that were easily smudged and took approximately three weeks to dry between layers.
By the time my masterpiece was ready for a second color, I’d completely lost interest in the project. I don’t think I ever completed a single painting that way.
These Paint-by-Number Museum kits by Faber Castell aren’t like that.
Timberdoodle recently sent me this collection to review, and my children were more than happy to try them out.
Six things I love about these Paint-by-Number Museum Art Kits
Here are just a few of my favorite things about these painting kits:
1. The canvases are small:
Rather than the poster-sized projects of my childhood, these paintings are just 6″ x 8″. That’s much more manageable — and less overwhelming — for little artists. The smaller size increases that odds that they’ll actually finish the project.
2. The paints dry quickly:
No need to wait weeks between layers! These paintings can be completed in a matter of hours rather than months.
Our children painted during quiet evenings at home. Unfortunately, such evenings have been sporadic enough this summer that it still took them a couple of weeks to finish (and our 8-year-old was not quite done with his, as of this writing) — but not so long that anybody lost motivation.
3. The subjects are familiar:
All four projects in this collection are replicas of famous paintings your kids have probably seen before:
- Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci
- The Eiffel Tower by Georges Seurat
- The Japanese Footbridge by Claude Monet
- The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh
It’s fun for students to see how closely they can approximate each famous artist’s style in these paint-by-number kits.
4. The directions are clear:
The numbers aren’t stamped directly on the canvas — you’ll only find a basic outline there with large areas that are easily filled. The colors and techniques to be used in each section of the painting are explained on a separate piece of paper in a simple, easy-to-follow diagram alongside a photograph of the original painting to use as a guide.
5. The techniques are challenging:
You get all four paint-by-number kits in this Timberdoodle collection, and each painting teaches a different technique. Your child will learn layering techniques in Monet’s Japanese Footbridge, how to use brush strokes to add texture in van Gogh’s Starry Night, blending in da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, and pointillism in Seurat’s Eiffel Tower.
6. The results are impressive:
Even beginning artists can achieve amazing results with these kits. And once they’re finished, they can use the techniques they’ve learned and the leftover paints to create some new masterpieces, all their own.
If you have a budding artist at your house who’d enjoy these Paint-by-Number Museum kits, you can find them in Timberdoodle’s Third Grade Curriculum Kit or purchase a stand-alone collection to enrich your child’s current course of study.
