Books to inspire art projects for kids

Inspire your little one to move away from the screen and get their craft on, by sharing engaging picture books filled with fun artworks they can create too.

Some kids love colouring, painting and making craft, while others need a little more prompting. We’ve found five excellent children’s books that are fun to read and cleverly illustrated to inspire your little one’s own masterpieces. Pop down and pick up a copy from your local book shop or log into your local library’s online catalogue and pop these books on hold pronto.

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Mix it Up – finger painting

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This clever interactive book invites little readers to dab their fingers in the coloured paint blobs printed on the pages and mix them together to see what colours they’ll create. It’s super-engaging, the perfect introduction to primary colours and an irresistible invitation to pull out your coloured paints and try finger painting for real. Check out our blog post about the benefits of painting for toddlers and children. Mix it Up is created by Herve Tullet and published by Chronicle Books.

When I’m Older – playdough

This adorable book follows a lump of blue clay as he transforms into all the possibilities he could become once he’s older. It’s a beautifully simple book written in rhyme that children love to learn by heart and “read” aloud. Pick up a tub of blue playdough from the shops or use our playdough recipe to make your own. Encourage your child to recreate figures from the book or to think about what they might like to be when they grow up and have a go creating those shapes. Playdough is so much fun and great for building finger strength for writing too. When I’m Older is written by Isa and Neil Flory, with illustrations by Somak Chaudhary.

Please Mr Panda – oil pastels

This very cute book about manners features illustrations of a menagerie of animals drawn in simple black and white. Alongside our protagonist, Mr Panda, there’s a penguin, skunk, ostrich, whale and lemur. All you need for this project is white paper and a black oil pastel. A thick crayon, black paint or a marker would work too. Encourage your child to have a go at drawing their own Mr Panda. The one in the book looks pretty grumpy, so maybe they could give him a different facial expression! They might like to design and create a colourful donut too. Be warned, oil pastels will smudge all over little fingers, so require supervision. Please Mr Panda is written and illustrated by Steve Antony and published by Hodder Children’s Books.

The Paper Dolls – paper dolls

Making paper dolls is so much fun and this book is the perfect prompt. It’s a jaunty rhyme about the adventures a girl’s paper dolls have as they play with her toys, explore the yard and come across a crocodile. You can buy cardboard paper dolls to colour in or decorate from craft shops or print out this free template of the actual dolls from the book. The Paper Dolls is written by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Rebecca Cobb and published by Macmillan.

Australia – collage 

Aussie artist Pete Cromer creates the most gorgeous picture books, brimming with his bright, colourful collage creations of iconic Australian animals. Australia is a collection of his favourite birds and mammals, including the koala, galah and echidna. The artist creates each animal using coloured shapes cut from painted paper. Each image is paired with a short summary introducing the animal and a map showing its range. Did you know, for example, a group of cockatoos is called a “crackle”?! Look at the picture with your child and then encourage them to have a go at creating their own. Depending on their age and interest, you could pre-cut shapes for them to glue onto coloured paper or encourage them to start from scratch and create their own coloured paintings to cut up for collage. Australia is created by Pete Cromer and published by Five Mile Press.