Yesterday, I posted a review of See The Light's Art Class Curriculum. See The Light has also made three illustrated videos with art lessons. My kids and I have had the chance to watch 2 of them. The Gift of Love and God's Runaway. Each of the videos has a 10 minute story and three art lessons. One is a creative lettering lessons, one is a drawing lesson, and the third is a chalk-art lesson. They are each taught by different artists.
As a mom, I love the lessons from the Bible and the art that illustrates them. It was surprising to me how much my kids enjoyed the stories even though they weren't animated. The way the stories are filmed the illustrations come to life. I enjoyed the art lessons and doing them with my children. The art lessons are a little more difficult than the first lessons in the Art Class series, so I would recommend them to grades 2 and up. First graders who aren't able to write all of their letters easily yet may have a difficult time doing the art lessons. I would recommend the stories to ages 3 and up as See The Light recommends, but the lessons for grades 2 and up. Middle schoolers would also enjoy the lessons.
The Gift of Love is a video on the Nativity story. There are three lessons. I did the creative lettering lesson with my daughter who is 7 years old. Here is her drawing:
and here is mine:
Autumn's star looks different because she was a bit discouraged by how her O turned out. The colors she chose made it all blend together. So, she drew her own sort of star. I was surprised by how easy the lesson was to follow. There are times that you want to be able to pause it and finish the step you're on, so be prepared to do that along the way. There are also techniques and drawing tips interwoven in the lessons as well as how the art reminds us of God and points us to Him and His Word.
I also did the nativity scene drawing lesson.
This is the lesson that I think would be a little more difficult for younger children. I was surprised by how easy the directions were to follow and that my donkey's mane really did look as it was supposed to!
This DVD would be wonderful for the month of December when you want to do special Christmas activities but still want to cover your subjects. The lessons on this DVD teach children about art and not just cut and paste arts and crafts. This drawing and the rejoice picture could be framed and used as special gifts for a family member. I know grandparents would love them. It goes right along with Pat Knepley's story about the greatest gift we've received--Jesus-- and how we give gifts to those we love at Christmas time. That particular nugget is one I plan on talking to my children about often this coming Christmas season.
Under the "fun stuff" tab on See The Light, there are additional free lessons and downloads available to go along with this video. The videos on the site are for their Crossmaker DVD, but there is a downloadable chalk lesson of the angels under the downloads section on this tab.
The second DVD that my children and I watched is God's Runaway. This video tells the story of Jonah. It is similar to The Gift of Love. I can say the exact same things about it. We all enjoyed the story and the lessons. There is also a downloadable chalk lesson to draw the whale on the website to go along with this video. Autumn and Sami enjoyed the creative lettering lesson and drew their whales.
My children love to draw and they draw almost every day. But, I loved watching them do these lessons and the art class lessons, because their art has begun to look more realistic. Their skills are growing with the tips they have learned on these videos. My children are pretty normal, I think. They want to rush to the finished product and go like Speedy Gonzales to the end of the race. These videos help slow them down and walk them through the creation process step by step. This is very helpful! You can see that Autumn got to the rushing point of wanting to be done with her star on the rejoice picture. But, she focused through the rest of the lessons. The art lessons on the DVDs do last between 18 and 33 minutes each, so it may be wise to take a break in the middle of the drawing or split it up over 2 days for younger students like mine. I think older children would enjoy making the pictures in one sitting.
These DVDs are available through the See the Light website HERE for $15 each plus shipping and handling. I did notice that there were a few used copies of The Gift of Love available on Amazon. If you have children that love to draw, these are some fun art lessons. They'd be great whether your children are homeschooling or are in public school. Actually, if your kids are in school and you really want them to know that it is the beauty of God that is reflected in art, these would be great videos to help them see and hear that.
My kids have been asking every week and almost every day since these videos arrived to watch them. That may be because we don't watch very many videos, but I suspect is mostly because they enjoy the stories and the lessons!
Please note that I received a complimentary copy of The Gift of Love for review from See the Light for review.
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