Inspired by his art class in school, this week we did Paul Klee inspired Art and Shape activities for Kids. We took inspiration from his famous painting Castle and the Sun.

About Paul Klee

• Paul Klee was born in Switzerland in 1879 and lived until 1940.
• Klee grew up in a musical family.
• He was a musician, author, architect, and artist in addition to being a teacher.
• His art reflected his sense of humor, moods, views, music, and, on occasion, his childlike side.
• His art was influenced by music. In his paintings, Klee used shapes, patterns, and colors to convey rhythm and movement.
• Klee especially loved bright colors and simplicity in his painting.
• Rather than painting a realistic object, he painted objects that allowed people to experience emotions.
• He preferred to use as few lines as possible while painting.
• He painted objects and figures that often resembled colours and forms rather than the real thing.
• Klee appreciated children’s artwork. He wanted his artwork to appear uncomplicated, as though it had been created by a child.

Castle and Sun Painting

Paul Klee’s painting Castle and Sun is one of his most popular works of art. It’s a mix of different colours and geometric patterns such as  circles, triangles, and diamonds,. It has a large circle as the sun.  The clay colored backdrop makes viewers to see how the different geometric figures appear to shape like  a city skyline .

Paul Klee Inspired Shape Art for Kids

Before you start the art-making inspired by the painting, show your child the real piece of art. I showed him the picture in the computer and asked him below open questions

• What do you think you’re seeing in the painting?
• Do you like the colors used in the painting ?
• What are the different shapes you see in the painting ?

Shape Art Inspired by Paul Klee Painting Castle and the Sun

1. Paul Klee Inspired Shape Painting

After I showed him the original painting, I asked him to make his own shape art inspired by the same. Your child doesn’t have to make the exact copy of the painting. The goal is to use the shapes to make the castle. He /she has to use the concept of the painting to make the castle. Encourage children to use as much colour as they can. Discuss the use of contrasting colours next to each other to make the colours stand out more.

                                     

How we did it ?

First we drew castle and sun using pencil.

Make use of rulers to make straight lines. This was the first time my son got a chance to use ruler. I showed him how to use the ruler to make a straight line and how you can move the ruler around to criss-cross and make squares.

Then break the castle into smaller geometric shapes and  fill in each shape with a different color. I asked him to use crayons as I knew it would be difficult for him to fill small spaces with water colors. The painting on left side is made by me.

Finally, outlined all the shapes with black color. Your artwork is ready.

2. Castle Collage using Shapes

       

Next I challenged him to recreate this art by making a castle collage using different shape cut outs. If your child is very young you can give him/her a stencil to make different shapes and help him in cutting the same.

3. Paul Klee Inspired Block Painting

Next we recreated this artwork using block painting method using his Tegu blocks. You can use any blocks for the same.

First I asked him to arrange the blocks on A4 sheet to create the artwork. I decided to accompany him in this activity.

           

Then we painted our blocks with the paint and began stamping them onto the paper.

        

He did make sure to add the big sun, that was his favorite part of the original painting.

          

4. Using Magna Tiles

Next I gave him Magna tiles. I asked him to recreate the painting with the same. I loved what he did !

This was a fun project and I just love how our masterpieces came out. Didn’t it come out lovely?  I hope you feel inspired by our Paul Klee inspired Shape Art for kids and  try something like this with your kids!