Art & Music Education

In her book The Hidden Art of Homemaking, Edith Schaeffer argues that everyone has a talent or skill ready to be discovered and put to use for the glory of God. Often, that talent lies dormant, and the individual is frustrated by the empty spot in their life it should fill. Finding your talent should be a priority, though it's no drudgery—discovering what God has made you good at is a joyful and exciting process.

Similarly, Olympic gold medalist Eric Liddell never put his running before his duty to Christ; instead, he used his talent as a sprinter to glorify God. As he expresses in the brilliant film Chariots of Fire, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure." God gives us talents to use in His name, and our joy in them is really our joy in Him.

Eric Liddell's talent led him to compete internationally; the "hidden art" Schaeffer describes is a little more modest, though no less glorifying to God when pursued humbly and gratefully. For Schaeffer, one's hidden art can be something as simple as arranging flowers on the kitchen table, or as elaborate as writing a story or painting a landscape. Everyone has different strengths, and each should learn to cultivate their own.

Our goal in teaching our children art and music isn't to raise a bunch of Van Goghs and Mozarts. If your child is a creative genius that's wonderful, but even if she can barely stay in the lines when coloring, her gifts are just as valuable to the Lord, and her discovery of them is just as important for her growth and personal happiness.

There are a few books in this section designed to help kids appreciate great art of the past, to learn about composers, or to identify the work of different painters and architects. However, most of what we offer is intended to help students across the whole range of ages to acquire and develop whatever skills they may have in sketching, painting, composing, instrument-playing, sculpting, acting, etc.

It's important to remember that no one will ever do anything perfectly, and first attempts are generally met with complete or near-total failure. Failure is often seen as an enemy, or simply as a hurdle to be overcome. Real failure, however, is integral to eventual success and (more importantly) to learning and character development. If a child managed to get everything right the first time, there would be no room for improvement, no reason to work hard.

Exercising one's creativity is essential. Humans were created in God's image, which means in part that we are creative beings, and whenever we're creative in ways that honor God, we're imitating Him. To the extent we can train our kids to do this, we should. Encourage them to do the best they can, because in the end they're doing it for God, and He expects nothing less.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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69 Items found Print
Active Filters: 6th grade (Ages 11-12), Hardcover, In-Stock Books & Materials
Amazing Buildings
by Philip Wilkinson
from DK Publishing
for 3rd-7th grade
in Architecture and Sculpture (Location: ELE-ARC)
$10.00 (2 in stock)
Art and Civilization: Ancient Rome
Art and Civilization
by Giovanni Di Pasquale & Matilde Bardi
from Peter Bedrick Books
Roman History Reference for 4th-6th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$12.00 (2 in stock)
Art for Children: Renaissance
Art for Children
by Lillo Canto
from Chelsea House Publishing
Art Appreciation for 4th-6th grade
in Renaissance & Reformation (Location: HISW-REN)
$20.00 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Art of the Southeastern Indians
by Shirley Glubok
from Macmillan
for 3rd-6th grade
in Native Americans (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Baby Blessing
by Welleran Poltarnees
from Laughing Elephant
for Kindergarten-Adult
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Bach's Goldberg Variations
by Anna Harwell Celenza & JoAnn E. Kitchel
from Charlesbridge
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Music Appreciation (Location: ELE-MUSAP)
$16.95
Bravo! Brava!
by Anne Siberell
from Oxford University
for 3rd-8th grade
in Opera & Choral Music (Location: ELE-MUSOP)
$24.00 $12.00 (1 in stock)
Brooklyn Bridge
by Lynn Curlee
from Atheneum
for 3rd-6th grade
in Architecture and Sculpture (Location: ELE-ARC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Buildings of Ancient Greece
by Helen & Richard Leacroft
from William R. Scott Inc.
in Ancient Greece (Location: HISW-ANGR)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Built to Last
by David Macaulay
from Houghton Mifflin
for 4th-6th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$24.99
Carl Larsson's A Home
by Carl Larsson and Lennart Rudstrom
from G.P. Putnam's Sons
for 3rd-Adult
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Child Star
by Lydia Weaver
from Viking Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Great Depression (1929-1939) (Location: HISA-20GD)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Introduction to Art
by Heather Alexander, illustrated by Meredith Hamilton
from Black Dog & Leventhal
for 3rd-6th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Introduction to the Orchestra
by Robert Levine
First Revised Edition from Black Dog & Leventhal
in Music Appreciation (Location: ELE-MUSAP)
$19.99
Chopin
by George Ruttkay
from Hyperion Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Music History (Location: ELE-MUSHIS)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Cities Then and Now
by Jim Antoniou
from Macmillan
for 4th-8th grade
in Ancient History (Location: HISW-ANC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Creating with Fimo Acrylic Clay
by Libby Nicholson & Yvonne Lau
from Kids Can Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Crafts & Hobbies (Location: SS-CRA)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Cry from the Earth
by John Bierhorst
from Four Winds Press
for 6th-Adult
in Native Americans (Location: HISA-19NAT)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
DK Eyewitness: Dance
DK Eyewitness Series
by Michael Tambini
1st edition from DK Publishing
history reference for 4th-8th grade
in Dance (Location: ELE-DANCE)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
DK Eyewitness: Film
DK Eyewitness Series
by Richard Platt
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
History Reference for 4th-8th grade
in Theater, Drama & Film (Location: ELE-THEAT)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
DK Story of Architecture
by Jonathan Glancey, Sir Norman Foster
1st edition from DK Publishing
for 4th-10th grade
in Architecture and Sculpture (Location: ELE-ARC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Duke Ellington
by Andrea Davis Pinkney
1st edition from Hyperion/Madison Press
for 3rd-6th grade
1999 Caldecott Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Edison
by Torben Kuhlmann, Translated by David Henry Wilson
from NorthSouth
for 2nd-6th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$19.95
First Starry Night
by Joan Shaddox Isom
from Charlesbridge
for 4th-6th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Girl Who Drew Butterflies
by Joyce Sidman
from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
for 3rd-8th grade
2019 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.99
Gondoliers, or, The King of Barataria
by Gilbert & Sullivan, adapted by Robert Lawrence, illustrated by Sheilah Beckett
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 5th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Great Artists - Great Composers: Portraits
from Amadeus Press
for 6th-Adult
in Biography Anthologies (Location: BIO-ANTH)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Haydn's Farewell Symphony
by Anna Harwell Celenza & JoAnn E. Kitchel
from Charlesbridge
Biography for 3rd-6th grade
in Music Appreciation (Location: ELE-MUSAP)
$16.95
How Artists See Feelings
by Colleen Carroll
1st Library Ed from Abbeville Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
How Artists See the Elements
by Colleen Carroll
from Abbeville Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
How They Were Built
from Barnes & Noble
for 3rd-6th grade
in Architecture and Sculpture (Location: ELE-ARC)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
I Can Draw on the Farm
I Can Draw
by Terry Longhurst
from Parragon Publishing
for 2nd-6th grade
in Drawing for Beginners (Location: ELE-ARTDRAW)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
I, Juan de Pareja
by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño
1994 Printing from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Realistic Fiction/Slavery for 5th-8th grade
1966 Newbery Medal winner
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
In Search of Norman Rockwell's America
by Photography by Kevin Rivoli, Artwork by Norman Rockwell
from Howard Books
for 3rd-Adult
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Introduction to Drawing Animals
by Kay Gallwey
from Chartwell Books
for 6th-Adult
in Drawing for Beginners (Location: ELE-ARTDRAW)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Invention of Hugo Cabret
by Brian Selznick
First Edition from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
2008 Caldecott Medal winner
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$29.99
Jesus of Nazareth
by William Barclay
from Collins
for 3rd-7th grade
in Theater, Drama & Film (Location: ELE-THEAT)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Kate Greenaway
by Rodney K. Engen
from Harmony
for 6th-Adult
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Liberty
by Lynn Curlee
from Atheneum
for 4th-6th grade
in Landmarks & Symbols of the United States (Location: HISV-LANUS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Lives of the Artists
by M. B. Goffstein
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 3rd-8th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Matisse: Painter of the Essential
Art for Children
by Yolande Baillet
from Chelsea House Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Metropolis
by Albert Lorenz
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Architecture and Sculpture (Location: ELE-ARC)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Mosque
by David Macaulay
1st edition from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 4th-8th grade
in Oversized History Books (Location: HISW-OVER)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Music to Remember
by Lillian Baldwin
from Silver Burdett Press
for 6th-Adult
in Vintage Nonfiction (Location: VIN-NFIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
My Favorite Songs
by Maria Trapp
from Veritas Press
for Kindergarten-Adult
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$17.00
Nanook of the North
by Robert Flaherty, edited from the film by Robert Kraus
First Printing from Windmill Books
for Kindergarten-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$24.00 (1 in stock)
Norman Rockwell's America
by Christopher Finch, Illustrated by Norman Rockwell
from Reader's Digest
for 3rd-Adult
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Norman Rockwell: Storyteller with a Brush
by Beverly Gherman
from Atheneum
for 3rd-7th grade
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Of Swans, Sugarplums, and Satin Slippers
by Violette Verdy, illustrated by Marcia Brown
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-8th grade
in Dance (Location: ELE-DANCE)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Orchard Book of Stories from the Ballet
from Orchard Books
for 3rd-8th grade
in Dance (Location: ELE-DANCE)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Rousseu: Still Voyages
Art For Children
by Didier Grosjean and Claudine Roland, illustrated by Francine De Boeck, translated by John Goodman
from Chelsea House Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Songs to Grow On
by Beatrice Landeck, piano arrangements by Florence White, illustrated by David Stone Martin
from Edward B. Marks Music Corporation
for Kindergarten-6th grade
in Vintage Readers & Textbooks (Location: VIN-READ)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Steam Engine
Inventions That Changed Our Lives
by Beatrice Siegel
from Walker and Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Inventions & Discoveries (Location: SCI-INV)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Super Structures
DK Inside Guides
by Philip Wilkinson
from DK Publishing
for 4th-6th grade
in Architecture and Sculpture (Location: ELE-ARC)
$9.50 (1 in stock)
Talking to the Sun
by Selected by Kenneth Koch and Kate Farrell
from Henry Holt and Company
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Tchaikovsky Discovers America
by Esther Kalman
from Orchard Books
in Music History (Location: ELE-MUSHIS)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
The Arts
by Hendrik Willem Van Loon
from Simon and Schuster
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$12.00 (2 in stock)
Usborne Children's Book of Art
by Rosie Dickins
from Scholastic Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$7.50 (2 in stock)
Usborne Famous Composers Reference Book
by Anthony Marks
from Usborne
for 2nd-6th grade
in Music History (Location: ELE-MUSHIS)
$6.30 (1 in stock)
Usborne Introduction to Modern Art
by Rosie Dickins
from Scholastic Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Vincent Van Gogh
by Jan Greenberg, Sandra Jordan
from Delacorte Press
for 3rd-6th grade
2002 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book
in Artists & Illustrators (Location: ELE-ARTISTS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Vincent Van Gogh
Art for Young People
by Peter Harrison
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 4th-7th grade
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
We Shall Overcome - Book with CD
by Stuart Stotts, foreword by Pete Seeger, illustrated by Terrance Cummings
from Clarion Books
for 6th-12th grade
in Music History (Location: ELE-MUSHIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Wit and Whimsy of Mary Engelbreit
by Mary Engelbreit
from Andrews McMeel
for 3rd-Adult
in Art History & Appreciation (Location: ELE-ARTHIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
World of Theater
by Scholastic Books
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Clearance: Art & Music (Location: ZCLE-ART)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Young Brahms (hardcover)
by Sybil Deucher
from Zeezok Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Opal Wheeler Great Musicians Series (Location: BIO-OPAL)
$13.95
Young Person's Guide to Music
by Neil Ardley
from DK Publishing
for 4th-8th grade
in Music Education & Reference (Location: ELE-MUSREF)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Young Person's Guide to the Opera
by Anita Ganeri
Book and CD-ROM from Harcourt Children's Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Opera & Choral Music (Location: ELE-MUSOP)
$20.00 (2 in stock)
Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
by Anita Ganeri
Book and CD-ROM from Harcourt Children's Books
for 4th-6th grade
in Music Appreciation (Location: ELE-MUSAP)
$20.00 (1 in stock)