Easy Dot to Dot Abstract Art Project

Young children really enjoy doing dot to dot pictures. At those early ages, it’s really fascinating for kids to see a picture come to life by simply drawing lines between dots. It’s an activity which can keep some youngsters occupied for hours.

The usefulness of dot to dot pictures goes beyond just simple entertainment. They help improve your child’s hand-eye coordination as well as other fine motor skills which can prepare them for handwriting. If your child is already writing, dot to dots can improve that ability.

Dot to dots can also be taken to the creative plane and used to make really easy abstract art. I’m going to share with you an activity which does just that. It can be used for children of a variety of age groups from preschool on up. I’ll explain later in the post how you can modify this activity to fit older children and give you some variations on the project.

Time to dig into this activity, but first a word from our sponsor.

Dot to Dot Abstract Art Project

Before your child begins his Dot to Dot Abstract Art project, you may want to introduce him to the abstract art of some of the pros. Below is a list of possibilities. You can usually find these works of art by googling them on the web, however, they may be found in some art books.

• Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow by Piet Mondrian
• On White II by Wassily Kandinsky
• Composition X by Wassily Kandinsky
• The Yellow Curtain by Henri Matisse
• Svanen by Hilma af Klint

I would spend a little time discussing with your child each artist’s use of color, shape and design. Some questions you might ask include:

• What colors does the artist use? Are they primary or secondary or both?
• Does s/he use warm or cool colors or both?
• What shapes does the artist use?
• Are any of the shapes abstract or free-form?
• How does the artist use lines? Are they straight or curved or both?
• What sort of mood or feelings do you think the artist is trying to convey with the work?

Feel free to choose questions that are suitable to each child’s knowledge and ability level.

After your discussion, explain to your child is going to make a piece of abstract art using dots as the starting point. (pun intended) Then s/he will connect those dots with lines to make shapes which will be colored in.

Now let’s get started with the project.

Materials you will need:

• 9 x 12 white construction paper
• a pencil
• washable markers or crayons

Directions to give your child:

Using your pencil, draw 10 dots on the piece of paper. Scatter them all over the paper as much as possible.
(Moms, this is a good counting practice activity for younger children)

Draw one line to connect most or all of the dots. Lift up your pencil and draw more lines as you like to make more shapes.

Use markers (or crayons) to color in the shapes you made with the lines.

Voila! You made abstract art!

As promised, here are some ideas for variations on this project:

• Older children could use more dots and lines to make more intricate designs.
• Your child could use wavy lines instead of straight or a combination of both.
• You can set some guidelines as to color. For example, you may want to limit younger children to the 8 basic colors but allow older children to experiment with various shades and tints.
• Paints could be used in place of markers.

I hope your kids enjoy doing this simple project. Feel free to share this activity with friends, relatives or anyone else you socialize with because homeschoolers know how to socialize best. 😉

Many blessings,