Review: Global Art

A great book we enjoyed reviewing this summer came from Gryphon House: Global Art. This book for kids of all ages appeals best to kids Pre-K to 5th grade. My 4th (going into 5th) grade daughter used it the most. It retails for $16.95 and has 190 pages.

We were so excited when this book came in for review, and used it almost daily. Even when we didn't have time for a project, the kids loved to read through the book for the interesting facts about the different cultures represented.

Each page is a different project, and the 7 chapters sort the project pages by the 7 Continents. Each art project either expresses the character of that continent, or is styled after the cultural art of that continent. There are 141 art projects in all:

• 22 for Africa
• 8 for Antarctica
• 22 for Asia
• 35 for Europe
• 26 for North America
• 10 for Australia/Oceania
• 18 for South America

At the top of each page are icons for quick reference. 

1. The art technique icon quickly tells you what you will be doing, such as painting, sculpture, construction, drawing, collage, or printing. 
2. The planning and preparation icon tells you how much prep is involved. This tells you how likely you are to have all the needed materials on hand, rating from 1 (common materials) to 3 (uncommon). 
3. The difficulty icon is one to three stars, rating the difficulty of each project. 

Each project has a title with a descriptive subtitle, a materials list, and the process steps. Each one also has a globe showing where the project is from, and a "Did you know?" little fact about that place. There are also black and white illustrations on each page.

How we used it:

We used the instructions to complete several of the projects and found the instructions clear and easy to follow. We also found this was a great resource for any unit studies we did of other cultures. My kids were so excited about it that they involved their cousins in the craft time when they were over visiting. Everyone went home with a crystal watercolor painting (page 39)!

The girls had a great time making crowns from Korea and turning my oatmeal containers into decorated drums from the Ivory Coast. They pulled the book out regularly, and were able to do several projects without any help from me. One of my favorites was Tyler's carving he made from a bar of soap!

Bottom Line:
I love this crafty book. For the age range this is a fantastic reference for any school project, or for hammering home a culture in a unit study or a history/geography chapter. The price is very affordable for this book, considering it meets both social studies and art criteria, and can be used again and again. I would classify it more as arts and crafts than fine art, but overall a really fun book.

For more reviews of Global Art, as well as Homegrown Preschooler, visit the Crew Blog:


©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

*Prices and links are accurate at the time this is published, and are subject to change.