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10 Ways to Encourage Your Child's Artistic Side

Visit an art gallery. Take a family outing to an art gallery, or if you have access to the internet, visit one of the many online art galleries.
Create artwork together. Engage in the creative process with your child! Work side by side with your child, whether you're each creating your own separate artwork or helping each other to create a single masterpiece. In the end you'll have taken the journey together and you'll each have an appreciation for the other's unique talents.
Show your child the art in everyday life. Point out the colors, forms, symmetry, and beauty so abundant in all the things your child sees in nature and at home. Everything from the flowers in the garden and the butterflies and bees that visit them, to the living-room curtains and the fruit in the kitchen, holds artistic worth of its own that even the youngest child can appreciate.
Try copying a drawing or painting by a famous artist. Many older children enjoy copying pictures, provided they are not critical about the resemblance of their own efforts to the original. Keep it fun for your child by encouraging every effort and pointing out how her interpretation of the artwork is unique to her.
Display your child's artwork. Be sure to prominently display as many of your child's one-of-a-kind artistic expressions as possible. You can even work together to select several special pieces for framing to really put their creativity in the spotlight.
Try your hand at a new art form together. If you've been concentrating on two-dimensional art such as painting and drawing, take the plunge into sculpture with air-dry clay or other mediums, or work on a collage together with items drawn from nature or from around the house.
Always keep art materials conveniently located. While you may need to keep the art supplies out of reach of toddlers until it's time to play, older children will enjoy having art supplies within easy reach and always at the ready so they can create whenever the mood strikes.
Let your child decorate his own art-supply containers. Extend the artistic process to the vessels that house all those wonderful colors and tools! Offer your child paint pens, markers, and decorative items to dress up their purchased or recycled containers, be they plastic, cardboard, wood, or metal.
Provide a wide array of colors, mediums, and "canvasses" for artwork. Keep art exciting for your child by offering her a rainbow of colors from which to choose, in plenty of different mediums from oil pastels to paint. And don't stick to simple paper as your canvas--remember that art can be created on most anything children choose, from a frame to a wooden treasure chest and beyond. The possibilities are truly endless!
Experiment with texture. Show your child how different textures come to life when placed under paper and rubbed with color from above. Go on a treasure hunt around the house for interesting textures with which to work, such as sandpaper, textured paper, corrugated items, fabric, and even rocks.