7 Children's Books I Use in the Art Room to Encourage Creative Thinking

I love reading stories before beginning a lesson! After a read aloud, sometimes my students will illustrate a scene from the story or a character. These are are my must-have books for encouraging creative thinking. I will ofter use them in my art room to prompt ideas or inspire my students before a lesson. 

Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg

Beautiful Oops is my number 1 favorite story to read. I read it to my younger students every year and it always seems to stand out the most. Students will remember it and reference it years later. 

This is a great story to follow with an open-ended lesson that allows students to turn our mistakes (torn paper, paper with paint dribbles) into masterpieces.  

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! by Karen Beaumont

First graders find this story to be hilarious! This is a fun one to read before getting into some messy splatter painting. 

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds 

Perfect Square by Michael Hall

Art by Patrick McDonnell 

The Dot is another one of my top favorites (it really deserves a post of its own)! There are SO many lessons that can be inspired by this book and this is another story that my students LOVE! Some of my favorite lessons to follow with this book are collaborative dot paintings and creating colorful dots with coffee filters to use for a collage.

The Perfect Square is another book I use before beginning an open-ended collage. After reading, I will give the students a square that they can then cut, rip, or punch holes in to create something of their choice. 

Art is another story that I adore and will read before beginning a messy painting project. 

Ish and Sky Color by Peter H. Reynolds 

I can't include The Dot without mentioning Ish and Sky Color. These two are included in the Creatrilogy series along with The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds and they are must-haves for inspiring children to create!