Art games can help children or adults develop artistic and creative skills in a fun way. Types of art games include those that develop art techniques or explore different media, those that develop knowledge of art history and artists of a specific period, and those that help develop creativity and divergent thinking. Ideas can be found through online searches; on websites devoted to making online interactive art games available; and in books on art technique, art projects, and teaching art.
Some art games that that teach artistic technique require the participant to mimic a famous artist’s technique. An extra creative edge can be added by injecting the student’s own interpretation or adding a creative twist. Other students can try to guess the artist based on the finished product. Some art games help students learn more about different media, like charcoal, paint, or collage, by creating an art project with the same theme using several different media. There are also interactive quizzes online that test a student’s knowledge of artists or media.
The study of art historical periods and famous artists lends itself well to quiz games and puzzles that require a student to match periods in art history with the corresponding artist. Flash cards can help art students match works of art to their creator. Artistic techniques and technical terms can be used to make a crossword or seek-and-find puzzle.
Perhaps the broadest category of art games is based on developing divergent thinking and creativity. Many creative games are not directly artistic in nature, yet the creative thinking skills they help develop are useful to any artist. A popular, charade-like game requires players to make teammates guess a word by drawing it on paper. This helps generate conceptual thinking and open-ended ideas. Another art game begins with random brush strokes or shapes and requires artists to complete the picture by finding animals, faces, or other real-life images.
Some art games help develop visual memory and observation skills. Many art game websites have games that fall into this category, like shape memory games and figure copying games. Other games that help develop visual acuity are the common puzzle that consists of two images that appear identical. Upon closer inspection, there are very subtle differences that are observable only when closely scrutinized.
Parents and teachers should choose art games that are more than merely fun; art activities should help develop either technique, ways of seeing, or creative thinking skills. Games that may look fun may not be educational. Some examples include coloring pages and their electronic point-and-click equivalents that appear on many websites but sometimes do little to develop creativity.
