A guest post by Clare, auntie to Rowan, 2 years.

On my recent travels to Europe I spent a few days in some of Paris’s famous art galleries. Wandering through the gallery bookshop at the end of my tour I was surprised to find a huge collection of art books aimed at children. Many of these books were gallery-specific – but not always – and it struck me that they provided a great way to introduce children to art and to help foster an understanding and appreciation of artwork. It’s a tricky subject, mostly because many of us have mixed feelings about how we were introduced to art as children. Whilst I love art now, I still remember feeling bored in galleries and confused about some aspects of modern art – why would anyone bother painting “ugly” boxes in brown? (Picasso’s cubist series) and “why won’t my art teacher let me paint two stripes of red on the page and call it art?” But I don’t remember the type of books that I saw recently being available when I was little.

Here are my top 5 children’s art books, inspired by my recent art-infused travels:

1. I Spy series (Lucy Micklethwait)
This is a great series of books for toddlers and pre-school aged children, although parents will no doubt love the paintings as well.  Using familiar themes in I Spy Animals, I Spy Shapes, I Spy Transport, Lucy Micklethwait takes us on a journey through famous paintings from around the world and throughout the ages. These are great books for getting children used to looking in detail at paintings and could also be a starting point for ‘art’ conversations. Age 2+

2. Mon petit Orsay (Marie Sellier)
These books are really aimed at the European market but I have spent many hours looking through them in the last few weeks at museum bookstores in Paris. Translated into several European languages, they take children through the masterpieces of the Musee d’Orsay, Le Louvre, George Pompidou Centre and Versaille.  What is behind the walls of these great buildings?  Paintings and statues come alive.

3. Dog’s Night (Meredith Hooper)
Once a year the dogs at the National Museum in London are allowed out of their paintings for a party.  This year they descend from their paintings to discover the leftovers of a great feast.  As the clock strikes midnight the dogs are giddy from too much party food – they climb back into their paintings only to discover that some of them are in the wrong ones  Dog lovers of any age will love this book and its beautifully illustrated pooches.  The challenge toward the second half of the story is to work out which dog belongs where and how are they going to get back into the right painting? Ages 3-8 years.

3.    Roy and Matilda the Gallery Mice by Susan Venn
This series focuses on Australian galleries, and I first discovered the original book through my younger sisters. This beautifully illustrated and narrated story, introduces Roy the Mouse, who lives in the Australian collection of the Victorian National Gallery (now housed in the Ian Potter Gallery at Federation Square). Roy moves through paintings such as Tom Roberts’ Shearing the Rams and David Davies’ Moonrise, where he meets Matilda. They fall in love, marry and create a home in the walls of the gallery. This is a wonderful book to read as both an introduction to the gallery and as a bedtime story in its own right.  For me, one of the best parts about this book is that the Victorian Gallery created a “real” Roy and Matilda Mouse Door in a corner of one of the rooms. As a baby-sitter taking my younger sisters through the gallery one holidays, the quest to find Roy and Matilda’s house allowed us to walk through many rooms we might not have otherwise discovered. It also provided ample talking material – I will never forget the delight of my youngest sister when she turned a corner and discovered the painting where Roy and Matilda first met! Thanks to the success of this first book, Edwina Publishing has gone onto publish books with some of Roy and Matilda’s family for the NSW and Queensland museums. Age 2+

5.  How to talk to Children about Art by Francoise Barbe-Gall
Whilst this is really a reference book, rather than a children’s art book, I think it is a fantastic tool for helping people explore are with children. The first chapters of the book briefly, and simply, discuss cognitive development and broadly outline ways to introduce art and galleries to children. Although some of the advice is a little obvious “don’t spend too long, your children’s attention spans are not as long as yours”, there are some great gems. The rest of the book is devoted to approximately 30 different masterpieces from around the world.  Using three different age groups (6-7, 8-10, 12+) it suggests questions you might pose to children to help spark conversations about the paintings that are age appropriate.