Alphab’art: Find the letters hidden in the paintings

Our family tends to collect art appreciation books written for kids.

Alphab’art: Find the letters hidden in the paintings book for kids

Our latest discovery is Alphab’art, a book about finding letters hidden in paintings.

Alphab’art: Find the letters hidden in the paintings book for kids
Alphab’art: Find the letters hidden in the paintings book for kids

This wonderful book presents a wide variety of art styles and subject matter with paintings by some of the masters of western art including Picasso, Dali, Van Gogh, Matisse, Giotto, Chagall, Mondrian, and Klee. Many of the paintings in the book came from French museums and private collections (the book was originally published in France) and were unfamiliar to me.

Alphab’art: Find the letters hidden in the paintings book for kids

We found that looking for letters in the paintings jump started our conversation about the many other interesting things hidden away in the works of art.

Alphab’art: Find the letters hidden in the paintings book for kids
Alphab’art: Find the letters hidden in the paintings book for kids

Our daughter felt proud that she spotted three letter O’s in this painting by Henri Matisse. I love the idea that we can find shapes and letters all around us, in pictures, photos, bookshelves, toy bins, doorways, if we really look. We’re surrounded by beautiful, interesting and educational things.

Alphab’art: Find the letters hidden in the paintings book for kids

The book has inspired us to go on an alphabet adventure! I feel a photography project coming on…

Curious about other art appreciation books for kids that we love?
Read all of our previous posts on the subject here.

More Great Art History Books for Kids

Can You Find It? Art Appreciation Books for Kids by the MET
Can You Find It? Art Appreciation Books for Kids by the MET

Art is important in our family. We come from artistic families and greatly value making and supporting the arts. In that vein, our family loves picture books designed to develop and inspire an appreciation for the arts in young children.

We greatly enjoy these colorful board books for the babies and toddlers alike:


We adore this more advanced series focusing on exploring the alphabet and numbers through works of art published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

We’ve recently discovered another fantastic art appreciation series written for children to add to our family library:

Can You Find It? Art Appreciation Books for Kids by the MET

Published once again by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, these Can You Find It? books focus on identifying details within works of art. Think of Where’s Waldo but with an educational, historical twist.

Can You Find It? Art Appreciation Books for Kids by the MET

Our daughter adores these books and has spent hours pouring over them.

Can You Find It? Art Appreciation Books for Kids by the MET

These particular books were written in 2005 and are no longer widely available in stores (we bought our copies at a local used bookstore). Nevertheless, a quick search online turned up many affordable copies in used form, as well as some other books in this series, plus the Metropolitan Museum of Art sells copies online from their store.

Can You Find It? Art Appreciation Books for Kids by the MET

What better way to promote art appreciation than by supporting the museum itself?! If you intend to buy this item, please hop on over there and order your copy today.

More Great Art Books for Kids

A second post in my Art Appreciation for Toddlers series.

Our dear friend Alice found and sent us these phenomenal books by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York that teach the alphabet and numbers utilizing famous works of art from their collection:

Museum 123:

Museum ABC:

Both books do a great job of featuring prominent works from artists around the world and throughout the centuries, not just focusing on the last hundred years but showing ancient works as well from a variety of countries and cultures.
Continue reading More Great Art Books for Kids

Art Appreciation for Toddlers


Chronicle Books publishes several delightful art history board books that introduce popular artists and can serve to inspire children’s art projects and story time. I’d also like to think that now’s a great time to start developing my daughter’s appreciation for art and art history as she brings a sense of wonder to every activity.

The authors (Susan Goldman Rubin, Julie Merberg, and Suzanne Bober) do a good job of choosing artwork that we can all relate to: pictures of people taking naps, going on trains, dancing, gardening, learning to walk, etc.

Our family loves these art themed board books: as a baby Miss Leyba looked at the pictures; now that she’s two, we read the books together and she makes up stories of her own about the pictures.

Here are some of our favorites pages from the series:


Matisse Dance with Joy featuring his paper collages


Andy Warhol’s Colors although Miss Leyba calls him (in all seriousness) “Andy Wormhole”


In the Garden with Van Gogh – love those yellows and blues together




A Picnic with Monet – mama’s favorite

Chronicle books publishes many others including:

Magritte’s Imagination
Counting with Wayne Thiebaud
Dreaming with Rousseau
Painting with Picasso
On an Island with Gauguin
Quiet Time with Cassatt
Sharing with Renoir
Sunday with Seurat

They also have a Mini Masters Boxed Set that includes four of the books (Dancing with Degas, A Picnic with Monet, A Magical Day with Matisse, and In the Garden with Van Gogh) for around $11 — if we didn’t already own one book in the set, I would SO jump on that deal!

What better (and easier!) way to teach kids about art then to expose it to them when they’re young?! Their brains are like sponges; they absorb and retain EVERYTHING! (Makes me so jealous! My mind is a sieve these days.)

Next up: going to an actual museum to see works by these artists! Wouldn’t that be a great NEW activity to do on a Friday?! I need to put it on the calendar. There’s a Post-Impressionist Masterpieces exhibit coming (only) to San Francisco. It would be the perfect introduction. I’m excited already.