What to Watch: Teaching Art and Music with TV Shows

Need help working art and music into your regular homeschool routine? Good news: the answer might be as simple as some well-planned TV time. Watching the right music and art TV shows can go a long way to ensure the arts have a spot in your homeschool days.

Need help working art and music in your regular homeschool routine? Good news: the answer might be as simple as some well-planned TV time. Watching the right music and art TV shows can go a long way in ensuring the arts have a spot in your homeschool days.

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While there’s an abundance of viewing options for subjects like history, math, and science, the options for the arts aren’t quite as plentiful. Even so, the shows available for art and music can still be incredibly helpful with incorporating the arts into a busy homeschool day or season.

Music & Art TV Shows for Kids

Music-themed TV Shows

Little Einsteins

My kids both loved Disney’s Little Einsteins when they were younger, but I’ve always loved the way this preschool series infuses music and art into each episode. While I appreciate the emphasis on famous works of art, I especially appreciate how each adventure highlights a significant piece of music even more.

Not only is that piece of music weaved into the the background music of the episode, it’s also worked into the storyline itself, making it a natural, playful way to learn music appreciation through TV.

You can currently watch it through the Disney apps, but there are also lots of inexpensive DVD options available. What’s even better is that you can find free Little Einsteins games and activities on DisneyJunior.com.

Maestro

If you’re looking to add some comprehensive biographical study to your TV time, this one is a great way to learn more about well-known composers. Maestro, available through Prime Video, is a documentary-style series and features one composer per episode.

Worth noting, because of its length and documentary-style presentation, Maestro is probably best-suited for middle schoolers and teens.

The Notekins

On the other end of the viewing spectrum, BabyFirst’s The Notekins series is a perfect music-themed TV show for your littlest learners. The series features seven friends who represent each musical note. In each episode, The Notekins visit a musical instrument and explore fundamental music concepts along the way.

You can find the series on BabyFirst through cable and satellite providers, but it’s also available through Amazon Prime Video.

Art TV Options for Kids

Most of my favorite art TV options are available through Amazon Prime Video and YouTube. Here’s a quick look at them:

Art with Mati & Dada

Ideal for introducing art to elementary kids, this YouTube cartoon channel features a series of short biographies on well-known artists from around the world. While perusing their playlists, you’ll find episodes covering Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Vincent van Gogh, Edgar Degas, Henri Rousseau, Henri Matisse, Jackson Pollock, and many more.

Art for Beginners

The Art for Beginners series on Amazon Prime is a great option for homeschool art instruction. In these short tutorials, Em Winn walks viewers through the process of creating kid-friendly art projects using watercolors, acrylics, pastels, and more. The episodes themselves are cataloged as movies on Prime, but don’t let that throw you off. The entire series is worth checking into!

There are lots of other episodes in this Art for Beginners series. You can browse the rest by searching for Art for Beginners on Amazon Prime or by scrolling through your “customers also watched” area.

The Joy of Painting

My kiddos and I are huge Bob Ross fans, so there’s no way I can make a list of art TV shows that doesn’t include his iconic The Joy of Painting series.

I realize these paintings aren’t necessarily beginner-friendly, but there’s still plenty to learn from these episodes. From terminology and techniques to encouragement and creative thinking for moments gone wrong, this show is an untapped resource for homeschooling families.

Creative Galaxy

What to Watch: Music and Art TV Shows for Kids

Amazon’s Creative Galaxy is a fantastic art TV show for younger elementary kids and preschoolers!

It follows the story of Arty, Epiphany, and other friends as they find unique ways to solve problems through creativity. Each episode ends with a related art project or activity that kids can enjoy, making this much more than a show to watch.

Also, unlike many TV shows for kids, these activities and projects usually give the appearance of a few kids are hanging out together rather than “at school.” That alone makes Creative Galaxy especially homeschool-friendly.

(For a detailed episode guide, see my post about how to use Creative Galaxy for preschool art.)

Art for Kids Hub

I love this video series of art tutorials because it does a fantastic job of empowering and encouraging kids to have fun with art. We mostly turn to Art for Kids Hub for the character-based drawing tutorials, but there are plenty of episodes that feature specific art mediums. Those can be especially helpful in helping kids get comfortable with new or less-familiar types of art.


What about you? Do you have any viewing suggestions for art and music? If so, leave a comment so we can all check into them.

Learning with TV Shows: Viewing suggestions broken down by subject

Be sure to check out the rest of my Learning Through TV Shows series for more ways to put your screen to work in your homeschool!