What a delight it has been to work with A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels written by Tricia Hodges and Lucia Hames (Nana)! For several years we have been using Nana’s tutorials to enjoy art along with our nature studies. I’m enthusiastic about sharing our experiences with you so that you can enjoy some simple art in your homeschool.
Chalk Pastels Art Curriculum Review
Please note that I was given a copy of A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels in exchange for my review and this post does contain affiliate links to the book. If you choose to purchase this chalk pastel tutorial book through the links on this post, you’ll be supporting the work at Blog, She Wrote and I would be grateful.
What Do You Need to Get Started?
- drawing paper – we like white sulphite paper which is good for wet and dry media
- chalk pastels – you can buy inexpensive sets at craft stores
- wax paper – or another place mat is optional to keep the chalk dust super easy to clean
- damp paper towels – for wiping hands occasionally
- a copy of A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels to be displayed on a screen while you work (computer, iPad, Kindle)
Some Advantages of Using A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels:
- Quick and easy to implement
- Great for art projects to span all the ages of your children
- The tutorials are explained well and include pictures
- Chalk pastels are very forgiving allowing even the most self proclaimed ardent non-artist to enjoy their results
- There is a wonderful variety of subject matter – so you can pull this out to add art to many of your studies
- Excellent tie in to nature studies
- Cost effective at $19.99 with 45 tutorials
- Recipes are included with the food tutorials
- Bonus video material and tutorials
How We Use A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels:
- As a family for a simple, quick art lesson on a day when we need a change of scenery!
- In conjunction with our nature studies – we often learn about something and then sketch it
- Independently by allowing my artsy kids to read and try out different projects
- To decorate our home – chalk pastel drawings make great wall hanging. When we need something new in our frames, it’s the only reason we need to joyfully pull out the chalks.
I’m so thankful for first being introduced to Tricia and her tutorials through Barb at The Handbook of Nature Study. Our marsh drawings even made it into one of Barb’s newsletters and we’ve been chalking ever since.
Pulling out the chalks always brings a measure of peace to our day and A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels makes it even easier to implement.
You won’t be disappointed in the results, so give it a try and let Tricia know how it went! She has an Art Tutorials Showcase Pinterest board and would love to feature your completed art work!
Discount Code for A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels
- No lengthy supply list – just add chalk pastels and paper. An entire year of art tutorials for all ages together is just $19.99. Read more about it at Southern Hodgepodge.
- If you decide to purchase A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels now and you win a copy in our giveaway, your money will be refunded in full.
~written by Heather, Blog She Wrote
I’m a homeschooling mom to our fantastic four– two teens at home and two graduates off to university. I’m a former middle and high school biology teacher who has embraced the independent nature of homeschooling and I mentor my children through authentic, student driven projects and learning adventures. You can get practical homeschooling advice and take courses related to homeschooling high school at Blog, She Wrote.
My children would LOVE this! We’ve never tried anything like this before. Looks fun!!
What a wonderful giveaway– haven’t used chalk pastels in awhile but would love to give them another try. Art is just so much fun:)
I have used chalk pastels with my older children, but not with my youngest. She has tried water color paint and colored pencils. She loves both of them.
This looks fun! I recently ordered the art program from See the Light. I’ll look into this next. Thanks!
We haven’t used chalk pastels before but I’ve bought the supplies. Just waiting for some motivation.
Yes, we have tried chalk pastels. We do like them, although I find them messy. 🙂 Right now we are enjoying combining oil pastels and watercolors.
We love art and use a variety of materials, including chalk pastels. My favorite is probably watercolor, but it would be great to learn how to use our chalk pastels to greater advantage!
We’ve just purchased some chalk pastels with the intent to begin art this summer. We’ve always done crafts, but not a true art class. We’d love this!
We love chalk pastels and would love a book like this to help us learn more!
We have used some of the Hodgepodge tutorials and had great fun doing so. We would really like to have the e-book. Chalk pastels are a wonderful medium!
We added the love of art with Art DVD’s like Mike’s Imagination station.
I love adding art into our day, and wish I could do more. I requested chalk pastels for Christmas but I haven’t gotten them out to use yet. This would be a great resource.
I have never done chalk pastels with my kids or even myself. I’d love to try it!
Not sure why, but i have completely forgotten about the beauty of pastel’s …. i loved them when i was in school and now seeing this post, i am going to try my best to add it into our art curriculum! Thank you so much, for the reminder and the competition… (all the way from Australia.)
Hello from Nana at Hodgepodge! I just wanted to send you a quick note and to tell you how wonderful your pastels are! I enjoyed seeing your progress and sent my very best wishes for more paintings! You ARE artists!
My daughter would love this. We can’t get enough ary in this hous.
I so want this product. Please enter me in the giveaway. I just bought lots of chalk and tan paper. Now ready for some guidance.
Blessings
Diane
We love Nana’s free lessons! So want to win this so we have an art next fall!
My daughters have tried Chalk Pastels before and enjoyed using them. I think they would benefit from some instruction, though. 🙂
they love to draw using any medium.
We currently use washable paints and watercolors for painting. I can’t wait to start this with my kids!
We followed the Path to the Beach tutorial on her blog and loved it! Would love to have a copy of the book as well.
We’ve never tried chalk, we normally do paint. I think I would love this just as much as my girls!
My last daughter here homeschooling is very much into art and is studying Art for credit in high school. This will be a wonderful course to add in. Thank you for sharing about it!
Our children LOVE chalk pastels. This is their favorite medium even over paints! My son is excited to try Nanas lesson on baseball today:)
we have tried painting (just a little) and I have all the stuff to try this. We would love to win (4 kids and mom!)
We have been so blessed by Nana and Tricia!
My children love pastels and I know that they would love to give this a try!
This would be awesome! Art is seriously lacking in our homeschool, but kits like this make me feel that it could be actually doable. Thanks for offering this give-away.
We love art! The last time we used pastels we had fun using a little water on q-tips for an added effect:) This book looks great, thanks for a giveaway.
I would love to add more art into my homeschooling and this looks like a wonderful resource to have on hand!
We’ve never done chalk pastels. I’ve done oil pastels and hated the stains, but I’ve been reading the Hodgepodge posts and getting excited at the idea of chalk pastels. It looks so fun and easy!
We would love this book! We own and have used chalk and oil pastels but I am really unsure of how to use them properly. My kids have watched all the art dvd’s from the local library so this would be a wonderful addition to our homeschool!
We have not really done any art. I haven’t known where to start! I think my kids would LOVE this!!
We have some chalk, but have never used it because we weren’t sure how. It looks like a lot of fun. The kids like to do all kinds of art and I’m sure they will love the blending of this!
My daughter enjoys using oil pastels. She’s only used chalk pastels once and found them too dry to work well. She takes an art class for homeschoolers at a local museum and greatly enjoys it.
Hi there! We were actually inspired by Hodgepodge’s blog to give chalk pastels a try, because honestly…they look like they’re having way too much fun over there at her house!!
We incorporate art loosely into our homeschool. Lots of free art time, nature journal, art instruction videos, etc. But I must say, if we win this book, we will use it for sure, and use it quite often! My son likes messy and creating art, and chalk pastels seem to be what he would probably like most of all. 🙂
We just did are first pastel project a few weeks ago. It was a hit with my 3, 5, and 7 year old children. This looks like a great resource to invest into their interest and enjoyment of it!
I think this would be a wonderful addition!
We’ve never done pastels before! My children seem to naturally love art, I just sort of naturally incorporate it into the day.
We have just started exploring different mediums, but we haven’t tried pastels yet! My daughter would be so excited to try this! thanks for the opportunity!
We love using oil pastels. They are our favorite art projects to date! We use Tricia’s tutorials often!!
Looks fun! We used Meet the Masters art curriculum this year and loved it. We tried oil pastels but have never tried chalk pastels.
My sixth grade daughter is the artist at our house. She tried chalk pastels for the first time several months ago, and loved it once she got going. That is probably her current favorite medium.
We have tried pastels in the past but it was a very limited experience. We need to trying it again. Thanks for the give away.
We love pastels, and this book looks wonderful!
We have worked a few art projects with pastels. So fun!
My children enjoy watercolors and colored pencils as well.
We would love this! Thx!
We have never tried them but really want to!
This would be a great treat! We have done a couple of pastels and loved them.
We do use chalk pastels (and need to get more). My children like any kind of art we do. I like the ease of doing chalks versus paint (less mess!) and they like anything they can get their hands into. Chalks make us both happy.
looks wonderful – I would love to add it to our nature studies!
Recently started using chalk pastels and love them! I have owned a set for years, and it’s been fun to get them out and share them with my daughter!
Art is one of our favourite and most healing times of the day and week in our home and we really feel it when we’ve not done it. We would love to learn more about pastels. I have a small set but just recently priced a large set and hope to splurge on them soon. Can’t wait now even more than before. Thank you for sharing.
My kiddos love art! They’d love this set! :0 )
My children love art and would enjoy this set!!!
We have tried her pastel tutorials before. I love them and my 5 year old can pull off some surpringly awesome art. I’ve been wanting this book and if I don’t win this time I WILL be buying it.
Great giveaway. My daughter is the artsy one…she would love this.
We haven’t tried using chalk pastels yet. The oldest might be ready but the mom in me fears the mess. I have to get past that. Perhaps some good instruction like this book would help! 🙂
we have not tried these….would love to though!
We would love this. We love to use different mediums but haven’t tried chalks.
We use chalk all the time. This would be really cool to use!
Just bought pastels and paper and loads of other fun art supplies. Gearing up for our summer of art!!
My kiddos would love this…especially our oldest…creativity and art are her gifts!
I gave my daughter a set of chalk pastels for her birthday two months’ ago, and she loves them! She wants art lessons now. 🙂
We have never tried chalk pastels. It would be awesome to do this. We really haven’t done past the basic drawing with pencil and crayons or using paint but not in a art class way just for extra fun once in a while. In home school we have focused mostly on art appreciation.
My son would love this book! He often does pen and ink, but he hasn’t had as much experience with pastels.
I have added in nature sketching and have been trying chalk pastels with it.
As a mom with boys, I have a hard time being ‘artistic’ I wish I could do better! I would love a copy of this book!
My girls and I have done several of the free chalk pastels. The girls love the lessons and always ask to do more. We would enjoy all the lessons in the book.
We only use paints and crayons, but this would be fun to try!