I can hardly believe it, but my kids are now 15.5, almost 14, and 12 years old. When I started My Little Poppies, my oldest was in kindergarten. Where is that pause button?!
If you’ve been hanging around with us for any length of time, you already know that we love to dabble in creative resources. In our 9+ years of homeschooling, we have tried just about everything!
My children have always been creative; we have tried many art-related resources over the years. Today, I am resharing an art resource that we recently revisited. I’m happy to report that this resource worked for my kids when they were itty bitty (over 7 years ago), and it works for them now as tweens and teens!
*Disclosure: I received Sparketh at no cost and was compensated for my time to write this article. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. I only share products I would use with my family and those I believe others will enjoy. This is my second time sharing about Sparketh. If you want to take a trip down memory lane, check out this post from 7(!!) years ago. My kids were BABIES!
Finding Art Options For Teens
One of the biggest homeschool perks is the ability to spend time in the arts and nature in a way that is virtually impossible for most children and teens in public school settings. As a mom to three very active kiddos, I spent much of our early years enjoying the arts and nature (and sometimes both simultaneously!). I also used art to calm my kids down during anxiety spikes and also during that dreaded witching hour.
I love that my teens will seek out art on their own. I often find them doodling in their notebook margin, adding art to their room decor, and creating with friends.
When it came to art lessons, my kids used to try anything and everything! But then they turned into tweens and teens, and now they are much harder to please!
And that’s where Sparketh comes into play!
Sparketh: Online Art Courses For Kids And Teens
You might be familiar with Sparketh because its creators (and childhood friends), Dwayne and Tim, were once on Shark Tank. Dwayne was homeschooled as a child and is a talented artist. Tim had an affinity for videography. Together, they created an online platform for creative children and teens called Sparketh, and the rest, as they say, is history!
Sparketh is an online learning platform that specializes in the arts. It is designed for children and teens ages 6-18. At the time of this writing, Sparketh has over 1,000 video lessons, with new lessons added regularly.
Here are some examples of recently added courses:
A Sparketh membership provides unlimited access to 1,000+ art lessons, organized into bite-sized videos and taught by talented and dedicated art mentors.
These lessons are available at any time and on any device. Best of all? Sparketh lessons use materials you have heard of and likely have in your home. No lengthy and pricey supply lists here!
Homeschool Art Lessons With Sparketh
As a homeschool parent who has tried a bajillion online learning platforms, I’m happy to report that Sparketh is easy to use and navigate. Students have the ability to select individual courses or to follow predesigned learning tracks.
When selecting individual courses, children and teens have the option to apply multiple filters to find a course that works for their unique needs and interests, as you can see here:
Filters include:
- Popular, trending, and/or new video lessons
- Various subjects (art, baking, drawing, painting)
- Skill level (beginner, intermediate, advanced)
- Course type (activity, challenge, creative, project, technical)
- Number of videos in the course
- Course length
- Instructor
- Materials required
Your students can also select a learning track, as seen below:
At the time of this writing, tracks include:
- Art Style Portraits
- Drawing Animals
- Drawing Nature
- Elements of Art and Design
- Instructor Favorites
- Three Step Creations
- Yummy Food
Personally, I love that Sparketh includes an online art gallery, as seen here:
I love seeing the art that children and teens create. As a Sparketh member, your children can submit their work to the gallery if they would like to do so.
Students can also submit course suggestions. I appreciate it when a company welcomes feedback and ideas from children and teens!
What Do Teens Think About Sparketh’s Online Art Lessons?
Our family first tried Sparketh over 7 years ago. Just look at these babies!
Click here to read our original Sparketh review!
I now have two teens and a tween (how?!), and I’m delighted to report they give Sparketh two thumbs up all these years later.
Here is what my teens told me they like about Sparketh:
- The search feature is easy to use.
- It’s easy to find a course that fits your ability.
- If you want, you can do learning tracks.
- The instructors are likable, engaging, and often younger than other online teachers.
- Sparketh has a diverse group of mentors.
My daughter enjoyed classes with Amy, one of the featured mentors on the Sparketh site.
My youngest added that he enjoys the “fun facts” that pop up at the bottom of the video screen during lessons, as you can see here:
My teens were less than enthused with sharing their work for this article (because: TEENS), but I will share some teen-approved artwork examples from recent Sparketh courses.
One of my kiddos recently took the Cartoon Expressions course, which you can see in the previous photo. Here is some of his work:
That child also enjoyed this colorful Dolphin Pattern course:
And here is his final product:
Another kiddo is working on creating a drawing of a cat based on this course:
Here is his work-in-progress:
Another kiddo is enjoying learning how to draw various hairstyles. Here is one example of such a course:
And here is some of that kiddo’s artwork:
Try Sparketh In Your Homeschool
Sparketh is an excellent option if you’re looking for a fun, educational, engaging, and flexible online art program that can grow with your family. With over 1,000 art lessons for ages 6-18, your family will be busy creating for quite some time!
If you’d like to try Sparketh in your homeschool, you can learn more here. At the time of this writing, Sparketh offers two membership options: monthly ($25/month) and annual ($250/year). Memberships include two student accounts. Sparketh also works with larger groups, such as districts and other organizations.
If you’d like to connect with Sparketh, check out their blog. You can also connect with Sparketh on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter, and TikTok.
