Your Kid Can Paint That: Artist Trading Cards are for Children, Too

My little girls recently took part in an Artist Trading Card swap for children. Not only did they have a blast, but among other equally valuable and equally unteachable lessons they learned that art is accessible, that art is fun, that art is a process (hello, experiential education!), and that they, just like the creators of the works they see on our every museum visit, are themselves artists.

This concept of themselves as artists and their creations as art is great for my girls, sure, but it’s also great for the world: empowering our children to create instead of consume, and teaching them that their creations are valid and satisfying and meaningful can help them place less emphasis on a mass media, consumer culture and more on a person-to-person, handmade, emotionally satisfying lifestyle.

Artist Trading Cards are the big thing now among artists and crafters, professional and casual, and this activity has recently become the easiest and most accessible it’s ever been, especially for kids. Here’s how to get started:

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Artist Trading Cards are for artists what baseball cards, or Magic the Gathering cards, or any other kinds of trading cards are for their fans–collector’s items. They are trading card sized real live pieces of art, meant to be freely given or swapped and NEVER sold. They’re a terrific thing for a kid to collect, and an even more awesome thing for a kid to create and send out into the world.

There are only two rules that all Artist Trading Cards must follow:

1. They MUST be trading card sized (2.5″x3.5″), always.
2. They MUST have as their base professional-quality artist’s paper. Although your kiddos should feel free to glue on construction paper, typing paper, or whatever their little hearts desire, a base of professional-quality paper not only handles all sorts of media (watercolor, chalk, colored pencil, crayon, etc.) the best, but is also very sturdy and archival. Strathmore makes their paper in ATC size, or you can cut down larger pieces to the correct size (2.5″x3.5″–don’t forget!).

What can kids do? They can trade with friends. They can participate in world-wide ATC swaps. They can participate in children’s ATC swaps. They can post their cards to ATC flickr pools. They can start their own collections.

Heck, they can show their work in a gallery exhibit, if you want my opinion.

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