Rembrandt Art Activity for Kids

My daughter drew a self-portrait like Rembrandt.

Everywhere I go I see people taking selfies. Whether in the mall, on a beach, or eating dinner at a restaurant, iPhones are out and the camera is clicking. The photos are then posted onto social media for the world to see. Before iPhones, and way before cameras artists were required to have a portrait created.

Rembrandt was a Dutch artist who lived during the 1600's and painted in the Baroque style. Throughout his lifetime he continuously created self-portraits. Although most artists created self-portraits, very few seemed to create them as consistently as Rembrandt. It is believed that one reason he created self-portraits was to practice new techniques.

In studying Rembrandt we used several sources.

Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists: Rembrandt - Short biography of Rembrandt written for kids.

Raiders of the Lost Art - Rembrandt Episode - Available on Netflix

Ambleside Online Rembrandt images

Discovering Great Artists - Activity book for kids


In following the activity from Discovering Great Artists, my daughter had to create a self-portrait showing emotion on her face. When faces show emotion, the eyes, mouth, eyebrows and other features change shape. The people in Rembrandt's paintings usually contained expressions of emotion and he used self-portraits to perfect his techniques.

She stood before the mirror with an angry face to create this drawing.

Check out these great blog hops for more educational activity ideas.