Our 5 Best Art Appreciation Apps

Exposing children to art, even from a young age has been shown to improve cognitive ability, open up channels of communication and encourage creative expression and discussion.

Apps lend themselves really well to art appreciation. It can sometime be a challenge to take children to galleries, either because of distance, cost or organisation but, by bringing art to children through digital devices, they can get a sense of the wonder of the art and even interact with the pieces they see.

Here are our top apps to help you introduce your children to art appreciation:

ExplorArt Klee – The Art of Paul Klee, for Kids

( iPad - £4.99 )

Some artists have become classroom staples for primary school art lessons. Seurat and Mondrian are popular because their artwork has an aspect that, superficially at least, is easy to understand.

Children, regardless of their own artistic confidence, feel that there is an access point to trying to emulate the styles they see.

Classrooms should also welcome Paul Klee to their art lessons. This Swiss artist's style also has an accessibility, despite the depth and complexity, that gives his work a place on the walls of the world's art galleries.

To this, the art teacher should also factor in this app. It is an introduction to the artist's work in a way that makes interactions and content almost seamless.

Everything in the app is constructed using Klee's work and style and then animated in a way that works beautifully.

Kuinji! —Learn Art and Paint Styles

( iPad - Free )

Most people could name and identify a few art styles. For example impressionism, cubism or pop art. A few more could be named but, perhaps, not so confidently identified. As the developers of Kuinji! say, the distinction between divisionism and pointillism is not so easily spotted as the difference between pop art and cubism, say.

This app aims to raise the art education of children and, perhaps, even their teachers. It is a quiz app with multiple levels that are progressed through by deciding on the style to which a pictured artwork belongs.

Before downloading the app, you might notice that it has a 12+ age rating. This is due to the content of the artworks within rather than the app itself. Whether you think this app is appropriate for younger children will depend on your viewpoint regarding the nudity found in paintings.

Pocket Gallery

( iPad - Free )

Use the Pocket Art Gallery app to hang famous artworks wherever you are in the world.

This free augmented reality app uses new cutting edge technology to enable you to take publicly owned paintings and hang them in your own living room or place them outside in the street. A J.M.W. Turner landscape could complement your local park or a dramatic Pre-Raphaelite painting could brighten up your work place. You can search one hundred paintings from art galleries across the country, including Tate Britain, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Services, and Museums Sheffield.

Each painting includes information to help you learn more about the artist, place, or artwork origin.

Famous Paintings - Art History

( Android - £0.63 )

Have you always wanted to know the name of that famous painting you have seen a thousand times? Have you wondered which artist painted The Nightwatch?

This app features over 100 works of art from over 100 artists and has 5 modes of learning about each piece. You can learn by artist, by painting or take a quiz about each. You can also try out game mode which randomly asks artists and painting names and scores you on how quick you answer.

PlayART by Tapook

( iPad - £2.49 )

Play, learn and create a masterpiece with elements taken from the original works of five important painters: Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Henri Rousseau e Paul Klee.

PlayART is an educational tool which introduces children and grown-ups to the world of art in an enjoyable, stimulating and innovative way.