Online art games for kids could be a fun introduction to the world of color. Most of us leave the drawing pencil or the crayon behind while growing up. Maybe, our own dreams of turning into fine artists won't come true. But maybe we can inspire the kids in our lives to pick up where we left off.

Online art games aren't a replacement for formal art lessons for kids. So, don't make them drop the palette and the brush, but do check out these interactive art websites for fun with your kids.

1. PBS Kids Coloring Games

PBS Kids Coloring Games - online art games for kids

Any search for online activities for elementary students will land you at PBS Kids. The network is the most popular platform for children's programming and content in the United States.

The PBS Kids portal is filled with interactive art games for kids so you will be spoilt for choice. This particular link leads to online art activities of all kinds.

2. Sesame Street

Sesame Street - online art games for kids

The Art Maker on this PBS site is another popular online destination with cool art games. They can paint Elmo the furry muppet or go against the Cookie Monster with a coloring brush in their virtual hands.

It is all online, but you can show your kids how to paint with crayons, oil paints, or watercolors, etc, and light the creative fires in your kids.

3. GirlsGoGames

GirlsGoGames - online art games for kids

This site has a collection of casual art games designed for girls. But it need not be gender-specific because it's all about having fun with color and craft.

Try fashion makeovers, decorate a friend, or turn into a hairdresser with a click on the Play button.

4. Smithsonian for Kids and Teens

Smithsonian for Kids and Teens - online art games for kids

Smithsonian doesn't take half-measures when it comes to science, history, nature, and even pop culture. This section of their vast site is dedicated to virtual art games and craft activities for kids of all ages. Many of the resources are part of the Smithsonian Learning Lab.

For instance, you can help your kids make an ArtBot, an art-making robot with detailed instructions on the site. There are milder activities like coloring sheets and collage work too if you would like to skip the robot.

The Smithsonian can be a fun art website but you will get more out of it as a serious educational resource.

5. Tate for Kids

Tate for Kids - online art games for kids

Art appreciation can begin early with visits to museums like the Tate art museums in Britain. But you can do a lot from home too. For instance, Tate has an entire section devoted to free art games, art activities, and fun quizzes on its site.

Kids can make art like Andy Warhol or paint virtual walls with graffiti on Street Art. There's no one to stop them once they begin their art adventures.

6. Toy Theater

Toy Theater - online art games for kids

Toy Theater is a clean little site filled with educational activities for elementary school students. Head straight to the collection of fun online art activities which will help your children develop visual learning skills, abstract idea expression, and design awareness.

The activities are a great fit for early learners from kindergarten to the third grade.

7. Artsology

Artsology - online art games for kids

Artsology is another collection of 107 art games for kids of all ages. Start by spray painting the walls of New York City with graffiti and make your way through surrealist art with an arcade game.

There are some games marked with the Flash logo. You can give them a miss as Adobe has stopped updating Flash.

8. Drawize

Drawize

Drawize can replace Pictionary as it's a similar "guess what I drew" game. Your kids can draw and take part in the daily drawing challenge or go online to play with friends or a stranger anywhere in the world.

The drawing and guessing game is also available on Android and iOS.

Download: Drawize for Android | iOS (Free)

Related: The 10 Best Drawing and Painting Apps for Android

9. Quick, Draw!

Quick, Draw! - online art games for kids

This Google A.I experiment will keep kids engaged for 20 seconds at a time as they keep playing against the neural network and its image recognition prowess.

It's an amazing research project, but you can also use it as a quick doodle drawing game like Pictionary. The game uses its neural engine to guess the drawing. If it guesses correctly, the "game" is over.

The twenty-second timer will also make your kids draw from their intuition rather than pause and deliberate about their drawing. The drawings don't have to be perfect, and that means anyone without artistic ability can join in and have fun.

10. AutoDraw

Auto Draw

Auto Draw is another A.I powered game from Google. It is a bit different from the above game because the automated bot will "guess" your doodle and suggest a more polished piece of clip art to replace it.

Children can also see in an instant if their own doodles are close enough to the suggested drawings that have been done by icon artists.

AutoDraw is a nifty little tool for non-artistic kids because they can swap their rough drawing for nicer clipart and use it in any art project.

A Few Other Art Websites for Kids

Many online art games for kids can now be found as mobile apps. But here are a few more art sites your kids can enjoy in the browser.

  1. Art Pad
  2. Color With Leo
  3. Beautiful Curves
  4. NASA Coloring Books
  5. Crazy Games---C0loring
  6. Disney Junior Coloring Pages
  7. Son of String Art
  8. ThisIsSand
  9. Tessellate
  10. Weave Silk

Spark Creativity With Art and Drawing

Interactive art games can prompt kids to just free draw. After all, they aren't wasting paint on canvas or paper and making a mess of things. In fact, art is just the space kids need to jumble up stuff and see what comes up.

These interactive art websites are perfect for kids, and then there is the ocean of drawing and painting apps, and some even masquerading as games on Android and iOS. Point your kids towards sites that teach the basics of drawing and they will start building the foundations of a great hobby.